Mystics and Messiahs Cults and New Religions in American History Book

This was an interesting read that discusses the origins, rise and fall of many minority religions in the USA. The author gives only a faint sense of what each group was like -- the individual colors and flavors, you might say -- so it got to be hard to tell them apart as he plowed through. But he also talks about where they got their ideas and who took ideas from them later on. As I read it came to me that I was aware of a number of new scams along these same lines that might appear in a later edition. Plus ca change.