Rebecca is Emerita Professor of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She has a specialization in American religions with a focus on new religious movements. She co-edited Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America (Indiana 2004) and authored Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple (Praeger 2009, paperback edition 2018). Her most recent book is Beyond Brainwashing: Perspectives on Cultic Violence (Cambridge University Press 2018). She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, published by University of California Press.