LA Times archive query
Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 4:05 pm
I recently picked up Peter McWilliams' excellent Life 102: What To Do When Your Guru Sues You, about the author's long-term--and, quite clearly, long-regretted--experience in the MSIA cult. It's really a fascinating read, and while McWilliams is by no means a literary genius, his down-to-earth, self-depracating style is an excellent fit for both the content and the presentation of the book.
In any case, there are several references both in the book itself and in various review materials to a series of LA Times articles in 1988 that detailed the connection between the "Insight" seminar group and John-Roger's MSIA. Problematically--and despite my recent graduation--my researching skills never quite expanded to the point where I fully grasped the short-of-ILLing-the-damn-article approach to finding pre-1990s newspaper articles. UChicago's online archives only go back to 1996, and google searches have not as yet been that helpful.
Any pointers on how best to proceed? It sounds like a great series of articles, and the McWilliams book really piqued my interest re. MSIA and John-Roger.
(For those who aren't familiar with MSIA--and that's probably, err, most people--they're an odd, new-age movement that rips surprising portions of both organizational and "scriptual" structure from both Eckanar and Scientology. Their most famous adherent is probably Arianna Huffington, who has expended a lot of effort in recent years--alarmingly disingenuously, if McWilliams is to be believed--advancing the idea that she was never really *that* connected to the group, and that John-Roger is just a "close, personal friend")[/u]
In any case, there are several references both in the book itself and in various review materials to a series of LA Times articles in 1988 that detailed the connection between the "Insight" seminar group and John-Roger's MSIA. Problematically--and despite my recent graduation--my researching skills never quite expanded to the point where I fully grasped the short-of-ILLing-the-damn-article approach to finding pre-1990s newspaper articles. UChicago's online archives only go back to 1996, and google searches have not as yet been that helpful.
Any pointers on how best to proceed? It sounds like a great series of articles, and the McWilliams book really piqued my interest re. MSIA and John-Roger.
(For those who aren't familiar with MSIA--and that's probably, err, most people--they're an odd, new-age movement that rips surprising portions of both organizational and "scriptual" structure from both Eckanar and Scientology. Their most famous adherent is probably Arianna Huffington, who has expended a lot of effort in recent years--alarmingly disingenuously, if McWilliams is to be believed--advancing the idea that she was never really *that* connected to the group, and that John-Roger is just a "close, personal friend")[/u]