title: Big Brother (British TV series)

text: Since its premiere, "Big Brother" has been the centre of much publicity, and has received much media attention. The series often receives coverage from tabloid newspapers, magazines, and online bloggers. The series has been a ratings success since it premiered, with the first eviction tally receiving 387,000 votes. The eviction episode itself received a total of 3.4 million viewers. The series continued to have successful viewership, with the third series finale reaching over 9.9 million viewers. The vote for the third series finale saw over 8.6 million viewers voting for whom should win the series. A number of books have been written about the series, including "Big Brother: The Official Unseen Story" by Jean Ritchie (), "The Psychology of Big Brother" by Dan Jones (), and "Visible Thought: The New Psychology of Body Language" by Geoffrey Beattie (). Narinder Kaur, who had previously appeared as a housemate in the second series, went on to release "Big Brother: The Inside Story" ().


title: Big Brother (British TV series)

text: Following their appearance on the series, numerous former housemates went on to enjoy moderate fame and success in the public eye. Most notably, "Big Brother 3" housemate Jade Goody went on to have a successful career in reality television and later went on to appear in the fifth edition of "Celebrity Big Brother". Goody died in 2009 due to cancer. Following her appearance on the series, Goody has frequently been referred to as one of the most successful former housemates. Following the initial conclusion of the series in 2010, a special titled "Jade Goody: Ultimate Housemate" aired on Channel 4 in memory of Goody. Housemates such as Alison Hammond, Brian Dowling, and Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace have enjoyed considerable success appearing in television series and reality television following their appearance on "Big Brother". Housemates Nadia Almada, Craig Phillips, and Nichola Holt all released music following their appearance on the series, with Phillips ultimately having the most success. Nikki Grahame, who rose to fame in the seventh series, had her own television series titled "Princess Nikki" that ran for six weeks on E4. She later went on to appear in numerous reality television series. Chanelle Hayes, who appeared on the eighth series, went on to release a single, work as a model, and receive her own reality television series.


title: Big Brother (British TV series)

text: The series has gone on to be spoofed and parodied by comedians such as Alan Carr, Justin Lee Collins, and Ricky Gervais. The series has been parodied and re-enacted on programs such as "The Friday Night Project", an episode of "Doctor Who" ("Bad Wolf"), and "Extras". The Ben Elton novel "Dead Famous", published in 2001, is a murder-mystery novel in a setting similar to that of "Big Brother". In October 2008, E4 aired the horror series "Dead Set" which was set during a fictional series of "Big Brother". The series featured numerous former housemates, as well as presenter Davina McCall in various roles throughout the series.


title: Big Brother (British TV series)

text: Since its inception, "Big Brother" has come under fire for reports of bullying, racism, rigging, and the physical and mental strain of appearing on the series.


title: Viceroy

text: A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix "vice-", meaning "in the place of" and the French word "roy", meaning "king". He has also been styled the King's lieutenant.


title: Viceroy

text: A viceroy's territory may be called a viceroyalty, though this term is not always applied. The adjective form is viceregal, less often viceroyal. The term vicereine is sometimes used to indicate a female viceroy "suo jure", although viceroy can serve as a gender-neutral term. Vicereine is more commonly used to indicate a viceroy's wife.


title: Viceroy

text: The term has occasionally been applied to the governors-general of the Commonwealth realms, who are "viceregal" representatives of the monarch.


title: Viceroy

text: "Viceroy" is a form of royal appointment rather than noble rank. An individual viceroy often also held a noble title, however, such as Bernardo de Gálvez, 1st Viscount of Galveston who was also Viceroy of New Spain.


title: Viceroy

text: The title was originally used by the Crown of Aragon, where, beginning in the 14th century, it referred to the Spanish governors of Sardinia and Corsica. After the unification, at the end of the 15th century, later kings of Spain came to appoint numerous viceroys to rule over various parts of the increasingly vast Spanish Empire in Europe, the Americas, and overseas elsewhere.


title: Viceroy

text: In Europe, until the 18th century, the Habsburg crown appointed viceroys of Aragon, Valencia, Catalonia, Navarre, Portugal during the brief period known as the Iberian Union, Sardinia, Sicily, and Naples. With the ascension of the House of Bourbon to the Spanish throne, the historic Aragonese viceroyalties were replaced by new captaincies general. At the end of War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish monarchy was shorn of its Italian possessions. These Italian territories, however, continued to have viceroys under their new rulers for some time; Naples until 1734, Sicily until 1816 and Sardinia until 1848.


title: Viceroy

text: The Americas were incorporated into the Crown of Castile. With the Spanish colonization of the Americas, the institution of viceroys was adapted to govern the highly populated and wealthy regions of the north overseas: New Spain (Mexico and Philippines) and the south overseas: Peru and South America. The viceroys of these two areas had oversight over the other provinces, with most of the North American, Central American, Caribbean and East Indian areas supervised by the viceroy in Mexico City and the South American ones by the viceroy in Lima, (with the exception of most of today's Venezuela, which was overseen by the high court, or Audiencia of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola for most of the colonial period). These large administrative territories became known as "viceroyalties" (Spanish term: "virreinatos"). There were only two New World viceroyalties until the 18th century, when the new Bourbon dynasty established two additional viceroyalties to promote economic growth and new settlements on South America. New viceroyalties were created for New Granada in 1717 (capital, Bogotá) and the Río de la Plata in 1776 (capital, Buenos Aires).


title: Viceroy

text: The viceroyalties of the Spanish Americas and the Spanish East Indies were subdivided into smaller, autonomous units, the "audiencias" (tribunal with the authority to judge), and the captaincies general (military districts), which in most cases became the bases for the independent countries of modern Hispanic America. These units gathered the local provinces which could be governed by either a crown official, a "corregidor" (sometimes "alcalde mayor") or by a "cabildo" or town council. Audiencias primarily functioned as superior judicial tribunals, but unlike their European counterparts, the New World audiencias were granted by law both administrative and legislative powers. Captaincies General were primarily military districts set up in areas with a risk of foreign or Indian attack, but the captains general were usually given political powers over the provinces under their command. Because the long distances to the viceregal capital would hamper effective communication, both audiencias and captains general were authorized to communicate directly with the crown through the Council of the Indies. The Bourbon Reforms introduced the new office of the intendant, which was appointed directly by the crown and had broad fiscal and administrative powers in political and military issues.


title: Viceroy

text: The title "viceroy" being awarded to members of the nobility, viceroys, governors and governing commissions were many times interleaved until the last viceroy, Afonso, Prince Royal of Portugal, in 1896.


title: Viceroy

text: From 1505 to 1896 Portuguese India – the name "India" and the official name "Estado da India" (State of India) including all Portuguese possessions in the Indian Ocean, from southern Africa to Southeast Asia and Australasia, until 1752 - was governed either by a viceroy (Portuguese "vice-rei") or governor from its headquarters, in Goa from 1510. The government started six years after the discovery of sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, in 1505, under the first viceroy, Francisco de Almeida (b.1450–d.1510). Initially, King Manuel I of Portugal tried a power distribution with three governors in different areas of jurisdiction: a government covering the area and possessions in East Africa, Arabian Peninsula and Persian Gulf, overseeing up to Cambay (Gujarat); a second one ruling the possessions in India (Hindustan) and Ceylon; and a third one from Malacca to the Far East. However, the post was centered by Governor Afonso de Albuquerque (1509–1515), who became plenipotentiary, and remained so. The duration in office was usually three years, possibly longer, given the power represented: of the thirty-four governors of India in the 16th century, only six had longer mandates.


title: Viceroy

text: During some periods of the Iberian Union, between 1580 and 1640, the king of Spain, who was also king of Portugal, appointed viceroys to govern Portugal itself, as the king had multiple realms throughout Europe and delegated his powers to various viceroys.


title: Viceroy

text: After the end of the Iberian Union in 1640, the governors of Brazil that were members of the Portuguese high nobility started to use the title of Viceroy. Brazil became a permanent Viceroyalty in 1763, when the capital of the State of Brazil ("Estado do Brasil") was transferred from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro.


title: Viceroy

text: Following adoption of the Government of India Act 1858, which transferred control of India from the East India Company to the British Crown, the governor-general as representing the Crown became known as the viceroy. The designation "viceroy", although it was most frequently used in ordinary parlance, had no statutory authority, and was never employed by Parliament. Although the Proclamation of 1858 announcing the assumption of the government of India by the Crown referred to Lord Canning as "first viceroy and governor-general", none of the warrants appointing his successors referred to them as "viceroys", and the title, which was frequently used in warrants dealing with precedence and in public notifications, was basically one of ceremony used in connection with the state and social functions of the sovereign's representative. The governor-general continued to be the sole representative of the Crown, and the government of India continued to be vested in the Governor-General-in-Council.


title: Viceroy

text: The viceroys reported directly to the secretary of state for India in London and were advised by the Council of India. They were largely unencumbered in the exercise of their authority and were among the most powerful men on earth in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, ruling over an entire subcontinent with a large military force at their disposal in the form of the British Indian Army. Under the terms of the Government of India Act 1919, viceroys shared some limited aspects of their authority with the Central Legislative Assembly, one of the first steps in the establishment of Indian home rule. This process was accelerated by the Government of India Act 1935 and ultimately led to the independence of India and Pakistan as dominions in 1947. Both countries finally severed complete ties with Britain when they became republics – India as a secular republic in 1950 and Pakistan as an Islamic republic in 1956.


title: Viceroy

text: Alongside the Commander-in-Chief, India, the viceroy was the public face of the British presence in India, attending to many ceremonial functions as well as political affairs. As the representative of the emperors and empresses of India, who were also the kings and queens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the viceroy served as the grand master of the two principal orders of chivalry of British India: the Order of the Star of India and the Order of the Indian Empire.


title: Viceroy

text: During the office's history, the governors-general of India were based in two cities: Calcutta during the 19th century and New Delhi during the 20th century. Additionally, whilst Calcutta was the capital of British India, the viceroys spent the summer months at Simla. The two historic residences of the viceroys still stand: the Viceroy's House in New Delhi and Government House in Kolkata. They are used today as the official residences of the president of India and the governor of West Bengal, respectively. The portraits of the governors-general still hang in a room on the ground floor of the Presidential Palace, one of the last vestiges of both the viceroys and the British Raj.


title: Viceroy

text: Notable governors-general of India include Warren Hastings, Lord Cornwallis, Lord Curzon, The Earl of Minto, Lord Chelmsford, and Lord Mountbatten. Lord Mountbatten served as the last viceroy of British India, but continued on as the first governor-general of the Dominion of India.


title: Viceroy

text: The lords lieutenant of Ireland were often referred to as "viceroy" after 1700 until 1922, even though the Kingdom of Ireland had been merged in 1801 into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.


title: Viceroy

text: The term has occasionally been applied to the governors-general of the Commonwealth realms, for example Gough Whitlam in 1973 told the Australian House of Representatives: "The Governor-General is the viceroy of the Queen of Australia".


title: Viceroy

text: The Australia Act 1986 also provide that all royal powers in Australia, except the actual appointment of the governor-general and the governors, are exercisable by the viceregal representatives. The noun "viceroy" is rarely used, but the adjective "viceregal" is standard usage.


title: Viceroy

text: Namestnik (, ) was an official position in the history of the Russian Empire. It can be translated as "viceroy", "deputy", "lieutenant" (in the broadest sense of the word) or "in place appointee". The term has two periods of usage, with different meanings.


title: Viceroy

text: The Tsar Paul I's 1799 formation of the Russian-American Company obviated viceroys in the colonization of the northwestern New World.


title: Viceroy

text: Next were a series of "viceroys" (resident in France) from 8 October 1611 to 1672. Later there were governors and governors-general.


title: Viceroy

text: The president of France retains, "ex officio", the title of Co-Prince in the neighboring microstate of Andorra (a post previously occupied by the king of France) and continues to send a personal representative, a "de facto" viceroy to rule on their behalf (as does their co-ruler, the Bishop of Urgell).


title: Viceroy

text: The French position of "adjunct département director, delegate for the sea and coast of the Atlantic Pyrenees and Landes" carries the title of "viceroy of Pheasant Island".


title: Viceroy

text: In Italian "viceré": The highest colonial representatives in the "federation" of Italian East Africa (six provinces, each under a governor; together Ethiopia, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland) were no longer styled "high commissioner", but "viceroy and governor-general" from 5 May 1936, when Italian forces occupied Ethiopia, until 27 November 1941, when the last Italian administrator surrendered to the Allies.


title: Viceroy

text: On 7 April 1939, Italy invaded the Kingdom of Albania (today Albania). As viceré of Albania of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy were the Marchese Francesco Jacomoni di San Savino and after his departure General Alberto Pariani.


title: Viceroy

text: Ban Borić was the first ruler and viceroy of Bosnia, appointed by Géza II of Hungary by 1154. His war affairs are documented as he fought several notable battles. He also maintained ties with knights Templar and donated lands in Bosnia and Slavonia to their order. His own biological brother Dominic was on record as a Knight Templar.


title: Viceroy

text: Due to his vast powers over Bosnian politics and essential veto powers, the modern-day position of the high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina has been compared to that of a viceroy.


title: Viceroy

text: From the earliest medieval period in the Kingdom of Croatia, the position of viceroy was held by Ban of Croatia who acted as king's representative in Croatian lands and supreme commander of Croatian army. In the 18th century, Croatian bans eventually become chief government officials in Croatia. They were at the head of Ban's Government, effectively the first prime ministers of Croatia. The last ban held his position until 1941 and the collapse of Yugoslavia in World War II.


title: Viceroy

text: An equivalent office, called the Exarch, was created in the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire towards the end of the sixth century for governors of important areas too far from the imperial capital of Constantinople to receive regular instruction or reinforcement. The chosen governors of these provinces were empowered to act in place of the monarch (hence "ex-" "outside", "arch" "ruler") with more discretion and autonomy than was granted other categories of governor. This was an extraordinary break from the centralized traditions of the Roman Empire and was an early example of the principle of viceroyalty.


title: Viceroy

text: As with many princely and administrative titles, viceroy is often used, generally unofficially, to render somewhat equivalent titles and offices in non-western cultures.


title: Viceroy

text: In cultures all over the continent of Africa, the role of viceroy has been subsumed into a hereditary noble as opposed to strictly administrative position. In the Arabo-Berber north, for example, the title of Khalifa is often used by individuals who derive their authority to rule from someone else in much the same way as a viceroy would. Elsewhere, subordinate "inkosis" under the rule of a paramount chief like the King of the Zulu Nation of Southern Africa or subordinate "baales" in the realms of the reigning obas of West African Yorubaland continue to occupy statutorily recognized positions in the contemporary countries of South Africa and Nigeria as the customary representatives of their respective principals in the various areas that are under their immediate control.


title: Viceroy

text: The Mughal Empire had a system of administration which involved both official governors appointed from the capital, and local officials (zamindars). Subahdars were the former, and can be seen as equivalents of viceroys, governing the provinces (subahs) by appointment from the capital. Mansabdars were military governors who were also appointed to provincial government, but they were appointed for military rather than civilian government.


title: Viceroy

text: Marathas from the time of Shivaji sent various empire insiders to run foreign parts such as present day Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, where the Maratha empire extended.


title: Viceroy

text: The Khedive of Egypt, especially during the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805–1848). This officer established an almost autonomous regime in Egypt, which officially still was under Ottoman rule. Although Mehemet Ali/Muhammad Ali used different symbols to mark his independence from the Sublime Porte, he never openly declared himself independent. Adopting the title of viceroy was yet another way to walk the thin line between challenging the Sultan's power explicitly and respecting his jurisdiction. Muhammad Ali Pasha's grandson, Ismail Pasha, subsequently received the title of Khedive which was almost an equivalent to viceroy.


title: Viceroy

text: Other titles, such as Sharif (as in the Sharifate of Mecca), or Khan (as in the Crimean Khanate or the Khanate of Kazan), denoted hereditary rulers of Ottoman vassal states, under the Sultan's titles of Caliph and Great Khan, respectively.


title: Viceroy

text: Titles such as pasha, beylerbey, bey, and agha denote officials who were, at least nominally, appointed to their positions by the Sublime Porte rather than hereditary privilege. Pashas and beylerbeys were appointed to govern provinces called eyalets, until the promulgation of the Vilayet Law in 1867 ended the eyalet system, replacing it with more centrally-controlled vilayets. the beylerbey of the Rumelia Eyalet was the only provincial governor entitled to a seat in the Imperial Council, but only when a matter fell within his jurisdiction.


title: Viceroy

text: The post of Tổng Trấn ("governor of all military provinces") was a political post in the early period of the Vietnamese Nguyễn Dynasty (1802–1830). From 1802, under the reign of emperor Gia Long, there were two "Tổng Trấn" who administered Vietnam's northern part named Bắc thành with administrative center in Hanoi and the southern part Gia Định thành with administrative center in Gia Định, while Nguyen emperors ruled only the central region Kinh Kỳ from capital Phú Xuân. "Tổng Trấn" is sometimes translated to English as viceroy. In 1830, emperor Minh Mạng abolished the post in order to increase the imperial direct ruling power in all over Vietnam.


title: Viceroy

text: During the Han, Ming and Qing dynasties, there existed positions of viceroys having control over various provinces (e.g., Liangguang = Guangdong and Guangxi, Huguang = Hubei and Hunan).


title: Viceroy

text: In Siam before 1885, the title was used for the heir-apparent or heir presumptive (Thai: กรมพระราชวังบวรสถานมงคล) The title was abolished and replaced with that of the Crown Prince of Siam.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: Dwayne Glenn McDuffie (February 20, 1962February 21, 2011) was an American writer of comic books and television, known for producing and writing the animated series "Static Shock", "Damage Control", "Justice League Unlimited" and "Ben 10", and co-founding the pioneering minority-owned-and-operated comic book company Milestone Media, which focused on underrepresented minorities in American comics.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: McDuffie was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Leroy McDuffie and Edna (Hawkins) McDuffie Gardner. He attended and graduated from the Roeper School, a school for gifted children in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in 1980. Of African-American characters in comics, he later, said:


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: In 1983, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Michigan, followed by a master's degree in physics. He then moved to New York to attend film school at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. While McDuffie was working as a copy editor at the business magazine "Investment Dealers' Digest", a friend got him an interview for an assistant editor position at Marvel Comics. Posthumously, comedian Keegan-Michael Key discovered he was Dwayne McDuffie's biological half-brother, by their father.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: Going on staff at Marvel as editor Bob Budiansky's assistant on special projects, McDuffie helped develop the company's first superhero trading cards. He also scripted stories for Marvel. His first major work was "Damage Control", a miniseries about the company that shows up between issues and tidies up the mess left by the latest round of superhero/supervillain battles.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: After becoming an editor at Marvel, McDuffie submitted a spoof proposal for a comic entitled "Teenage Negro Ninja Thrashers" in response to Marvel's treatment of its black characters. Becoming a freelancer in 1990, McDuffie wrote for dozens of various comics titles for Marvel, DC Comics, and Archie Comics. In addition, he wrote "Monster in My Pocket" for Harvey Comics editor Sid Jacobson, whom he cites on his website as having taught him everything he knows. In early 1991, he divorced his first wife, Patricia D. Younger, in Seminole County, Florida.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: In the early 1990s, wanting to express a multicultural sensibility that he felt was missing in comic books, McDuffie and three partners founded Milestone Media, which "The Plain Dealer" of Cleveland, Ohio, described in 2000 as "the industry's most successful minority-owned-and operated comic company." McDuffie explained:


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: Milestone, whose characters include the African-American Static, Icon, and Hardware; the Asian-American Xombi, and the multi-ethnic superhero group the Blood Syndicate, which include Black, Asian and Latino men and women, debuted its titles in 1993 through a distribution deal with DC Comics. Serving as editor-in-chief, McDuffie created or co-created many characters, including Static.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: After Milestone had ceased publishing new comics, Static was developed into an animated series "Static Shock". McDuffie was hired to write and story-edit on the series, writing 11 episodes.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: McDuffie was hired as a staff writer for the animated series "Justice League" and was promoted to story editor and producer as the series became "Justice League Unlimited". During the entire run of the animated series, McDuffie wrote, produced, or story-edited 69 out of the 91 episodes.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: McDuffie was hired to help revamp and story-edit Cartoon Network's popular animated "Ben 10" franchise with "", continuing the adventures of the ten-year-old title character into his mid and late teenage years. During the run of the series, McDuffie wrote episodes 1–3, 14, 25–28, 45 and 46 and/or story-edited all forty-six episodes. McDuffie also produced and story edited for the second sequel series "", which premiered April 23. 2010. He wrote episodes 1, 10, 11, 16, 30, 39 together with J. M. DeMatteis and 52.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: McDuffie wrote a number of direct-to-DVD animated films featuring DC Comics characters – including "" and "". He scripted the direct-to-DVD adaptation of "All-Star Superman", which was released one day after his death. "" was released posthumously in 2012.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: McDuffie's work was also seen on "", having shared story by credit on the first two episodes, "The More Things Change, Parts 1 and 2."


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: After his popular work in "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited", McDuffie returned to writing comic books. He wrote the Marvel miniseries "Beyond!".


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: In 2007, McDuffie wrote several issues of "Firestorm" for DC Comics, starting in January through to its cancellation. Later that year, he became the regular writer on "Fantastic Four", scripting issues #542–553 (cover-dated Dec. 2006 March 2008). As well, he wrote "Justice League of America" vol. 2, writing virtually every issue from #13–34 (Nov. 2007 – Aug. 2009). He was fired from that series following a Lying in the Gutters compilation of his frank answers to fans about the creative process.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: McDuffie wrote "Milestone Forever" for DC Comics, a two-issue, squarebound miniseries chronicling the final adventures of his Milestone characters before a catastrophic event that fuses their continuity with the continuity of the DC Universe.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: On February 21, 2011, one day after his 49th birthday, McDuffie died at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California, of complications from emergency heart surgery.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: The 2012 film "" was dedicated to the memory of Dwayne McDuffie, and the Blu-ray and 2-Disc DVD editions of the film included the documentary, "A Legion of One: The Dwayne McDuffie Story." That same year, a diner named "McDuffie's" was depicted in the "" episode "The New Guy".


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: In 2012, the "Ultimate Spider-Man" episode "Damage" was dedicated in memory of Dwayne McDuffie. In the episode, a new character named "Mac" was introduced as the CEO of the Damage Control, the fictional company created by McDuffie.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: Also in 2012, the "" final episode "The Ultimate Enemy: Part 2", the crew of the series dedicated the episode in his memory in the credits. The same tribute appeared in the racing video game based on the series, "".


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: In 2015, the Long Beach Comic Expo gave out the first Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity in Comics. It has since become an annual event for the expo.


title: Dwayne McDuffie

text: The Dwayne McDuffie Award for Kids' Comics is given out each year at the Ann Arbor Comic Arts Festival.


title: Aisha Hinds

text: Aisha Jamila Hinds is an American television, stage and film actress. She had supporting roles in a number of television series, include "The Shield", "Invasion", "True Blood", "Detroit 1-8-7" and "Under the Dome". In 2016, she played Fannie Lou Hamer in biographical drama film "All the Way." She has also appeared in "Assault on Precinct 13" (2005) and was cast as Harriet Tubman in WGN America period drama "Underground". Beginning in 2018, Hinds stars in the Fox procedural drama series "9-1-1".


title: Aisha Hinds

text: Hinds was born in New York, New York. She began her career on television in 2003, on "NYPD Blue". In 2004, she had a recurring role on "The Shield" as Annie Price, and later guest-starred in "Crossing Jordan", "Boston Legal", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "", "Stargate SG-1", "Cold Case", and "Desperate Housewives". Hinds was a series regular in the two short-lived ABC series "Invasion" from 2005 to 2006, and "Detroit 1-8-7" (2010–2011). She had recurring roles on "Dollhouse", "HawthoRNe" and "True Blood". In film, Hinds appeared in "Mr. Brooks", "Madea Goes to Jail", "Unstoppable", and "Star Trek Into Darkness". On stage, she played the leading role of "The Best of Enemies" at George Street Playhouse in 2011.


title: Aisha Hinds

text: In 2013, Hinds appeared on the CW series, "Cult", as the evil Rosalind Sakelik. Right after "Cult" was canceled, Hinds was cast as a series regular on the CBS television series "Under the Dome" based on Stephen King's book of the same title. She was changed to recurring basis after the first season. In 2014, she had supporting roles in films "If I Stay" and "Beyond the Lights". Also in that year, she had the recurring role of Chief Investigator Ava Wallace on the CBS police procedural, "". In 2015, Hinds was cast as a regular in the TNT drama pilot, "Breed".


title: Aisha Hinds

text: In 2016, Hinds received positive reviews for playing civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in the HBO biographical drama film "All the Way". Later she was cast in the Fox drama series "Shots Fired", and in the WGN America period drama "Underground," playing Harriet Tubman. She stars as paramedic Henrietta "Hen" Wilson on TV series "9-1-1" which focuses on Los Angeles first responders including 9-1-1 dispatchers, police officers and the firefighters and paramedics as they deal with not only saving lives but also with struggles in their own lives.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: "A" is a fictional character in the "Pretty Little Liars" franchise. Created by author Sara Shepard in 2006, the character serves as the main antagonist in both the television and book series. It has also appeared in the web series "Pretty Dirty Secrets" (2012).


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Working as an anonymous figure, “A” is a stalker who blackmails, manipulates and tortures the main characters of the franchise.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: In the novel series, the first and original "A" was revealed to be Mona Vanderwaal. The second "A" is revealed as Alison DiLaurentis and the third "A" as Nick Maxwell.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: In the television series, the first and original “A” was revealed to be Mona Vanderwaal. Mona later builds “The A-Team” with the help of the second “Big A,” Charlotte DiLaurentis. The series concluded with the third and final “Uber A” being revealed as Alex Drake, the twin sister of Spencer Hastings.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: In the fourth "Pretty Little Liars" series, "", Archie Waters take the identity of "A", working together with his father, Marshall Clanton.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: In the original television series, all three characters who take up the identity of "A" are mentally ill women seeking revenge for something that has negatively altered their lives. “A” frequently manipulates, blackmails and tortures.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Three years after the disappearance of Alison DiLaurentis, her four friends, Aria Montgomery, Spencer Hastings, Emily Fields, and Hanna Marin, each receives messages from someone calling themselves "A". The girls had drifted apart over the years, so they had no idea that other people were getting texts as well. Additionally, the texts were about secrets only Ali knew about. At first, the messages were simply teasing and all of the girls wonder if their missing friend was the one who sent them. Though they knew she was most likely dead, she was still the only one who knew their darkest secrets. Once Ali's body is discovered in her old backyard, the girls are even more baffled when they continue to receive threats. At Ali's funeral, the girls are reunited and they find out that they've all been receiving weird messages. As the girls stand outside after the funeral ends, they all get a text saying, "I'm still here, bitches. And I know everything. –A".


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Alison DiLaurentis lived a life which she felt was ruined by her twin sister, Courtney DiLaurentis who was smarter and kinder. Alison began emotionally manipulating Courtney into pretending to be Alison, until she eventually tricked Courtney into pretending to strangle her. Courtney is sent to a mental hospital as a result and the ashamed DiLaurentis's erase all trace of her, Alison becomes Queen Bee at her new school. Courtney is allowed a short trip home to meet with her family, but whilst there sees Spencer, Hannah, Aria and Emily arguing outside and goes out to talk to them. Because of this, her parents believe she is Alison, the real Alison insists she's Alison, but because of her manipulating Courtney into pretending to be her they think she is lying. A vengeful Alison is taken away to the Mental Hospital.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: A third 'A' begins tormenting the girls. Emily hopes it's Alison, and the rest of the girls hope it's not, however it is likely she survived the explosion. 'A' is more violent than the previous ones, starting off by mainly just tormenting the girls about all of their difficult situations such as Spencer framing Kelsey, Hanna framing Madison, Emily having a baby and the Jamaica Incident. They then reveal that they in fact killed Tabitha, not the girls as they previously thought, and four people are killed by them - Tabitha, Gayle, Kyla, and Graham and many more injured. The girls suspect that this 'A' isn't just Alison as she isn't strong enough to do all of the heavy loading and that this is in fact an accomplice of hers.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Original A was the first "A" and revealed to be Mona Vanderwaal. Mona began torturing Alison by sending her gifts, threats and soon attacking her while wearing a zombie costume. "A" continued to mess with Ali and her mother Jessica DiLaurentis, whom she believed it to be Spencer Hastings. After Alison's disappearance, "A" went away for a year but after the corpse of Bethany Young (believed to be Alison at the time) was found, she reemerged. "A" began sending the Liars messages about things only Alison knew about them and soon even began messing with their parents. Doctor Anne Sullivan had previously dealt with the person behind the hoodie and when "A" trashed her office she immediately recognized the person. She almost exposes her identity to the Liars but "A" kidnaps her and went as far as to threaten her son's life. But the Liars are still close to figuring it out and during the second half of season two they manage to get a hold of "A's" phone. They hatch a plan to catch her with this and it works. They find out that "A" had a lair at the Lost woods resort and Spencer and Mona ("A's" newest victim) head over there and find a room full of pictures of Alison and the girls along with a sketch of "A's" costume to the ball, The Black Swan. However, Spencer begins to notice other clues and soon realizes "A" is right there with her. She turns around to see Mona in a black hoodie, who reveals herself as "A". She kidnaps Spencer and gives her an opportunity to join the "A" team but Spencer declines and the two get into a fight, where Mona is pushed off of a cliff. Though Mona survives, she is sent to Radley Sanitarium for medical assistance. While in the psychiatric hospital, Mona takes up a partnership suggested by the then unknown CeCe Drake that starts off the second game. After this, Mona became another henchmen in the "A" hierarchy, obeying the orders of CeCe, whom she knew as Red Coat. Mona was kicked off of the A-Team in the season three finale. However, Mona joins the new "A.D." team in Season 7, after "A.D." sends Wren to kill her and she offers to help instead. She helps them kidnap Spencer and wears a Melissa mask, but ultimately turns on them and brings the Liars to them, as well as a cop. However, this turns out to be a ruse and the "cop" is actually Mona's French boyfriend, who helps her take Mary and Alex (the two remaining members) to France to live in her own personal Dollhouse. Mona is the final "A" of the series, being the "winner" of the game...


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Big A was the person who took over the "A" game from Mona Vanderwaal after she was admitted to Radley Sanitarium and revealed to be CeCe Drake (A.K.A. Charlotte DiLaurentis or Charles Dilaurentis). She had visited Mona in Radley and used her to get information about the Liars before taking over the game herself and had used the A-Team, which consisted of her ally Sara, Jenna, Noel, Wren, Wilden, Mona, Toby, Lucas, Melissa, and Spencer, to do her dirty work and sometimes went under the Red Coat disguise. Big A often hid out at a lair situated in Room A at an apartment building at Mayflower Hill and a mobile RV which was stolen but Toby gave it back to "A" in exchange for information about his mother's death. It is revealed that Charlotte had been hiding out in the basement of the DiLaurentis house and drilled holes through the floor to spy on the family in her Red Coat disguise and shared the identity with Alison. Her disguise as Red Coat was exposed in the fourth season mid finale when Emily was trapped on a saw at Ravenswood and later got into a fight with Aria who discovered her identity and Charlotte later fell off a platform and escaped. In A' Is for Answers", the Liars are under attack by "A" who shoots Ezra Fitz on the rooftop. However, in the fifth-season premiere, the shooter is revealed to be Shana Fring who attempted to kill Alison but was later shoved off a stage by Aria and died from the impact. After all of this, Charlotte fled to France under the Vivian Darkbloom identity to escape custody for Wilden's death but returned. In the series's 100th episode, Charlotte planted a bomb in the Cavanaugh house which detonated, signalling her triumphant return to Rosewood. In season five, CeCe breaks into the Vanderwaal home and kidnaps Mona just as she is about to tell the Liars that Alison is "A" and covers up her kidnapping as a homicide. She then brings Mona to the Dollhouse and tortures her and forces her to dress up and act like Alison. Just as the Liars are being brought to jail, CeCe kidnaps them and tortures them inside the Dollhouse. Inside, the liars discover that Big "A" is named Charlotte DiLaurentis. CeCe/Charlotte reveals herself as "A" and tells her story; saying that she is transgender, was formerly known as Charles DiLaurentis, and became "A" because the Liars were happy that Alison was gone. She worked with Sara Harvey, who was the Black Widow and a decoy Red Coat, and was also responsible for the "death" of Alison and the death of Wilden, and after telling her story, she attempts suicide by jumping off Radley but is stopped. She is admitted to Welby State and her reign as "A" finally ends and stays in the psychiatric hospital for five years. When she is released, Charlotte is murdered by Mona Vanderwaal and her death causes the birth of "A.D.", the new Uber A. After her death, it is revealed that Noel Kahn and Jenna Marshall were also working for Charlotte. It is also revealed that her birth mother is Jessica's twin, Mary Drake, and her birth father is Ted Wilson, while Spencer is her sister. The series finale reveals that "A.D." is her sister and Spencer's twin, Alex Drake, whom Charlotte met after boarding the plane to France. She and Alex become very close after meeting, until Charlotte returned to Rosewood to play the game some more. Alex reveals that Charlotte never returned to her in London and the next time she saw her was when she visited her grave.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Uber A, also known as A.D., is the third person to take over the identity of "A". In the show's series finale, Uber A's identity is revealed to be Alex Drake, Spencer's twin sister who was put up for adoption at birth. She desperately craves vengeance over the tragic passing of Charlotte DiLaurentis, who was her half-sister, and is trying to seek out the person responsible. Unlike Mona or Charlotte, Alex does not use any nicknames at first but instead signs their messages with emojis, which differentiates her from the A-Team. This causes Caleb to nickname her Amoji. However, in the sixth-season finale, she begins using the alias "A.D." and kidnaps Hanna, whom she believes is accountable for her sister's homicide. Hanna manages to escape Uber A's clutches and Alex goes after Alison, who the Liars suggested as guilty for her own cousin's murder. Uber A eventually finds out that Alison is innocent after searching her jacket. While Uber A does work on their own, she also works through a new "A-Team" of helpers, known to consist of Jenna Marshall, Sydney Driscoll, and Aria Montgomery, who are assisting them in completing the endgame. The series finale explains that Alex Drake was put up for adoption in exchange for a sum of money (for Mary), but then left at an orphanage by her adopted parents who were concerned for their image. She ran away from the orphanage at ten years old and eventually started working in a bar in London, where Wren Kingston mistook her for Spencer, revealing the existence of Alex's twin and Charlotte. Wren introduces Charlotte and Alex in an airport (just after Charlotte met Archer Dunhill) and they immediately connect, becoming very close in a short amount of time. After Charlotte is released from Welby, she tells Alex that she wishes to return to Rosewood and resume the game, but Alex says she shouldn't go unless she gets to come too, since she wants to meet Spencer. Charlotte says no and describes the Hastings as "toxic people" before leaving for Rosewood, where she was murdered by Mona. Alex is enraged and forces Wren to shoot her so that she looks exactly like Spencer and can successfully impersonate her. She then goes to Rosewood and picks up the game as "Uber A". Alex has made several appearances where she impersonates Spencer, including, but not limited to: The run in with Ezra at the airport where she introduced Wren, the kiss between "Spencer" and Toby just before the latter planned to leave Rosewood with Yvonne, and Hanna's "dream" where she "hallucinated" Spencer while A.D held her hostage. The latter was done so that Alex could find out whether Hanna was telling the truth about killing Charlotte.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: In "Original Sin", A is revealed to be Archie Waters. Archie is the illegitimate son of Rose Waters and Marshall Clanton, whose clandestine affair during high school resulted in Rose's pregnancy with Archie and his twin sister, Angela. Rose never let Archie out of the house and keep his existence a secret because he has a disfigured face. Later, Clanton became the vice-principal of Millwood High School and Rose returned so Angela can attend the school and have proper education. He and Rose decided to not tell Angela his identity as her father. In high school, Angela desperately wanted to fit in and joined Davie Adams's popular group. The group often did their best to embarrass, humiliate, and degrade Angela.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: When Angela was raped by Davie's boyfriend, Tom Beasley, Davie forced the group to turn their backs on her. Davie made sure everyone in the school treated her as invisible and worthless. During a Halloween party in 1999, Angela committed suicide in public after her pleas for help was ignored by everyone.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: 22 years later, Archie take the identity of "A" to help his father avenge Angela and begins killing people who are considered bullies.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: The A-Team is a group of anonymous characters that worked together as "A". The team would work under the orders of the "A" in charge, who has been Mona Vanderwaal, the original leader and founder, CeCe Drake, the second leader, and Alex Drake, the final leader. Alex's team is also referred to as the "A.D.-Team".


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Sara was the right-hand woman to Charlotte and also revealed as an A-Team member halfway throughout the sixth season. She has also been a Red Coat and was revealed as the Black Widow. She then became Charlotte's friend and ally in the "A" game and assisted her in most of her schemes. Sara was allegedly diagnosed with Stockholm syndrome following Charlotte's arrest but later discloses to Alison that she lied under oath, also admitting that she and Charlotte were, in fact, close friends and she felt as though they were sisters. Later, Sara was possibly enlisted by Jenna Marshall and Noel Kahn (and possibly "A.D.") to work with them. However, Sara was killed by Noel after she tried to reveal more than she should to Emily._


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Sydney was Uber A's helper for a brief period of time. She is first seen communicating with them through text messages when she makes a donation under their name at the Vogel Vision Institute. When Aria and Emily confront her, Driscoll claims that she is simply representing a client who prefers to remain anonymous. However, she returns in the following episode and reveals herself to be "A.D.". She offers Aria the chance to join their team, but Aria realizes that Sydney is communicating with someone through an earpiece, revealing that she's just a minion. Aria asks her why she would join their tormentor and Driscoll replies that she wants to be part of the "winning team". However, Uber A, who reveals herself as Spencer's twin sister Alex Drake, reveals in the series finale that Sydney wasn't involved in the Blind School shooting and joined the A-Team because Alex found out she had been stealing from a bank and she fit the hoodie.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Toby was recruited by Mona to join the A-Team when he got a job in Bucks County. When this happened, Spencer found out on the night she was planning their anniversary dinner. His participation in the team was revealed in the finale of Season 3A. He worked hand in hand with Mona and did most of the dirty work for the team, like running down Lucas and attacking Hanna. However, like Mona, he didn't know the identity of Red Coat. Spencer finds out about his betrayal and goes off the deep end, especially after discovering his corpse. However, it is revealed that he is alive and well, with the corpse being a trick by Mona and Red Coat that he says he didn't know about until after. He is also revealed to be a double agent and gets kicked off the team.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Spencer joined the A-Team briefly near the ending of the third season after being told Toby joined previously she thought this was a way to keep close to him. Initially, Spencer was extremely determined to be part of the team. However, she later unfolds the truth behind the disappearance of Toby and became a double agent as well. Like Toby, she got kicked off from the team. She is the "A" who kidnapped Malcolm, causing a break up between Ezra and Aria.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Lucas was the personal assistant to Mona. He was blackmailed by Mona and the A-Team into sending texts and doing their dirty work. Lucas claims his blackmail began after Mona discovered he was selling test answers. However, Mona later discloses that Lucas was the "A" who gave Emily a massage back in the second season while Mona was off riding with Hanna. During the seventh-season episode "Hold Your Piece", Pastor Ted Wilson reveals to Hanna that he used to run a summer camp for troubled boys, and Charlotte was a camper there prior to her transition. Wilson is disheartened when describing that he interacted with his offspring without awareness they were related. Ted then showcases Hanna a picture of himself back when he worked at the camp, chaperoning Charles and Lucas, whom he described as his son's "only friend".


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Melissa was blackmailed by Mona into wearing the Black Swan disguise to the Masquerade Ball in order to distract Jenna. Mona threatened to reveal her fake pregnancy if she didn't obey her orders. Later, Melissa got onto the Halloween Train dressed as the Queen of Hearts and drugged Aria. Melissa and Wilden then attempted to push her off of the train in a box with Garrett's dead body. It is implied that she was once again blackmailed. It is implied in "A Dark Ali" that Melissa is once again working for "A", as she is seen handing a recording (presumed stolen by "A") to a man resembling Cyrus Petrillo and later implies to Spencer that "A" has something in store for Ali and the Liars.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Wilden was also part of the team as he was the Queens of Hearts responsible for trying to kill Spencer. He also murdered Garrett Reynolds, fearing he'd expose him as a crooked cop and placed his corpse in a box beside a fainted Aria. Wilden's reasoning for helping the team is unknown but implied to be blackmail.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Jenna was a member of the A-Team during the reign of Big A and was also working anonymously for Uber A. She returns to Rosewood in Season 7 and in "Along Comes Mary" and befriends Sara Harvey. Meanwhile, Aria Montgomery and Emily Fields discover that Jenna was on Archer's payroll for unknown reasons. On the episode's closing scene, Jenna and Sara are having drinks at The Radley when an unknown figure approaches the two and reveals themselves to be Noel Kahn, who proceeds to join the duo. When confronted by Emily in regards to her involvement with Archer during "Wanted: Dead or Alive", Jenna admits she befriended Charlotte DiLaurentis after reading about her stay at Welby and reached out. In a flashback, Charlotte enlists Jenna's help to track down the whereabouts of her birth mother and come up with an alias for Archer. The pseudonym "Elliott Rollins" was later created so Archer could deliberately meet Alison and take advantage of her good intentions to benefit Charlotte's eventual release from the psychiatric hospital. In "The DArkest Knight", all of the Liars get a text message, ordering them to head over to 1465, Elm Street. After being lured to an abandoned school for blind students, they're held hostage by Noel and Jenna, tracking them down at gunpoint. During the cat-and-mouse chase, Jenna takes aim at the Liars only to backfire, until a second gunshot is heard and it injures Spencer. As Marshall prepares to finish her off, Mary Drake suddenly emerges from behind and knocks her out. While Drake attempts to help Spencer, an unknown figure drags Jenna away from the building. On the closing scene of the episode, the anonymous entity places her in the back of a van, while she questions them if they were responsible for the gunshot that hit Spencer. As the mysterious figure proceeds to rip off an old man's mask and toss it over to Jenna's side, Marshall feels it up and realizes that A.D. was the one who rescued her. At the end of "Playtime", Jenna is seated in A.D.'s lair, sipping tea. She thanks the unidentified individual for the drink and reminds them of their promise to update her on the "game". Dressed in a nurse's uniform, A.D. drops a binder on Marshall's lap with pages of information written in braille. After Jenna reads a paragraph, she mutters the word "endgame" and grins in delight. During "These Boots Were Made for Stalking", Jenna walks into the police station in order to come clean about her actions and interrupts a conversation between Spencer and detective Marco Furey. Marshall reports that she kept a low profile after the events that took place at the abandoned school for blind students to avoid being harmed by Noel. According to Jenna, Noel was accountable for Sara Harvey's homicide and she feared to be his ensuing victim. Kahn recruited Jenna with the assertion that Charlotte left enough money in her will to afford Marshall another eye surgery. Nevertheless, Jenna suspected Noel of stealthily plotting to steal the cash all to himself since his parents had financially cut him off. In an attempt to spare her life, Marshall brought a gun to the deserted sight school as an act of self-defense and pretended to hold a grudge against the Liars. After Jenna describes her side of the story, Furey orders one of his associates to escort Marshall to a conference room so she can make an official statement. As Jenna exits the room, Spencer claims that she's an unreliable narrator. However, Furey informs Spencer that the authorities don't have enough evidence against Marshall because the bullet that injured Spencer didn't match the gun found at the location. Later in the episode, Caleb confronts Jenna stating that the authorities were already detecting holes in her allegations. However, Marshall assures Caleb they won't be able to prosecute her since Noel was the only person who could contradict her statement. In the series finale, Spencer's twin, Alex Drake, is revealed to be "A.D.". She reveals that Jenna was looking for her and recruited Noel to help. However, Jenna was desperate for another chance to see and offered to help her in the game.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Noel Kahn served as one of Big A/Charlotte's former minions and worked for her at the Dollhouse, having been responsible for placing blood all over Spencer Hastings to convince she had hurt someone. Noel became the prime suspect for Uber A, particularly after Alison reveals that he was the one who pushed the girl down a flight of stairs during the UPenn frat party. Hanna abducts him at the end of "The Wrath of Kahn" in an attempt to obtain a video confession that proves he's "A.D."/Uber A. In the following episode "The DArkest Knight", she instead ends up slashing his leg with a knife in order to test his DNA and see if it matches Mary Drake's. The results later come back negative and Kahn ends up escaping. Noel and Jenna later lure the Liars to an abandoned school for blind students so they could be held hostage and eventually murdered. During a cat-and-mouse chase, Kahn ends up stumbling upon an axe that decapitates his head after failing to fight Emily and Hanna. In the following episode, "Playtime", Detective Marco Furey informs Spencer that Jenna and Noel frequently visited Archer Dunhill at Welby. During "These Boots Were Made for Stalking", Jenna walks into the police station in order to come clean about her actions and interrupts a conversation between Spencer and detective Marco Furey. Marshall reports that she kept a low profile after the events that took place at the abandoned school for blind students to avoid being harmed by Noel. According to Jenna, Noel was accountable for Sara Harvey's homicide and she feared to be his ensuing victim. Kahn recruited Jenna with the assertion that Charlotte left enough money in her will to afford Marshall another eye surgery. Nevertheless, Jenna suspected Noel of stealthily plotting to steal the cash all to himself since his parents had financially cut him off. In an attempt to spare her life, Marshall brought a gun to the deserted sight school as an act of self-defense and pretended to hold a grudge against the Liars. However, when Caleb later confronts Jenna about the authorities detecting holes in her allegations, she informs him that the only person who could contradict her side of the story was Noel. It is unknown if Noel knew Jenna was working for "A.D." and was also working for them or if Jenna was working for "A.D." separately from their operation.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Aria is "A.D.'s" helper. Aria is given the offer to join the team in "Power Play". She accepts in the following episode and begins supplying information to Uber A. After the Liars discover Lucas' graphic novel, Aria is sent by Uber A to retrieve it. Once she delivers it, she is given an "A" hoodie in return. She breaks into Alison's house sporting the disguise and trashes the nursery for her baby. In the next episode, Aria is sent by "A.D." to deliver a "gift" to the Hastings family. She connects to their Bluetooth and leaves a burner phone there to play a video recording of Peter and Mary discussing Jessica's murder. She later gets back into her "A" disguise and breaks into Alison's house to put the puzzle piece onto the game board and retrieve her file. "A.D." contacts Aria again and gives her a phone to communicate on. "A.D." asks Aria to meet them and to wear the uniform to do so. Mona overhears the call and tells the Liars of Aria's involvement with the A-Team. Aria gets into her "A" hoodie and goes to meet "A.D.", only to be confronted by the Liars. She then officially defects from the team and rejoins the Liars.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Mary joins the A.D.-Team after the time jump, when Mona breaks her out of prison for Alex and she then helps Alex with kidnapping Spencer and keeping her locked away in the bunker. When Alex tries to kill Spencer, Mary tries to convince her to just keep her locked up, but Alex refuses and punches her to keep her from interfering. Mary and Alex are then kidnapped by Mona and kept as her dolls in her own personal dollhouse. Mary is also Jessica DiLaurentis' killer and implied to be the "A" who buried her. It is unknown if Mary was on the A-Team prior to the series finale or was simply forced into joining to keep Spencer locked up.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Wren was a member of the A-Team and is one of the helpers to Alex/Uber A. He helped CeCe/Charlotte sneak into Radley with fake visitors passes to visit Mona and later informs her of Alex's existence. When Alex takes over, he shoots her so that she will have the same scar as Spencer and then later comes to Welby to kill Mona as "A.D." for Alex, only stopping once Mona says she can help get Mary out. Alex kills Wren so that she doesn't have to break up with him in order to get her endgame wishes. Despite Wren being the only person to know almost everything about Alex's game, he doesn't participate much during the actual game, only doing a few things for Alex.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Shana pretended to be "A" to attack the Liars in New York. She donned a black hoodie and attacked them at the coffee shop, only to end up shooting Ezra instead, who had found out her identity. In the following episode, she continued to hunt down the Liars, and sent a group of black hoodies to trick them. The black hoodies used the alias "A" during their taunting of the Liars. Shana revealed herself to the girls and revealed that she wanted justice for Jenna. The Liars falsely believed that Shana was Big A.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Although typically wearing a signature black hoodie and gloves, “A” has worn a variety of disguises in the television series to spy on the Liars at various parties and events.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Red Coat is a disguise used by two members of the A-Team. Consisting of a knee length red trench coat, black skinny jeans and black heeled ankle boots, CeCe Drake took on the disguise to lead the A-Team and go out in public.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: Drake also hired Sara Harvey to act as a decoy whenever she couldn't sport the disguise in her assignments. Alison DiLaurentis occasionally used the disguise to protect her friends without revealing she was alive.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: The Black Widow is a previously anonymous character who attended detective Darren Wilden's funeral in 'A' Is for A-l-i-v-e". The disguise is all black clothing, with her face concealed by a black veil. The Black Widow is later shown to be a part of the A-Team, when she is seen inside the "A" R.V. placing a Mona doll with the rest of the "A" doll collection. She then lifts up her veil to reveal a burned Ali mask underneath, revealing that she was the Red Coat at the Lodge. In the fifth season, the disguise is seen inside one of "A's" lairs. In "Game Over, Charles", it is revealed that Sara Harvey was the Black Widow. Charlotte sent her to Wilden's funeral to make sure he was deceased. In "Of Late I Think of Rosewood", Sara shows up to Charlotte's funeral in a variation of the disguise, though this time revealing her face.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: In a nightmare that Alison had during "How the 'A' Stole Christmas", her mom, Jessica DiLaurentis shows up as the Black Widow.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: The Queen of Hearts is a previously anonymous character that made an appearance during the third season's Halloween special, "This Is a Dark Ride". In the fourth season's premiere, it is revealed that there were actually two of them in the Halloween train, Melissa Hastings and Darren Wilden. Wilden attacked Spencer and fought Paige, while Melissa drugged Aria and took her body. Wilden also murdered Garrett Reynolds fearing he'd expose his corrupt activities and Melissa later admits to Spencer that she was blackmailed into doing his bidding. However, in Mona's footage, evidence shows that Wilden tried to abandon the train and Melissa is heard ordering him to stay. Wilden would later place a fainted Aria in a box beside Garrett's corpse and then gathered with Melissa in an attempt to push them off the train. They fled the scene once Aria regained her consciousness and stabbed Wilden.


title: A (Pretty Little Liars)

text: The Black Swan is a previously anonymous character that made an appearance during the Masquerade Ball. Melissa was revealed to be the person behind the disguise in "Birds of a Feather". She claimed that "A" (Mona) threatened her, stating that her false pregnancy would've been exposed if she did not distract Jenna during the event. The disguise is inspired by Odile from "Swan Lake".


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Norman Vincent Peale (May 31, 1898 – December 24, 1993) was an American Protestant clergyman, and an author best known for popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book "The Power of Positive Thinking" (1952). He served as the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, New York, from 1932, leading this Reformed Church in America congregation for more than a half century until his retirement in 1984. Alongside his pulpit ministry, he had an extensive career of writing and editing, and radio and television presentations. Despite arguing at times against involvement of clergy in politics, he nevertheless had some controversial affiliations with politically active organizations in the late 1930s, and engaged with national political candidates and their campaigns, having influence on some, including a personal friendship with President Richard Nixon.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Peale led a group opposing the election of John F. Kennedy for president, saying, "Faced with the election of a Catholic, our culture is at stake." Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr responded that Peale was motivated by "blind prejudice," and facing intense public criticism, Peale retracted his statement. He also opposed Adlai Stevenson's candidacy for president because he was divorced, which led Stevenson to famously quip "I find Saint Paul appealing and Saint Peale appalling."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Following the publication of Peale's 1952 best seller, his ideas became the focus of criticism from several psychiatric professionals, church theologians and leaders. Peale was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, on March 26, 1984, by President Ronald Reagan. He died at age 95, following a stroke, on December 24, 1993, in Pawling, New York. He was survived by Ruth Stafford, his wife of 63 years, who had influenced him with regard to the publication of "The Power" in 1952, and with whom he had founded "Guideposts" in 1945; Ruth died on February 6, 2008, at the age of 101.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Peale was born in Bowersville, Ohio on May 31, 1898, the eldest of three sons of Charles and Anna (née Delaney) Peale, Charles a physician-turned-Methodist minister in southern Ohio, and as such, he and his brothers were raised as Methodists.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Peale graduated from Bellefontaine High School, Bellefontaine, Ohio. He attended and earned a degree at Ohio Wesleyan University, where he became a brother at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He also began to attend Boston University School of Theology.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Serving as a pulpit replacement in a subsequent summer break (for an Ohio church pastor that had fallen ill), the Boston theology trainee was persuaded by his father to abandon the formal preaching style of his training for one of simplicity, which led Peale to talk about "Jesus Christ... relat[ing him] to the simplicities of human lives," and which led, he would later recollect, to a "good reception" and "look[s] of gratitude and goodness" on the faces of congregants. Leaving school thereafter to earn needed funds, Peale would work in journalism at "The Detroit Journal", after a year of reporting in Findlay, Ohio at "The Morning Republican". Leaving journalism, Peale returned his focus to ministry, and in 1922 was ordained a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church. After a first assignment in Rhode Island, at an unknown church in Berkeley, he accepted a call to Brooklyn, where, in 1924, his work from the pulpit and in general added to its membership more than twenty-fold within a year, leading the small congregation to build a new church.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: He received a call to Syracuse, New York and in 1927 took the pulpit at the University Methodist Church; it was also while there that he became one of the first American clergymen to bring his sermons to the emerging commercial technology of radio, a media decision that added to his general popularity, and that he would later extend in the same way to television. During the Depression, Peale teamed up with J.C. Penney & Co. founder James Cash Penney, radio personality Arthur Godfrey, and IBM founder and President Thomas J. Watson, forming (and sitting the first board of) 40Plus, an organization aimed at helping unemployed managers and executives. On June 20, 1930, Peale married Loretta Ruth Stafford.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: In 1932 or 1933 he was called to the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, a call which required that he "switch his denomination"—for a clergyman, transfer his ordination—to the Reformed Church in America, "a transfer made... with no apparent problem for him". His tenure at Marble Collegiate Church, which dated to 1628 and was "said to be the oldest continuous Protestant congregation in the country", began with an attendance at service of 200, but which would grow to thousands, as a result of his "spirited sermons". Peale would remain at Marble until his retirement from pastoral work, in 1984.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: His theology was controversial, and prominent theologians such as Ronald Niebuhr and William Miller spoke out publicly against it. They contended that Peale's theology falsely represented Christianity and that Peale's writings and sermons were factually false as well. Niebuhr said "This new cult is dangerous. Anything which corrupts the Gospel hurts Christianity. And it hurts people too." William Miller Wrote that Peale's theology is "hard on the truth," full of undocumented claims, and after reviewing Peale's entire library of books, said "the later ones are worse."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Following the 1929 market crash, and being presented with congregants with "complex problems" (as Peale would later recount), his wife, Ruth Stafford Peale, who went by Ruth, counseled him to "fin[d] a psychiatrist who could help parish members," which he did through consultation with his physician, Clarence W. Lieb. Peale was introduced to a Freudian who had trained in psychiatry in Vienna, Smiley Blanton, who Peale later recalled as saying, "I've been praying for years that some minister would see that psychiatry and religion... should work together" (in response to being asked about his believing in the "power of prayer").


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: The two men wrote books together, notably "Faith Is the Answer: A Psychiatrist and a Pastor Discuss Your Problems" (1940). The book was written in alternating chapters, with Blanton writing one chapter, then Peale. Blanton espoused no particular religious point of view in his chapters. In 1951 this clinic of psychotherapy and religion grew into the American Foundation of Religion and Psychiatry, with Peale serving as president and Blanton as executive director. Blanton handled difficult psychiatric cases and Peale, who had no mental health credentials, handled religious issues.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: When Peale came under heavy criticism from the mental health community for his book "The Power of Positive Thinking" (1952), Blanton distanced himself from Peale and refused to publicly endorse the book. Blanton did not allow Peale to use his name in "The Power of Positive Thinking" and declined to defend Peale publicly when he came under criticism. As scholar Donald Meyer describes it: "Peale evidently imagined that he marched with Blanton in their joint labors in the Religio-psychiatric Institute. This was not exactly so.": 266  Meyer notes that Blanton's own book, Love or Perish (1956), "contrasted so distinctly at so many points with the Peale evangel" of "positive thinking" that these works had virtually nothing in common.: 273


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: In the same period, Peale returned to the radio work that he began in Syracuse, as a means to deal with what he termed a personal obsession, "reach[ing] as many people as I could with the message of Jesus Christ." His first programs in New York City began in 1935, an effort which led to the National Council of Churches sponsoring a program on the NBC Radio Network entitled "The Art of Living", which would grow to reach millions.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: This title then became the same as first of his books from New York City, in 1937, from Abingdon Press, which spoke of a power that individuals had within themselves that they could "tap" through "applied Christianity". With the advent of war in 1939, his second book appeared from Abingdon, ""You Can Win", which spoke of the tensions of life, the possibility of self-mastery, and ones being one unconquerable with God. Despite a clear and apparent philosophy and message, the books did not "advis[e] people how to apply [the ideas] to their lives," and they did not sell well. (Some of his other works include "The Tough-Minded Optimist", and "Inspiring Messages for Daily Living".) By the end of World War II in 1945, Peale, his wife Ruth, and Raymond Thornburg (a businessman from Pawling, New York), had founded "Guideposts" magazine, a non-denominational forum that presented inspirational stories.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: With the end of the war—which was marked, in the words of George Vecsey, writing in "The New York Times", by Americans having "some leeway to question what they believed and how they should live"—Peale achieved his first best seller, published with Prentice-Hall in 1948, a self-help book entitled "A Guide for Confident Living" that brought religion to bear on personal problems. This was followed soon thereafter by the book for which he is most widely know, "The Power of Positive Thinking"; as Vecsey describes it, it arose from a draft book that Ruth Peale "sent to [an] editor without her husband's knowledge", and this usurpation led to a book that would remain on best seller lists for more than three years, which "rank[ed] it... behind the Bible... as one of the highest-selling spiritual books in history".


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Vecsey was careful to categorize Peale's book as a best seller in the narrow "spiritual books" category rather than comparing it to the much larger sales figures of the non-fiction or self-help categories. First published in 1952, it stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 186 consecutive weeks, and according to the publisher, Simon and Schuster, the book has sold around 5 million copies. The fact that the book has sold 5 million copies is printed on the cover of the current edition in both paperback and hard cover, and directly contradicts exaggerated claims that the book has sold more than 20 million copies in 42 languages. The publisher also contradicts the translation claim, saying the book has been translated into only 15 languages. Nearly half of the sales of the book (2.1 mil.) occurred before 1958, and by 1963, the book had still only sold 2 million copies according to Peale. Since then, the book has sold less than 3 million copies over the past 60 years. Some of his other popular works include The Art of Living, A Guide to Confident Living, The Tough-Minded Optimist, and Inspiring Messages for Daily Living.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: The Peale radio program, "The Art of Living", was ongoing, and would continue for 54 years, and under the continued and evolving sponsorship of the National Council of Churches, he moved into television when the new medium arrived. In the meantime he continued to write books and to edit "Guideposts" magazine. As well, his sermons went out monthly to an extensive mailing list.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: In 1947 Peale and educator Kenneth Beebe co-founded The Horatio Alger Association, an organisation that aimed to recognize and honor Americans successful in spite of difficult circumstances. Other organizations founded by Peale include the Peale Center, the Positive Thinking Foundation, and Guideposts Publications, all of which aim to promote Peale's theories about positive thinking.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Peale was close to President Richard Nixon's family, and officiated at the 1968 wedding of Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower. He continued calling at the White House throughout the Watergate crisis, and was quoted as saying "Christ didn't shy away from people in trouble."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: President Ronald Reagan awarded Peale the Presidential Medal of Freedom (the highest civilian honor in the United States) on March 26, 1984, for his contributions to the field of theology.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Peale died at age 95 following a stroke, on December 24, 1993, in Pawling, New York He was survived by his wife of 63 years, Ruth Stafford Peale, who had influenced him with regard to the publication of "The Power" in 1952, and with regard to his early interactions with psychiatry, and with whom he had founded "Guideposts" (of which she was chairman emeritus, and which had an annual readership of 8 million in 2008); Ruth would pass away more than a decade later, on February 6, 2008, at the age of 101.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Peale's works were criticized by several mental health experts who denounced his writings as bad for mental health, and concluded that Peale was a "con man and a fraud," and a "Confidence Man." These critics appeared in the early 1950s after the publication of The Power of Positive Thinking.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: One critique of The Power of Positive Thinking noted that the book contained anecdotes that are hard to substantiate. Critics noted many of the testimonials that Peale quoted as supporting his philosophy were unnamed, unknown and unsourced. Examples included a "famous psychologist,"  a two-page letter from a "practicing physician",  another "famous psychologist", a "prominent citizen of New York City", and dozens, if not hundreds, more unverifiable quotations. Similar scientific studies of questionable validity are also cited. As psychiatrist R.C. Murphy wrote, "All this advertising is vindicated as it were, by a strict cleaving to the side of part truth," and referred to the work and the quoted material as "implausible and woodenly pious". Peale's works were criticized by several mental health experts who declared his writings were actually bad for mental health, concluding that Peale was a "con man and a fraud," with his being referred to as a confidence man in the popular press in 1955.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Agreeing with Murphy is William Lee Miller, a professor at the University of Virginia, who wrote an extensive article called “Some Negative Thinking About Norman Vincent Peale.” After reviewing the entire Peale library, Miller concluded that the books “are hard on the truth,” and that “the later books are worse” than the earlier ones. Miller challenged the plausibility and truthfulness of Peale's testimonials with “Great Men” in his books, almost all of whom were unnamed, unknown and unverifiable. “In Dr. Peale’s books these men turn out to talk just like Dr. Peale…. There is a continuing recurring episode in his books that goes like this: Peale meets Great Man; Peale humbly asks Great Man for his secret (his formula, technique); Great Man tells Peale his strikingly Peale-like secret (formula, technique)….”Miller also mocks the success formulas these “great men” reveal, such as the unnamed newspaper editor who credits repeating a single phrase [a technique in authohypnosis] as the reason for his success. The unnamed editor's “secret is card in wallet with words to the effect that successful man is successful.” Miller explains, “There is never the suggestion that hard work might be involved in achievement. There are no demands on the reader.” Miller wrote “All this is hard on the truth, but it is good for the preacher’s popularity. It enables him to say exactly what his hearers want to hear.” Miller further mocks Peale's claims that his methods of “religion” are scientifically proven. Miller quotes Peale: “The laws are so precise and have been so often demonstrated… that religion may be said to form an exact science.” Peale provides no scientific evidence in his books to support this claim. He provides no evidence that his methods and “techniques” have been scientifically tested or proven to work. Miller goes on to note that there are no scientific references supporting Peale, no footnotes, no index, no bibliography, no recommendations for further readings, almost no evidence of any kind presented in the Peale books. Miller concluded that the Peale claims were untruthful and unsupported by evidence. Miller wrote that in order to gain followers “He [Peale] is willing to use without flinching the most blatant appeals and to promise without stint.”


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: A second critique of Peale was that he attempted to conceal that his techniques for giving the reader absolute self-confidence and deliverance from suffering are a well known form of hypnosis, and that he persuaded his readers to follow his beliefs through a combination of false evidence and self-hypnosis (autosuggestion), disguised by the use of terms which may sound more benign from the reader's point of view ("techniques", "formulas", "methods", "prayers", and "prescriptions"). One author called Peale's book "The Bible of American autohypnotism". While his techniques have been debated by psychologists, Peale said his theological practice and strategy was directed more at self-analysis, forgiveness, character development, and growth which has been suggested by some to be much like the teachings of the Jesuits of the Catholic Church.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Psychiatrist R. C. Murphy wrote "Self knowledge, in Mr. Peale's understanding is unequivocally bad: self hypnosis is good." Murphy added that repeated hypnosis defeats an individual's self-motivation, self-knowledge, unique sense of self, sense of reality, and ability to think critically. Murphy describes Peale's understanding of the mind as inaccurate, "without depth", and his description of the workings of the mind and the unconscious as deceptively simplistic and false: "It is the very shallowness of his concept of 'person' that makes his rules appear easy ... If the unconscious of man ... can be conceptualized as a container for a small number of psychic fragments, then ideas like 'mind-drainage' follow. So does the reliance on self-hypnosis, which is the cornerstone of Mr. Peale's philosophy.'"


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Psychologist Albert Ellis, founder of the branch of psychology known as cognitive psychology, compared the Peale techniques with those of French psychologist, hypnotherapist and pharmacist Émile Coué, and Ellis said that the repeated use of these hypnotic techniques could lead to significant mental health problems. Ellis, ranked by the American Psychological Association as the second most influential psychologist of the 20th century (behind Carl Rogers, but ahead of Sigmund Freud), documented in several of his books the many individuals he has treated who suffered mental breakdowns from following Peale's teachings. Ellis described one of his case studies: "One of my 50-year-old clients, Sidney, read everything that Norman Vincent Peale ever wrote, went to many of his sermons at Marble Collegiate Church, and turned many of his friends onto trusting completely in God and in the Reverend Peale to cure them of all their ills. When some of these friends, in spite of their vigorous positive thinking, wound up in the mental hospital, and when Sidney had to turn to massive doses of tranquilizers to keep himself going, he became disillusioned..." Fortunately, Ellis' client began attending therapy and workshop groups at his clinic (The Albert Ellis Institute), and through cognitive behavioral therapy (at that time, known as Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, or REBT), he was able to improve his mental health and reduce his medications. Ellis' writings repeatedly warn the public not to follow the Peale message. Ellis contends the Peale approach is dangerous, distorted, unrealistic. He compares the black or white view of life that Peale teaches to a psychological disorder (borderline personality disorder), perhaps implying that dangerous mental habits which he sees in the disorder may be brought on by following the teaching. "In the long run [Peale's teachings] lead to failure and disillusionment, and not only boomerang back against people, but often prejudice them against effective therapy."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: A third critique was that Peale's philosophy was based on exaggerating the fears of his readers and followers, and that this exaggerated fear inevitably leads to aggression and the destruction of those considered "negative". Peale's views were critically reviewed in a 1955 article by psychiatrist R. C. Murphy, published in "The Nation," titled "Think Right: Reverend Peale's Panacea".


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Donald B. Meyer seemed to agree with this assessment, presenting similar warnings of a religious nature. In his article "Confidence Man", Meyer wrote, "In more classic literature, this sort of pretension to mastery has often been thought to indicate an alliance with a Lower rather than a Higher power." The mastery Peale speaks of is not the mastery of skills or tasks, but the mastery of fleeing and avoiding one's own "negative thoughts". Meyer wrote, exaggerated fear inevitably leads to aggression: "Battle it is; Peale, in sublime betrayal of the aggression within his philosophy of peace, talks of 'shooting' prayers at people."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Psychologist Martin Seligman, former APA president and the founder of the branch of psychology known as Positive Psychology, differentiated Peale's positive thinking from his own positive psychology, while acknowledging their common roots.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Seligman went on to say "Positive thinking often involves trying to believe upbeat statements such as 'Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better,' in the absence of evidence or even in the face of contrary evidence. ... Learned optimism, in contrast, is about accuracy".


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Another difference experts noted was that though Seligman describes his positive psychology as a self-empowering program completely within the ability of the individual to achieve on his or her own, experts described positive thinking as disempowering to the individual and a religion of weakness, where individuals are told by Peale they cannot overcome their negative circumstances without his autosuggestive "techniques," which he claims will give them the power of God. As Meyer quotes Peale as saying, "No man, however resourceful or pugnacious, is a match for so great an adversary as a hostile world. He is at best a puny and impotent creature quite at the mercy of the cosmic and social forces in the midst of which he dwells." Meyer noted that Peale always "reacted to the image of harshness with flight rather than competitive fight", and the only solution Peale offers out of this state of helplessness are his autosuggestive "techniques", which he claims will give people the power of God. Meyer adds that the proof that positive thinking cannot work is that according to Peale, even with God's power on one's side, one still cannot face negative reality, which is always stronger.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Meyer, like Seligman, noted that such unrealistic thinking by a positive thinker could easily be fatal.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Faith that you could defeat an opponent who could run faster than you would be contemptible since it could only mean you expected God to lend you power He refused to lend your opponent or that you hoped your opponent lacked self-knowledge, lacked faith, and hence failed to use his real powers. Such faith could be fatal if it led you into competitions it would be fatal to lose. As for those competitions where luck or accident or providence might decide, certainly the faith which looked to luck or accident or providence would be contemptible, and also possibly fatal.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Episcopal Church theologian and later bishop, John M. Krumm, criticized Peale and the "heretical character" of his teaching on positive thinking. Krumm cites "the emphasis upon techniques such as the repetition of confident phrases... or the manipulation of certain mechanical devices", which he says "gives the impression of a thoroughly depersonalized religion. Very little is said about the sovereign mind and purpose of God; much is made of the things men can say to themselves and can do to bring about their ambitions and purposes." Krumm cautions that "The predominant use of impersonal symbols for God is a serious and dangerous invitation to regard man as the center of reality and the Divine Reality as an impersonal power, the use and purpose of which is determined by the man who takes hold of it and employs it as he thinks best."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, professor of applied Christianity at the Union Theological Seminary, reported similar concerns about positive thinking. "This new cult is dangerous. Anything which corrupts the gospel hurts Christianity. And it hurts people too. It helps them to feel good while they are evading the real issues of life."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Liston Pope, dean of Yale Divinity School, agreed with Neibuhr. "There is nothing humble or pious in the view this cult takes of God. God becomes sort of a master psychiatrist who will help you get out of your difficulties. The formulas and the constant reiteration of such themes as "You and God can do anything" are very nearly blasphemous."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: G. Bromley Oxnam, a Methodist bishop in Washington D.C., also weighed in. "When you are told that if you follow seven easy rules you will become president of your company, you are being kidded. There just aren't that many openings. This kind of preaching is making Christianity a cult of success."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: It has sort of a drug effect on people to be told they need not worry. They keep coming back for more. It keeps their minds on a superficial level and encourages emotional dependency. It is an escape from reality. People under stress do one of two things; seek shelter or respond to harsh reality by a deeper recognition of what they are up against. The people who flock to the 'peace of mind' preachers are seeking shelter. They don't want to face reality.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Wiliam Lee Miller, professor in religious studies at the University of Virginia, expressed similar concerns: "The absolute power that Dr. Peale's followers insist on granting to their Positive Thinking may betray, however, a note of desperation. The optimism is no longer the healthy-minded kind, looking at life whole and seeing it good, but an optimism arranged by a very careful and very anxious selection of the particular bits and pieces of reality one is willing to acknowledge. It is not the response of an expanding epoch when failure, loneliness, death, war, taxes, and the limitations and fragmentariness of all human striving are naturally far from consciousness, but of an anxious time when they are all too present in consciousness and must be thrust aside with slogans and "formulas," assaulted with clenched fists and gritted teeth, and battered down with the insistence on the power of Positive Thinking. The success striving is different, too. The Horatio Alger type seems to have had a simple, clear confidence in getting ahead by mastering a craft, by inventing something out in the barn, or by doing an outstanding job as office boy. The Peale fan has no such confidence and trusts less in such solid realities as ability and work and talent than in the ritual repetition of spirit lifters and thought conditioners written on cards and on the determined refusal to think gloomy thoughts.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: In spite of the attacks, Peale did not resign from his church, though he repeatedly threatened that he would. He also never directly challenged or rebutted his critics. Meanwhile, his book "The Power of Positive Thinking" had stopped selling by 1958. As Donald Meyer noted,


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Religious scholars, however, warned the public not to believe Peale just because he was a minister. They said the Peale message was not only factually false but also misrepresented Christianity. Reinhold Niebuhr told the public the Peale message was "a partial picture of Christianity, a sort of half-truth", and added "The basic sin of this cult is its egocentricity. It puts 'self' instead of the cross at the center of the picture". Edmund Fuller, novelist, book critic, and book review editor of the Episcopal Churchnews took it a step further. "The Peale products and their like are equated blatantly with Christian teaching and preaching. They are represented as a revival or response in Christianity with which they have no valid connection. They influence, mislead and often disillusion sick, maladjusted, unhappy or ill-constructed people, obscuring for them the Christian realities. They offer easy comforts, easy solutions to problems and mysteries that sometimes perhaps, have no comforts or solutions at all, in glib, worldly terms. They offer a cheap 'happiness' in lieu of the joy Christianity can offer, sometimes in the midst of suffering. The panacea of positive thinking has been called by qualified people a positive hazard to the delicate marginal areas of mental health".


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Meyer noted Peale's influence over his followers began when "Peale had 'discovered' the power of suggestion over the human mind, and therewith, had caught up with Henry Wood, Charles Fillmore, and Emmett Fox, sixty forty and twenty years before him. He was teaching Mental Photography all over again. Thoughts were things". Meyer described Peale's religion: "Peale's aim in preaching positive thinking was not that of inducing contemplative states of Oneness nor of advancing self-insight nor of strengthening conscious will, let alone sensitizing people to their world. The clue lay here in Peale's reiterated concern that the operation of his positive thoughts and thought conditioners become 'automatic', that the individual truly become 'conditioned ...' But was the automated power of positive thinking liberty or just one more form of mind-cure hypnotism? Was this new power really health or simply further weakness disguised?" After considering all points of view, Meyer answered his own questions, and concluded positive thinking was a religion of "weakness". "Peale's phenomenal popularity represented a culture in impasse. The psychology for which the cult was also religion culminated the treatment of weakness by weakness".


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: For a time, Peale was acting Chairman and Secretary of the National Committee to Uphold Constitutional Government (NCUCG), a pressure group opposed Franklin Roosevelt's policies. In 1938, he was summoned by a Senate Committee Investigating Lobbying Activities, to answer questions concerning the NCUCG's activities.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Also. late in 1938, Peale appeared with Elizabeth Dilling, the Reverend Edward Lodge Curran, Francisco Franco, and other figures at a "Mass Meeting and Pro-American Rally" (on October 30), at the Commodore Hotel in New York; this event was later described by Arthur Derounian (John Roy Carlson) in his 1943 book "Under Cover". Rev. Curran was a known supporter of Franco and other right-wing causes, as well as being "an anti‐communist and... an advocate of the, 'social justice' credo of Father [Charles] Coughlin, who was eventually ordered, off the air by his superiors" (and who Peale had earlier called out and harshly criticized for his "bizarre demogogy" in 1935). Peale claimed to have been distressed by Derounian's book, that he had been badgered into giving the convocation (a pre-meeting prayer) by a parishioner, and that he had no idea of the nature of the rally. He further claimed to be particularly distressed at the association with Dilling. He considered but as was advised against filing a defamation case against the publisher, Putnam's, as it was not feasible given the fact that he had in fact delivered the convocation as described.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: In 1943, after the U.S. entry into World War II, Peale preached a sermon denouncing antisemitism and demanding that the government and church take steps to "stamp it out." As late as 1944, Peale was still described as the Chairman of the Committee for Constitutional Government, and had his signature appended to its publications.


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Peale is also remembered in politics because of the Adlai Stevenson quote: "I find Saint Paul appealing and Saint Peale appalling." The origin of the quote can be traced back to the 1952 election, when Stevenson was informed by a reporter that Peale was accusing him of being unfit for the presidency because he was divorced. Later during his 1956 campaign for president against Dwight Eisenhower, Stevenson was introduced at a speech with: "Gov. Stevenson, we want to make it clear you are here as a courtesy because Dr. Norman Vincent Peale has instructed us to vote for your opponent." Stevenson stepped to the podium and quipped, "Speaking as a Christian, I find the Apostle Paul appealing and the Apostle Peale appalling." In 1960 a reporter asked Stevenson about a comment in which he denounced Peale for accusing John F. Kennedy of being unfit for the presidency because he was Catholic, to which Stevenson responded: "Yes, you can say that I find Paul appealing and Peale appalling."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: Stevenson continued to lampoon Peale on the campaign trail in speeches for Kennedy. Though Richard Nixon and other Republicans tried to distance themselves from the furor which was caused by Peale's anti-Catholic stance, Democrats did not let voters forget it. President Harry Truman, for one, accused Nixon of tacitly approving Peale's anti-Catholic sentiment, and it remained a hot issue on the campaign trail. Regarding Peale's intrusion into Republican politics, Stevenson said in this transcript of a speech given in San Francisco: "Richard Nixon has tried to step aside in favor of Norman Vincent Peale (APPLAUSE, LAUGHTER) ... We can only surmise that Mr. Nixon has been reading 'The Power of Positive Thinking.' (APPLAUSE). America was not built by wishful thinking. It was built by realists, and it will not be saved by guess work and self-deception. It will only be saved by hard work and facing the facts."


title: Norman Vincent Peale

text: At a later date, according to one report, Stevenson and Peale met, and Stevenson apologized to Peale for any personal pain which his comments might have caused Peale, though Stevenson never publicly recanted the substance of his statements. There is no record of Peale apologizing to Stevenson for his attacks on Stevenson. It has been argued that even Peale's "positive thinking" message was by implication politically conservative: "The underlying assumption of Peale's teaching was that nearly all basic problems were personal."