by Sally Kyle Msw (Foreword by), Diana L. Lee Ma (Author)
Reviews "Great and VERY unusual book. Helped me see myself more clearly." - Frank Schaeffer, Author of Crazy for God "In Shattered Diana: Downloading Malware, Diana Lee gives a captivating narrative of her chaotic upbringing in an evangelical home in the 1950s. The book gives the reader an introspective look at how Diana-the-child felt and attempted to cope as she experienced the psychological and physical abuse of her home and the religious fear and shame indoctrination of growing up in evangelicalism. The book frequently interjects Diana's narrative-one that creatively blends prose with poetry-with the scoldings Diana so frequently experienced and the religious hymns, still widely sung today, that celebrate obedience and redemption through violent punishment." - Eric Cernyar, JD "Your book will help those who have been saying "what's wrong with me?" change the question to "what's wrong with them?" It could help millions stop the self-blame they were taught and to put it back where it belongs, with the perpetrator Thanks, Diana, for telling it like it is." - Pam Lampe "Evangelical Fundamentalism is like going through life looking in a mirror. Everything is backwards." - Paul Weis "William Sargant's, The Battle for the Mind: A Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing - How Evangelists, Psychiatrists, Politicians and Medicine Men Can Change Your Beliefs and Behaviors, has long been recognized as an important work in experimental psychology and for the history of psychology. Diana's ability to use her education and personal experience to link Susanna Wesley's child rearing methods to Sargant's insights regarding John Wesley's conversion techniques opens a larger window into understanding the roots of the religious phenomenon known as Evangelicalism." - WAYNE VINEY, Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Emeritus University Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Colorado State University, Author of A History of Psychology Synopsis The Shattered Diana series is an autoethnographic study illustrating the remarkable courage of its author in her agonizing quest for authentic self-discovery in the face of the absurdities, toxicity, and destructiveness of dogmatic religious fundamentalism. This series pioneers a compelling literary genre growing out of Diana Lee's extensive knowledge of history, psychology, psychiatry, neurology, biblical literature, fundamentalism and cults. The series' vivid and artistic descriptive journeys into the author's existential realities are woven beautifully and seamlessly into an informed multilayered intellectual analysis of a world torn apart by one epistemic pathology after another. There is a genuine education in this series and enlightenment with respect to the destructive and crippling effects of fundamentalist worldviews that remain all too common at the outset of the 21st century.
Author Biography
Diana is a Colorado native (b. 1947) with honors degrees from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado. In spite of graduating with highest distinction, completing her university honors thesis with highest distinction, and induction into Phi Beta Kappa - early childhood traumas coupled with Evangelical Fundamentalist programming - left Diana believing she was evil and stupid until licensed therapy knit her back together and rewired her brain which enabled her to think for herself, use her education to deconstruct Evangelical Fundamentalism and escape its toxic grip over her mind and life.