This is not a book to skim-read, or simply to keep on the shelf for future reference. It is a book that captivates the attention on each page. It tells the stories, in a sympathetic yet well-researched way, of ‘cults’ in Eastern Africa and contextualises them in their religious, political and emotional settings. The main story of the book deals with the Marian Movement, or ‘The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God’, which originated towards the end of the twentieth century in southern Uganda. Within a context of a multitude of AIDS-related deaths, political corruption and poverty, the movement eventually drew about 7,000 adherents and was characterised by two main teachings: purity of lifestyle as demanded by God, and prophecies that the world would come to an end in the year 2000. At first attempting to find a home as an order within the Roman Catholic Church, the devotees of the Marian Movement were eventually persecuted by Church and Society. Eventually, the movement settled at Kanungu, building a church in the form of Noah's Ark. There, on 17 March 2000, they created their own doomsday when more than 800 devotees – mainly impoverished rural women with their children – were petrol bombed as a ‘self-sacrifice’ for atonement. Their bodies were naked so as to leave their souls free to ascend to heaven. In this book the causes and contexts of this tragedy are analysed within the broader religious contexts of East Africa. This is a book of exceptional quality, both in the research done and in the interpretation thereof. The author makes a valuable contribution to the understanding of ‘apocalyptic moral renewal Christian movements’ in East Africa, a contribution that is also helpful in understanding these movements worldwide.