“This book concerns itself chiefly with the active, revivalist phase of mass movements. This phase is dominated by the true believer—the man of fanatical faith who is ready to sacrifice his life for a holy cause ...” Eric Hoffer, “The True Believer” Joan King noted last month the difficulties of talking with true believers: Their rigid attitude “dampen(s) good conversation, it stunts good thinking.” Not to mention that in the 20th century true believers gave us the ovens at Auschwitz, the labor camps in the Gulag, and the “Killing Fields” of Cambodia — all in pursuit of their own holy causes.