 | August 28, 6:00pm Topsham Public Library 25 Foreside Rd., Topsham Daniel Hawes will be giving a brief author talk starting at 6:00 pm at the Topsham Public Library followed by a Q&A and book signing of his debut memoir, The People & The Idiots: Surviving a Cult Childhood. In his harrowing memoir, Hawes recounts surviving his childhood trapped within the Synergias: the cult founded by the infamous John Polk Allen. Copies of The People & The Idiots will be available for purchase at the event. |
Separated from his mother, father and his two siblings, Hawes experienced torment and abuse at the hands of the synergists. The book details his life from the time his parents first joined the group, to when he was finally able to take control of his life as a young man.
Hawes’ tale is one of child abuse and neglect in a cult environment. The children were forced to work hour after hour, ordered and battered by adults. While names have been changed and faces blurred, the experiences themselves are very real. The recollections are sure to bring a chill to the spine of any reader.
Hawes’ tale is one of child abuse and neglect in a cult environment. The children were forced to work hour after hour, ordered and battered by adults. While names have been changed and faces blurred, the experiences themselves are very real. The recollections are sure to bring a chill to the spine of any reader.
“Nothing is more telling about an intentional community than how it treats and teaches children. Daniel Hawes describes in visceral detail his horrifying experience growing up among the Synergists led by Johnny Dolphin Allen. I first started tracking Allen’s cult in 1975. The People & the Idiots gave me deeper insight into how pathologically elitist and inhumane Allen’s teachings were.” - Joe Szimhart, Cult Study Expert
| In 1994, between his time fighting fires in Montana and moving to Maine, Hawes and others who had grown up in the Synergias and left came forward to speak of their experiences for an article published in the Arizona Daily Star. Later, he was urged by the late Herb Rosedale, Esq. to write The People & the Idiots, to expose the truth of the Synergias on a wider scope than one article. |  |
“Ultimately, Hawes’s narrative is one of triumph, as he manages to escape the cult, adjust to life in the larger world, and forge an independent identity. Hawes has a remarkable, often shocking story to tell, with wide resonance for the world today. In The People & the Idiots, he tells that story in precise and often heartbreaking detail. Readers will not soon forget this vivid memoir.” - Professor Shawn Rosenheim, Williams College.
Just Write Books LLC, an independent publishing company based in Topsham, Maine, publishes Maine books by Maine authors telling Maine stories. JWB uses its trademarked High Point Publishing System with state-of-the-art technology mixed with old-fashioned writing, editing, publishing, and marketing skills to help writers become authors and authors reach their publishing goals.
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