All index entries shown here correspond to the page numbers within the printed edition only. Within this digital format these page numbers allow for cross referencing only.
“abandoning the body” 184–5
Aberbach, Moses 13
Abrahamic religions 176–7, 188
Adamec, Zdenek 200
Aguilera, Davy 237
AIDS 113
Ajaj, Bader 160
Åkerbäck, Peter 66–7
Al-Dawa 196
alien-based religions 91–4, 103–4
Allende, Laura 82
Allison, Olivia 201
altruistic suicide 78, 199, 205–7
Amenta Club 58
Amida Buddha 180
Ammerman, Nancy T. 238
Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis 57, 61
Anderson, Steve 254
Anna, Empress of Russia 36
anomic suicide 141
Anthony, Dick 50
Antichrist, power of 42–3, 48–9
apocalyptic mentality 32, 35–45, 49–50, 62–6, 92–6, 103–4, 113, 119, 123, 227
apostates 236–8
Applewhite, Marshall Herff (“Do”) 5, 92–3, 96–105
Arab communities 24, 82, 139, 174, 205, 276–82, 286
Archédia Clubs 58
Arnold, Kenneth 91
Aruhaire, Bernard 122
auto-cremation
as Buddhist religious practice 184–6
as political protest 186–8
ultimate aim of 188–9
Avvakum and Avvakumists 31–4, 37–40, 49
Baer, Bob 281
Baer, Ulrich 203
Bailey, Alice 94
Baisy, Shirley 84
Bakunin, Mikhail 81
Bakyenga, Paul 120–21
Balch, Robert 96–7
Ballard, Guy 93
Banks, Dennis 83
Banura, Gerard 120
Barber, Gene 237
Baregu, M. 141
Barkun, Michael 99
Battin, Margaret 79
Beckford, James 239
Begumanya, J. 120
Ben-Hanan, Yonatan 14
Ben-Yair, Eleazar 13–16, 21, 24
Ben-Yehuda, Nachman 3
Berezorka River hermitage 34
Bernard, Raymond 60–61
Beyaz, Eyüp 199
Bianco, Lucien 218
Biggs, M. 175–6
Binsztein, Basia 77
Birth Stories of the Ten Bodhistattvas 184
Bixby, Lydia 162
Black-Ice (play) 80
Black Panthers 80–83
Blackman, Paul H. 237
Blackwell Wright, Unita 83
Blake, Winston 234
Blakey, Deborah Layton 75
Blavatsky, Helena Petrovna 93
bodhisattva ideal 174, 180–84, 187–8
Bogue, Thom 84
Book of Cyrill 41
Bouazizi, Mohammed 205
Bourdieu, Pierre 5, 131, 136–8
Branch Davidian community 7, 55, 62, 33–46, 254–5
The Branch Davidians of Waco (book) 254
Brandt, R.B. 78
Breault, Mark 238
Breyer, Jacques 58–61
Brokaw, Tom 243
B’Tselem organization 159
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATC) 7, 233–42
Burke, Edmund 134
Burrows, Ken 243
capitalism 4, 66, 80, 85–6, 142, 254
Carnahan, Matthew 278
Carter, Tim 83
castration 101
Castro, Fidel 81
Catholic Church 113, 120–21, 124
Cavell, Stanley 271
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 40, 47, 75
Centre for the Preparation of the New Age 57
Charisma (television series) 261
Chen Guo 224
Cherniavsky, Michael 34, 38, 42
China, People’s Republic of 6–7, 177–8, 205, 215–18, 222–3, 227
China Qigong Scientific Research Society 219
Christianity 37, 43, 45, 62–3, 78–9, 82, 91–105, 121, 135, 153, 176, 246, 254
Christie, Lance 94
Christmas, William 81
Chryssides, George 104
Church of All Worlds (CAW) 94
Church Universal and Triumphant (CUT) 91, 94–5
Churchill, Winston 166
civil disobedience 224–5
Clayton, Stanley 76
Clinton, Bill 237
Cold Case (television series) 261–5
collective suicide 16, 20–23, 29, 66–7, 110, 116–20, 124
Columbo (television series) 278–9
communication 65, 97, 179, 200, 203, 220, 243
communist parties 196, 198, 200, 219
Confucian thought 217
conspiracy 4, 34, 43, 47–8, 58, 223, 263
Cook, David 201
Cooke, Wayne 104
Cooper, H. 132–3
Counter-terrorism 132
Cowan, Douglas E. 100
Cracker (television series) 278–9
Craig, S. 174
Crawford, Yolanda 74
Criminal Minds (television series) 256, 261, 265–6
Crummey, Robert O. 31–6, 41, 48
Crusades 135
CS gas 244
CSI (television series) 256–7, 261–5
cult members seen as victims 260–63, 268
cult status 2, 29–30, 44, 50, 58, 65–7, 98, 110, 176, 205, 223, 235–40, 245, 254–8, 265
Dalai Lama 178–80
Davidians see Branch Davidian community
The Day the Earth Stood Still (film) 5, 91–4
Dayan, Moshe 23
de (virtue) 225
dharma 187–8
Dieckman, Josef 76
di Mambro, Joseph 55–8, 61, 64–5
Donnelly, John 79
Doolittle, Jimmy 153–4
Duc, Thich Quang 174–5, 186–7, 194, 204, 206
Durkheim, Emile 77–9, 141, 199, 205–7
Ebert, Roger 281
economic deprivation 131, 139, 142
eco-terrorism 133
educational inequalities 140–41
Ehteshami, A. 143
Eliasson, Jan 156
emotions 22, 79, 132, 187, 198, 202, 264–7, 272–88
Eng, Monica 281
Enroth, Ronald 42
eschatology 92–6, 103–4, 177, 188
esotericism 59–60
Esposito, J. 138
Essenes 14
Ezra, Gideon 165
Fabré-Palaprat, Bernard-Raymond 60
Faludi, Susan 163
Falun Gong 3, 6–7, 205, 215–28
fa-rectification 224
fashen 226
fasting-unto-death 194, 196, 202, 206, 208
see also hunger strikes
fate 46, 49, 77, 104, 113–14, 205, 216, 258
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 7, 40, 235, 238, 241–5
Feodor, Tsar 33–4
Festinger, Leon 95
filmic portrayals of suicide 7, 271–2, 275–7, 287–8
Fischer, A.M. 178–9
Fiske, John 254
Flashpoint (television series) 259, 262–5
see also UFO religions
Ford, Richard 102
Foucault, Michel 145
“fourth philosophy” 14
freedom, value of 14, 23, 37, 55, 80–85, 102, 132, 140, 161–7
see also religious freedom
“freedom fighters” 132
French Revolution 81, 134, 273
Frey, R.G. 78
front organizations 57
Garrett, Benjamin C. 244
genocide 44
Gent, Peter 234
“gift of the body” 6
Gill, Dan 18
Glaister, Dan 284
global community 6, 79–80, 110, 123–4, 132, 145, 155, 174, 179, 187, 189, 194, 196, 206, 282
gnosis 59–60
Goerman, Patricia 98
Golden Way Foundation 58
Goldstein, Baruch 157
government agencies 263–7
Gray, Paul 242
Great Revolt of the Jews (66–73 AD) 11–17, 22, 133
Great Schism in the Russian Orthodox Church 31
Griset, P.L. 132
Gurr, Ted 142
Gutierrez, F. 141
Guttman, Shmaria 25
see also Jonestown; Peoples Temple
habitus concept 5, 131, 136–8, 145–6
Hage, Ghassan 163
Halbwachs, Maurice 198
Hall, John R. 45–51, 64, 66, 119, 235–8
Hamas 134, 145, 157, 160, 196–9
Hamlin, Cynthia 286
Harris, Duchess 82
Harris, Liane 85
Harwell, Jack 236
He Zouxiu 215
Heaven’s Gate 5, 55, 62, 67, 92, 101–5, 254–6
history of 96–100
Heinlein, Robert A. 94
Hernton, Calvin C. 80
heroes and heroism 1, 3, 5, 11–12, 18–26, 81, 151–7, 160–67, 180, 187, 200, 224, 280
Herz, Alice 202
Hezbollah 134, 139–40, 144, 146, 154, 163–4, 196
Higgens, Stephen 238
hijacking 163–4
Hitler, Adolf 134
Ho Chi Minh 274
Hoenig, Sidney B. 19
Hoffman, B. 132
Hongzhi, Li 215–28
honour 1
el-Hoss, Selim 163
Hossack, Geoffrey 237
Hougan, Jim 76
Hubert, Henri 200
Hudson, R. 139
Hughes, Sarah 242
Huguenin, Thierry 60
Humphrey, C.E. (“Chuck”) 104
hunger strikes 6, 176, 178, 224
see also fasting-unto-death
Hunter, S. 142
I AM movement 93
ideology 14, 41–2, 47, 50, 62–7, 132–8, 152, 196, 224, 246
Imawi, Ali 157
immortality, ideas of 42, 48, 200, 280
Independence Day (film) 167–8
India 176, 178, 181, 183, 195–6, 204
Internet technology 100, 179, 187, 206, 220
Introvigne, Massimo 58, 60, 64
Islamism 142–3
Israel, State of 152
see also Palestine–Israel conflict
Israeli, Raphael 165
Jackson, Jonathan 81
jataka tales 181
see also Second Coming
Jiang Zemin 225
Jihadist ideology 135, 157, 160
Johnston, Bill 237
Jones, George 44
Jones, Jim 4, 40–51, 73–7, 82–5, 253, 256–7
Jonestown 4, 40, 45–50, 62, 73–9, 82–6, 235–8, 253–6
Jongman, A. 133
Joseippon 19
Josephus Flavius 11–23
Jotapata 12
Kabuki, John Baptist 120–21
Kali Yuga 58
kamikaze pilots 152–5
Kant, Immanuel 79
Kapiton (and Kapitonism) 32, 41–2
Karim, Abdul 274
karma 180, 187, 215–16, 221, 225–7
Kataribaabo, Dominic 112, 120–23
Kelly, Colin P. 153
Keyder, C. 142
Khovansky, Prince 34
Kiarostami, Abbas 282
Kibwetere, Edith 112
Kibwetere, Joseph 110–12, 117–21
Kim Dae Jung 139
King, George 95–6
King, Martin Luther 74
Kissinger, Henry 43
Klosner, Joseph 25
Knights Templar 60–61
Komuhangi, Ursula 111–12
Kopel, David B. 237
Koresh, David 233–40, 243, 257
Koseli, Mutlu 140–41
Krueger, A. 139–40
Kubrzanska, Chaja 77
Kurdish independence movement 195
Landes, Richard 100
Lane, Mark 40
Laqueur, Walter 133
“last stand” resistance 19–20, 23
Layton, Carolyn 76
Layton, Deborah 84
Lebanon 140, 154, 163, 196, 200, 206
LeBleu, Conway 234
Leenaars, Antoon 196–7
Letelier, Orlando 82
Lewis, H. Spencer 61
Lewis, James R. (co-editor) 65–6, 100
Li, Q. 140
Lincoln, Abraham 162
Lotus Sutra 182–5
Luo Guili 223
McKeehan, Todd 234
macrocosmic relationships 60, 92, 103, 105
Magness, Jodi 20
Mahan, Sue 132
Malcolm X 44
Maleckova, J. 139–40
Mandela, Nelson 82
Manson, Charles 257
Marian apparitions see Virgin Mary
Martin, William 42–3
martyrdom 35–6, 73–4, 79, 176, 197–8, 203
psychology of 48
“martyrdom operations” 1, 156–61
martyrdom videos 6, 197–201, 206
martyrologists 203
historical narrative 16–21
mythical narrative 22–6
site of 13–14
“Masada Plan” 24
Masonic ritual see Freemasonry
mass suicide 1–2, 35, 38–41, 48–9, 74–6, 79, 236–8, 243–6
Mauss, Marcel 200
Mayer, Jean-François 64, 113, 118–20
media involvement in suicide 193–208
medical treatment, refusal of 215–16, 222, 225–7
Meerloo, Joost 86
Mendelsohn, E. 143
microcosmic relationships 60, 92, 103, 105
military technology 166–7
millennialism and millenarianism 62–6, 69, 93, 95, 227
Miller, Christine 76
Miller, John H. 162
mimesis 274–5
Miron, Murray 243
modernity, crisis of 142–4
modernization 138–9, 142–5, 205–6
Mootoo, Leslie 76
Morrison, Toni 77
Moton, Pam 74
Mount Carmel community 2, 233–46
MOVE group 50
Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God (MRTCG) 5, 109–25
murder-suicide 55–9, 67–8, 75–7, 110, 116, 123, 253
Murvar, Vatro 31–2
Muslim communities 5, 134–46, 164–5
Mutazindwa, Richard 122
Mwerinde, Credonia 111–13, 117–18, 121
Naipaul, Shiva 41–4
Napier, Samuel 81
narratives 3–4, 12–16, 19–25, 79–80, 91–4, 153–4, 161, 254–6, 263, 266, 272–4, 277–9
see also storytelling
nationalism and nationalist struggles 6, 24, 138, 143, 152–5, 160, 174, 177–80, 187, 189, 195–6, 206
Neal, Lynn S. 254
Nettles, Bonnie Lu 5, 92–3, 96–104
new religious movements (NRMs) 2, 7, 55–8, 65–6, 239
news coverage 239–42
Ngodup, Thubten 178
Nietzsche, Friedrich 276
Nikita “pustosviat” 34
Nikon, Patriarch of Moscow (and Nikonian reforms) 31–8, 42
non-violence 175
Nordheimer, Jon 75–6
nuclear weapons 152
Ohnuma, R. 181
Olcott, Henry Steel 93
Old Believers 2–4, 29–42, 48–51
Omdurman, battle of (1898) 166
Order of the Solar Temple (OTS) 4, 55–69
history, teachings and organizational structure of 57–62
Ortega y Gasset, José 273, 287
other-worldly sects 46–8
Palestine-Israel conflict 155–61, 164
Palmer, Susan J. 62
Pape, Robert 154, 206, 285, 287
Paradise Now 284–7
parents’ killing of their children 77
Payback mission (1942) 153–4
Peoples Forum 83
Peoples Temple 4, 29, 39–51, 55, 62, 73–4, 82–3, 86, 253
persecution 4, 29, 35–41, 47–51, 64, 74, 121–3, 220–4
Pharisees 14
Planet of the Arabs (film) 277
Pol Pot 134
political protest 6, 39, 173–89
politically-motivated suicide 193–208
definition and historical evolution of 193–6
differences from traditional suicide 200
diversity and common-alities in 207–8
impact of 202–7
postcolonial situations 131
poverty 139–41
power, theory of 132–46
Prophet, Clare 94–5
Prophet, Mark 93–4
Pure Land, the 180
Rajaee, F. 143
Ramesh, Pottigari 203
Ramsay, Michael 60
“Reign of Terror” (1793–94) 134, 273
Reilly, Nicky 202
reincarnation, belief in 217, 221, 226
religious freedom, support for 267–8
resistance and resistance movements 5, 11, 14, 18, 20, 31, 36, 48, 59, 73, 80–81, 86, 122, 134, 136, 145, 152, 156, 159–61, 167–8, 179, 198–9, 218
revolutionary suicide 73, 79–86
Rhodes, Odell 76
Richardson, Louise 1
Riecken, Henry 95
of terrorist training 146
Riyadh attacks (2003) 278
Robespierre, Maximilien 273
Roden, George 236
Roller, Edith 84
Romero, Oscar 176
Rooban, Colonel 199
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 153–4
Roswell incident (1947) 91
Roth, Jonathan 18
Roy, O. 143
Russian Orthodox Church 31
Ryan, James 162
sacrifice notes 196–7, 200, 202, 207
“sacrificers” 200
Sadducees 14
Saipan 77
sangha 186
el Sarraj, Eyad 161
Saudi Arabia 280–81
Saving Private Ryan (film) 162–3
Schachter, Stanley 95
Schaub, D. 140
Scheeres, Julia 84
Schmid, A. 133
Schuyler, Philip 64
science in Falun Gong 227
Second Coming of Christ 42–3
Second Temple 21–2
Second World War see World War II
sects 113
see also other-worldly sects
The Seekers (UFO group) 95
self-immolation 2, 6, 32, 35–6, 173–89, 194, 206, 216, 218, 222–7
self-sacrifice
as distinct from “ordinary” suicide 207
as media weapon 202–5
September 11th 2001 attacks 155, 193
Sessions, William 243
seventeenth century 29–32
Shaheen, Jack 276–7
Shakespeare, William 275
Shakya, T. 174
shariah law 135
Sharon, Rose O. 84
Shneidman, Edwin 197
Sidahmed, A. 143
Silke, Andrew 133
Simchoni, Y.N. 25
Skomal, Lenore 163–4
Smith, Lacey Baldwin 203
social categorization theory 5
social disintegration 144
sociology 136
Socrates 78
Solar Temple see Order of the Solar Temple
Solovokii Monastery 33
Sophia, Regent of Russia 34–5, 41
Sri Lanka 181
Stalin, Joseph 134
statues 155
Stephanopoulos, George 244
Stern, Menachem 17
Stern-Gillet, Suzanne 78
stigma of suicide 77–9
see also narratives
suicide
taboo against 199
suicide attacks in war 154–9, 165–7
suicide bombing 1–2, 6, 79, 134, 144, 146, 152, 164, 175, 193–200, 206
suicide pilots 153
see also kamikaze pilots
suicide protests 194–5, 202, 205–8, 222
suicide rates 216–18
suicide terrorism 1, 5, 131, 134–8, 141–5, 165
Summit Lighthouse 91–4
survivalism 94
Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish 181
SVU (television series) 257, 264–5
Tan Yihui 223
tantric practice 180, 183, 189
Tao-chi 194
Taoism 220
Taste of Cherry (film) 282–4
Taylor, David 96–7
television coverage of suicide events 7, 239–40, 253–68
Templarism 59–60
terror, history of 272–6
terrorism
characteristics of 133
definition of 132–3
origins of 133–6
training in 146
Tessler, M. 143
“testaments” 6, 56–9, 63, 197–8
Thatcher, Margaret 78
Themopylae 19
theory of mind 277, 282–3, 287
“Third Rome” doctrine 37–8
Thomas, Richard W. 80
A Timely Message from Heaven 110–15, 118–19
Tolhurst, William 78
torture 4, 35, 40, 44, 75, 77, 217, 223–4, 285
Touched by an Angel (television series) 257–8, 262–5
transnational relationships 135, 140
Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom 183–4
tree of life 62
Trinh, Sylvaine 64
Tropp, Harriet 74
Tuhirirwe, C. 120
Turkey 140–41
Turner, Victor 200
Twesigye, Emmanuel 120–21, 124
Tyson, Laura D’Andrea 139
UFO religions 3, 91–6, 99–100, 104
ummah 135
unheimlich 287
Unification movement 50
Urban, Hugh B. 100
Vespasian, Titus Flavius 12
Vietnam and the Vietnam War 6, 204–5
Virgin Mary, visions of 111–13, 117, 119, 121–2
Vokes, Richard 123–5
Vyg River settlement 49–51
see also Branch Davidian community
war
deaths in 1
imaginings of 167
warring sects 47–8
Waterman, Adam John 82
Wendell, Jaydean 234
Wessinger, Catherine 62–6
Western esotericism 59–60
“white nights” 41, 84, 256, 268
Willis, Steve 233–4
Wojcik, Daniel 103
World War II 91, 104, 152–4, 162, 166
Wright, Stuart A. 245–6
xenophobia 2
xiaoye 225
Yadin, Yigael 25
Yehuda of Gamla 14
Zeitlin, Solomon 19
Zell, Tim 94
Zeller, Benjamin E. 101–3
Zenkovsky, Vasily V. 31, 34, 48
Zimmermann, Jack 242
Zionism 24