The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Can I just say that in some ways I thought this book was written by a "Charlatan"? The author, Sharlet, bases much of his skeptical, angry, off-base, twisted views of "the Family" on his time living in a "Family" house rather undercover, pretending that he was a Christian/believer. That's not a huge problem, as he was invited into the house by a friend and welcomed by the others living there. It's pretty clear, though, that the viewpoint Sharlet adopted as a result of that and studying religion overall in America prejudices his interpretation and analysis of all things Christian--especially evangelical, which he likes to equate with Fundamentalism. He sees it as a total play for power & money & political influence, not as a desire to see the power of Christ radically change/transform people's & nation's lives. So many things taken out of context and twisted in a dark way--like the constant reference to some of the Family using the example of Hitler's Nazism as a powerful example of how a few can make huge changes in the world. He's done lots of research & interviews--but again, it seems to me that he deliberately and intentionally takes the negative, dark angle. He gets way off topic as well in the last third of the book, and it just tended to drag on. I'm glad I read it, especially after watching the Netflix docu-series, which so clearly showed the bias & prejudice of the author--and examples of taking things out of context again & again. Read on my iPad; borrowed from the library.


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