by Chand Prasad, Ph.D.

Academic scholars will benefit from reading Gold, Guns and God: Volume 2—A Pioneer Community (GGG Vol 2). Prabhupada disciples should be forewarned. GGG Vol 2 presents Prabhupada in an unjustifiably negative light.

Doktorski contributes to the literature with his (a) coverage of Kirtanananda’s heretofore undocumented defection from ISKCON in September 1967 and his subsequent reunion with Prabhupada in July 1968; (b) insights into the inauspicious founding of New Vrindaban; (c) detailed information on the community’s expansion through the purchase of properties in the McCreary Ridge. Doktorski provides a valuable understanding of Kirtanananda’s charisma, his extensive travels outside of West Virginia, and the separation that the New Vrindaban community felt when Kirtanananda was away. I have not found this information elsewhere.