Hugh B. Urban's Books

The Church of Scientology

A History of a New Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Church of Scientology

A History of a New Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

Scientology's long and complex journey to recognition as a religion Scientology is one of the wealthiest and most powerful new religions to emerge in the past century. To its detractors, L. Ron Hubbard's space-age mysticism is a moneymaking scam and sinister brainwashing cult. But to its adherents, it is humanity's brightest hope. Few religious movements have been subject to public scrutiny like Scientology, yet much of what is written about the church is sensationalist and inaccurate. Here for the first time is the story of Scientology's protracted and turbulent journey to recognition as a religion in the postwar American landscape. Hugh Urban tells the real story of Scientology from its cold war-era beginnings in the 1950s to its prominence today as the religion of Hollywood's celebrity elite. Urban paints a vivid portrait of Hubbard, the enigmatic founder who once commanded his own private fleet and an intelligence apparatus rivaling that of the U.S. government. One FBI agent described him as "a mental case," but to his followers he is the man who "solved the riddle of the human mind." Urban details Scientology's decades-long war with the IRS, which ended with the church winning tax-exempt status as a religion; the rancorous cult wars of the 1970s and 1980s; as well as the latest challenges confronting Scientology, from attacks by the Internet group Anonymous to the church's efforts to suppress the online dissemination of its esoteric teachings. The Church of Scientology demonstrates how Scientology has reflected the broader anxieties and obsessions of postwar America, and raises profound questions about how religion is defined and who gets to define it.

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280

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Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691158053

ISBN 13

9780691158051

The Path of Desire

Living Tantra in Northeast India

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Path of Desire

Living Tantra in Northeast India

By: Hugh B. Urban

A provocative study of contemporary Tantra as a dynamic living tradition. Tantra, one of the most important religious currents in South Asia, is often misrepresented as little more than ritualized sex. Through a mixture of ethnography and history, Hugh B. Urban reveals a dynamic living tradition behind the sensationalist stories. Urban shows that Tantric desire goes beyond the erotic, encompassing such quotidian experiences as childbearing and healing. He traces these holistic desires through a series of unique practices: institutional Tantra centered on gurus and esoteric rituals; public Tantra marked by performance and festival; folk Tantra focused on magic and personal well-being; and popular Tantra imagined in fiction, film, and digital media. The result is a provocative new description of Hindu Tantra that challenges us to approach religion as something always entwined with politics and culture, thoroughly entangled with ordinary needs and desires.

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281

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226831116

ISBN 13

9780226831114

Zorba the Buddha

Sex, Spirituality, and Capitalism in the Global Osho Movement

By: Hugh B. Urban

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Zorba the Buddha

Sex, Spirituality, and Capitalism in the Global Osho Movement

By: Hugh B. Urban

Zorba the Buddha is the first comprehensive study of the life, teachings, and following of the controversial Indian guru known in his youth as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and in his later years as Osho (1931–1990). Most Americans today remember him only as the “sex guru” and the “Rolls Royce guru,” who built a hugely successful but scandal-ridden utopian community in central Oregon during the 1980s. Yet Osho was arguably the first truly global guru of the twentieth century, creating a large transnational movement that traced a complex global circuit from post-Independence India of the 1960s to Reagan’s America of the 1980s and back to a developing new India in the 1990s. The Osho movement embodies some of the most important economic and spiritual currents of the past forty years, emerging and adapting within an increasingly interconnected and conflicted late-capitalist world order. Based on extensive ethnographic and archival research, Hugh Urban has created a rich and powerful narrative that is a must-read for anyone interested in religion and globalization.

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260

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University of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520286677

ISBN 13

9780520286672

The Power of Tantra

Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Power of Tantra

Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies

By: Hugh B. Urban

In the West, the varied body of texts and traditions known as Tantra for more than two centuries has had the capacity to scandalize and shock. For European colonizers, Orientalist scholars and Christian missionaries of the Victorian era, Tantra was generally seen as the most degenerate and depraved example of the worst tendencies of the so-called 'Indian mind': a pathological mixture of sensuality and religion that prompted the decline of modern Hinduism. Yet for most contemporary New Age and popular writers, Tantra is celebrated as a much-needed affirmation of physical pleasure and sex: indeed as a 'cult of ecstasy' to counter the perceived hypocritical prudery of many Westerners. In recent years, Tantra has become the focus of a still larger cultural and political debate. In the eyes of many Hindus, much of the western literature on Tantra represents a form of neo-colonialism, which continues to portray India as an exotic, erotic, hyper-sexualized Orient. Which, then, is the 'real' Tantra? Focusing on one of the oldest and most important Tantric traditions, based in Assam, northeast India, Hugh B Urban shows that Tantra is less about optimal sexual pleasure than about harnessing the divine power of the goddess that flows alike through the cosmos, the human body and political society. In a fresh and vital contribution to the field, the author suggests that the 'real' meaning of Tantra lies in helping us rethink not just the history of Indian religions, but also our own modern obsessions with power, sex and the invidious legacies of cultural imperialism.

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263

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857715860

ISBN 13

9780857715869

New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements

Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America

By: Hugh B. Urban

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New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements

Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America

By: Hugh B. Urban

New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements is a comprehensive and user-friendly book devoted to the study of alternative spiritual currents in modern America. The book covers a wide range of new religions from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, including the Native American Church, Mormonism, Spiritualism, Scientology, the Nation of Islam, Rastafari, ISKCON, Wicca, the Church of Satan, Peoples Temple, Branch Davidians, and the Raeelians. Each chapter focuses on one key issue or debate that raises larger issues in the study of religion and American culture more broadly, such as the legality of peyote in the Native American Church, the role of women and feminism in Wicca, the role of hip hop and reggae music in the spread of the Nation of Islam and Rastafari, and the debate over human cloning in the Raeelian movement. The book also addresses key theoretical and methodological problems in the study of new religions: Why has there been such a tremendous proliferation of new spiritual forms in the past 150 years, even amid our increasingly rational, scientific, technological, and 'secular' society? Why has the United States become the heartland for the explosion of new religious movements? How do we deal with complex legal debates such as the use of peyote by the Native American Church, the use of marijuana by Rastafarians, or the practice of plural marriage by some Mormon communities? And how do we navigate issues of religious freedom and privacy in a new age of religious violence, terrorism, and government surveillance?"--Provided by publisher.

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328

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520281179

ISBN 13

9780520281172

The Church of Scientology

A History of a New Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Church of Scientology

A History of a New Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

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280

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0691158053

ISBN 13

9780691158051

Secrecy

Silence, Power, and Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

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Secrecy

Silence, Power, and Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

The powers of political secrecy and social spectacle have been taken to surreal extremes recently. Witness the twin terrors of a president who refuses to disclose dealings with foreign powers while the private data of ordinary citizens is stolen and marketed in order to manipulate consumer preferences and voting outcomes. We have become accustomed to thinking about secrecy in political terms and personal privacy terms. In this bracing, new work, Hugh Urban wants us to focus these same powers of observation on the role of secrecy in religion. With Secrecy, Urban investigates several revealing instances of the power of secrecy in religion, including nineteenth-century Scottish Rite Freemasonry, the sexual magic of a Russian-born Parisian mystic; the white supremacist BrüderSchweigen or “Silent Brotherhood” movement of the 1980s, the Five Percenters, and the Church of Scientology. An electrifying read, Secrecy is the culmination of decades of Urban’s reflections on a vexed, ever-present subject.

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268

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022674678X

ISBN 13

9780226746784

The Secrets of the Kingdom

Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Secrets of the Kingdom

Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration

By: Hugh B. Urban

The Secrets of the Kingdom is the first book to critically examine the complex relationship between faith and concealment in the Bush White House.

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248

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0742552470

ISBN 13

9780742552470

Songs of Ecstasy

Tantric and Devotional Songs from Colonial Bengal

By: Hugh B. Urban

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Songs of Ecstasy

Tantric and Devotional Songs from Colonial Bengal

By: Hugh B. Urban

This book offers the first English translation of a body of highly esoteric, mystical poetry and songs associated with the Khartabhajas, a Bengali sect devoted to Tantrism. The period from the late 18th to the early 19th century, during which these lyrics were written, was an era of change, experimentation, and transition from the older medieval styles to the new literary forms of "modern" Bengal. The highly original songs presented here are an important part of this transitional period, reflecting the search for new literary forms and experimentation in new poetic styles.

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Page Count

200

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

0195139011

ISBN 13

9780195139013

An Urban Profile of the Middle East

By: Hugh Roberts

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An Urban Profile of the Middle East

By: Hugh Roberts

Changes in economic and social conditions throughout the Middle East have been profound, and perhaps nowhere has this been more evident than in the field of urban development and town planning. This book, first published in 1979, provides a view of the Middle East as it undergoes transition by identifying and analysing the symptoms of change.

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238

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000113345

ISBN 13

9781000113341

Magia Sexualis

Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism

By: Hugh B. Urban

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Magia Sexualis

Sex, Magic, and Liberation in Modern Western Esotericism

By: Hugh B. Urban

Sexuality and the occult arts have long been associated in the western imagination, but it was not until the nineteenth century that a large and sophisticated body of literature on sexual magic—the use of sex as a source of magical power—emerged. This book, the first history of western sexual magic as a modern spiritual tradition, places these practices in the context of the larger discourse surrounding sexuality in American and European society over the last 150 years to discover how sexual magic was transformed from a terrifying medieval nightmare of heresy and social subversion into a modern ideal of personal empowerment and social liberation. Focusing on a series of key figures including American spiritualist Paschal Beverly Randolph, Aleister Crowley, Julius Evola, Gerald Gardner, and Anton LaVey, Hugh Urban traces the emergence of sexual magic out of older western esoteric traditions including Gnosticism and Kabbalah, which were progressively fused with recently-discovered eastern traditions such as Hindu and Buddhist Tantra. His study gives remarkable new insight into sexuality in the modern era, specifically on issues such as the politics of birth control, the classification of sexual "deviance," debates over homosexuality and feminism, and the role of sexuality in our own new world of post-modern spirituality, consumer capitalism, and the Internet.

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350

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520932889

ISBN 13

9780520932883

The Power of Tantra

Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Power of Tantra

Religion, Sexuality and the Politics of South Asian Studies

By: Hugh B. Urban

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263

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0857715860

ISBN 13

9780857715869

The Economics of Ecstasy

Tantra, Secrecy, and Power in Colonial Bengal

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Economics of Ecstasy

Tantra, Secrecy, and Power in Colonial Bengal

By: Hugh B. Urban

Urban shows that the case of the Kartabhajas opens many new insights not merely into the specific case of one minor Bengali cult, but also into much larger cross-cultural and theoretical issues, including the changing role of the lower class, marginalized groups under the changing conditions of colonialism, the changing role of Tantric traditions during the period of British rule, and the topic of secrecy as a cross-cultural category in the study of religion. Urban's reflections on the ethical and epistemological dilemmas involved in studying traditions that wish to remain secret will set a new standard for discussion of this controversial issue."--BOOK JACKET.

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Page Count

305

Publisher

Oxford University Press, USA

Published Date

ISBN 10

019513902X

ISBN 13

9780195139020

Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization

By: Terry A. Slocum,Robert B. McMaster,Fritz C. Kessler,Hugh H. Howard

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Thematic Cartography and Geovisualization

By: Terry A. Slocum,Robert B. McMaster,Fritz C. Kessler,Hugh H. Howard

This comprehensive and well-established cartography textbook covers the theory and the practical applications of map design and the appropriate use of map elements. It explains the basic methods for visualizing and analyzing spatial data and introduces the latest cutting-edge data visualization techniques. The fourth edition responds to the extensive developments in cartography and GIS in the last decade, including the continued evolution of the Internet and Web 2.0; the need to analyze and visualize large data sets (commonly referred to as Big Data); the changes in computer hardware (e.g., the evolution of hardware for virtual environments and augmented reality); and novel applications of technology. Key Features of the Fourth Edition: Includes more than 400 color illustrations and it is available in both print and eBook formats. A new chapter on Geovisual Analytics and individual chapters have now been dedicated to Map Elements, Typography, Proportional Symbol Mapping, Dot Mapping, Cartograms, and Flow Mapping. Extensive revisions have been made to the chapters on Principles of Color, Dasymetric Mapping, Visualizing Terrain, Map Animation, Visualizing Uncertainty, and Virtual Environments/Augmented Reality. All chapters include Learning Objectives and Study Questions. Provides more than 250 web links to online content, over 730 references to scholarly materials, and additional 540 references available for Further Reading. There is ample material for either a one or two-semester course in thematic cartography and geovisualization. This textbook provides undergraduate and graduate students in geoscience, geography, and environmental sciences with the most valuable up-to-date learning resource available in the cartographic field. It is a great resource for professionals and experts using GIS and Cartography and for organizations and policy makers involved in mapping projects.

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Page Count

613

Publisher

CRC Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000631052

ISBN 13

9781000631050

New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements

Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America

By: Hugh B. Urban

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New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements

Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America

By: Hugh B. Urban

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328

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520281179

ISBN 13

9780520281172

Secrecy

Silence, Power, and Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

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Secrecy

Silence, Power, and Religion

By: Hugh B. Urban

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268

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University of Chicago Press

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ISBN 10

022674678X

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9780226746784

Zorba the Buddha

Sex, Spirituality, and Capitalism in the Global Osho Movement

By: Hugh B. Urban

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Zorba the Buddha

Sex, Spirituality, and Capitalism in the Global Osho Movement

By: Hugh B. Urban

Zorba the Buddha is the first comprehensive study of the life, teachings, and following of the controversial Indian guru known in his youth as Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and in his later years as Osho (1931Ð1990). Most Americans today remember him only as the Òsex guruÓ and the ÒRolls Royce guru,Ó who built a hugely successful but scandal-ridden utopian community in central Oregon during the 1980s. Yet Osho was arguably the first truly global guru of the twentieth century, creating a large transnational movement that traced a complex global circuit from post-Independence India of the 1960s to ReaganÕs America of the 1980s and back to a developing new India in the 1990s. The Osho movement embodies some of the most important economic and spiritual currents of the past forty years, emerging and adapting within an increasingly interconnected and conflicted late-capitalist world order. Based on extensive ethnographic and archival research, Hugh Urban has created a rich and powerful narrative that is a must-read for anyone interested in religion and globalization.

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Page Count

260

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520286669

ISBN 13

9780520286665

The Secrets of the Kingdom

Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration

By: Hugh B. Urban

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The Secrets of the Kingdom

Religion and Concealment in the Bush Administration

By: Hugh B. Urban

The Secrets of the Kingdom is the first book to critically examine the complex relationship between faith and concealment in the Bush White House.

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Page Count

248

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield

Published Date

ISBN 10

0742552470

ISBN 13

9780742552470

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