Published by University of Toronto Press.
This book provides a fascinating glimpse into the cosmology and history of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a particularly unique sect of Christians known for their door-to-door proselytizing. While it is dated in many respects, the quality of its longue duree assessment of the evolution of JW thinking, as well as its assessment of many older JW texts, and as an older book that is likely out of print, it is worth the much reduced price you'll likely pay for it. It is also rather unique in that it is an academic book written by (former?) Jehovah's Witnesses.
The text combines doctoral research by Heather Botting on the JW's with her husband's research on George Orwell's writing (particularly 1984). At the time, JW's were speculating that the Final Judgement was likely to occur in 1984 (using an arcane set of calculations that indicated that the Second Coming had occurred in 1914, and that the Final Reckoning would occur within about 70 years, while the generation alive in 1914 would live to see the Final End). As we know now, this did not happen. Nonetheless, the analysis the Bottings offer of the 1984 preparations within the Kingdom is fascinating.
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