The Maharishi Effect: A Personal Journey Through the Movement That Transformed American Spirituality
Gilpin recently went back to Fairfield, Iowa, for a look at Maharishi International University (since renamed Maharishi University of Management), which he attended for five years in the 1970s. Things have changed since in town and on campus, and Gilpin, who left the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental Meditation movement years ago, has bittersweet memories of a place that once hosted idealistic enlightenment seekers but now seems populated by insular, uncommunicative operatives apparently bent on extending the movement and the Maharishi's influence throughout society in Scientology-meets--Amway fashion. Gilpin makes the present-day TM community sound pretty grim, but what did he expect? The increasingly secretive world of TM promises an intriguing read, but Gilpin's veracity is undercut somewhat by his "creative nonfiction" approach. There aren't a lot of books by disaffected TM-ers, however, so this one helps fills a gap.Mike TribbyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved