Download or read book Heaven's Gate written by Benjamin E. Zeller and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2014-10-31 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 1997, thirty-nine people in Rancho Santa Fe, California, ritually terminated their lives. To outsiders, it was a mass suicide. To insiders, it was a graduation. The author explores the question of why the members of Heaven's Gate committed ritual suicides, and examines the origin and evolution of the religion, its appeal, and practices.