Michelle Dowd was born into a cult that was literally training boys to fight in God's army when the apocalypse came.

It started in sunny Pasadena, California when her grandfather - a former Boy Scout leader - decided the Scouts weren't strict enough and built his own organization. Boys were recruited young, drilled like soldiers, and raised to believe they were preparing for the end of the world.

Michelle grew up inside the group known as "The Field," running miles before breakfast, enduring military-style obedience drills, selling candy to fund the movement, and eventually living for years on a remote mountain with basically no formal education.

What eventually happened is almost unbelievable: a secret college application, a full scholarship, and a cult survivor with no formal education… to becoming a professor teaching critical thinking.

Michelle Dowd is now a writer and the author of Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult.

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MICHELLE DOWD LINKS → Instagram @michelledowdz |

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Michelle's NYT Modern Love essay: "Love in a Time of Low Expectations"

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Tyler's mascot book mention: Where Are the Fighting Giraffes? by David Winder

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