Chicago, IL -
PEOPLE FARM: A LARGELY TRUE STORY OF EXPLOITATION, REDEMPTION AND ORGANIC SEX IN A THERAPY CULT OF THE EARLY AQUARIAN AGE by Steve Susoyev; Moving Finger Press; 396 pages; $18.00. (buy book) People Farm is Steve Susoyev's account of his experiences in a therapy cult during the late 1970's. All of the names were changed to protect the guilty, though those in the know might be able to figure out who Susoyev is writing about. The seventies were the golden age of cults; some were relatively benign but some - like the Rev. Jim Jones's Peoples Temple - were downright lethal. Cults appealed to a generation of confused youth, offering salvation or at least peace of mind.
Steve Susoyev was one young man who needed peace of mind. Coming from a dysfunctional family, uncomfortable with his homosexuality, and suicidal to boot, Susoyev was about to end it all when he came across "Dr. Cyrus Aaron," a brilliant and charismatic psychiatrist. Though Dr. Aaron had an office in Beverly Hills, he spent most of his time in Rancho Vista, a rural commune in the mountains of Colorado. In that rustic setting Aaron and his wife presided over a bevy of young drug addicts, criminals, and sex fiends in need of a cure. Impressed by Aaron's charm and intellect - and smitten by one of the Doctor's comely male acolytes - Susoyev decided to give Rancho Vista a try. Through hook and crook, Susoyev got himself accepted as a patient at Rancho Vista, where he remained for five years, eventually becoming a staff member and a confidante of Cyrus Aaron.
"Perhaps no one in contemporary society is confronted by greater temptation to abuse power than the psychotherapist. We reveal to therapists personal information we do not share with our families or trusted friends," Susoyev writes. "[S]ome therapists, less rigorous about ethics or less conscious of their own need for personal validation, fall into the power trap and take advantage of needy or frightened clients." Such was the case with Dr. Cyrus Aaron. An absolute monarch within his rustic realm, Aaron used and abused his patients while claiming to cure them. A firm believer in the power of sexual surrogacy, the impotent Dr. Aaron made Steve and the other men under his tutelage service his wife's "needy pussy." Drugs and alcohol flowed in Rancho Vista, making conditions worse for all concerned in Aaron's utopia. Finally, things got to the point that underage boys and girls were used sexually by Aaron and his staff - including Susoyev - leading an outraged parent to file a complaint. Facing charges of statutory rape, Aaron and his wife fled the country, only to be rescued by the still-loyal Steve Susoyev.
People Farm was written as a cautionary tale by Steve Susoyev, now free of trauma and a successful attorney and author. Written and re-written within a period of over a decade, this book was no doubt a form of therapy, as well as Susoyev's way to strike back at the man who saved his life and then almost destroyed it. At over 400 pages, People Farm rambles somewhat, repeating itself and telling us things that we don't really want or need to know. Susoyev does not excuse his past behavior, which was horrific at times, nor does he claim that he was just an evil genius' unwilling thrall. If People Farm makes fascinating reading - which it is - it's because many of us can relate to the author's dilemma, his inner and outer demons and his need to find salvation in a false god's promises. Though cults are not as prevalent now as they were thirty years ago, there are still too many young men and women who fall prey to the false prophets of religion, politics and science. There is a lesson to be learned from People Farm, and we can be grateful to Susoyev for opening his heart and sharing his harrowing experiences with us.
Steve Susoyev was one young man who needed peace of mind. Coming from a dysfunctional family, uncomfortable with his homosexuality, and suicidal to boot, Susoyev was about to end it all when he came across "Dr. Cyrus Aaron," a brilliant and charismatic psychiatrist. Though Dr. Aaron had an office in Beverly Hills, he spent most of his time in Rancho Vista, a rural commune in the mountains of Colorado. In that rustic setting Aaron and his wife presided over a bevy of young drug addicts, criminals, and sex fiends in need of a cure. Impressed by Aaron's charm and intellect - and smitten by one of the Doctor's comely male acolytes - Susoyev decided to give Rancho Vista a try. Through hook and crook, Susoyev got himself accepted as a patient at Rancho Vista, where he remained for five years, eventually becoming a staff member and a confidante of Cyrus Aaron.
"Perhaps no one in contemporary society is confronted by greater temptation to abuse power than the psychotherapist. We reveal to therapists personal information we do not share with our families or trusted friends," Susoyev writes. "[S]ome therapists, less rigorous about ethics or less conscious of their own need for personal validation, fall into the power trap and take advantage of needy or frightened clients." Such was the case with Dr. Cyrus Aaron. An absolute monarch within his rustic realm, Aaron used and abused his patients while claiming to cure them. A firm believer in the power of sexual surrogacy, the impotent Dr. Aaron made Steve and the other men under his tutelage service his wife's "needy pussy." Drugs and alcohol flowed in Rancho Vista, making conditions worse for all concerned in Aaron's utopia. Finally, things got to the point that underage boys and girls were used sexually by Aaron and his staff - including Susoyev - leading an outraged parent to file a complaint. Facing charges of statutory rape, Aaron and his wife fled the country, only to be rescued by the still-loyal Steve Susoyev.
People Farm was written as a cautionary tale by Steve Susoyev, now free of trauma and a successful attorney and author. Written and re-written within a period of over a decade, this book was no doubt a form of therapy, as well as Susoyev's way to strike back at the man who saved his life and then almost destroyed it. At over 400 pages, People Farm rambles somewhat, repeating itself and telling us things that we don't really want or need to know. Susoyev does not excuse his past behavior, which was horrific at times, nor does he claim that he was just an evil genius' unwilling thrall. If People Farm makes fascinating reading - which it is - it's because many of us can relate to the author's dilemma, his inner and outer demons and his need to find salvation in a false god's promises. Though cults are not as prevalent now as they were thirty years ago, there are still too many young men and women who fall prey to the false prophets of religion, politics and science. There is a lesson to be learned from People Farm, and we can be grateful to Susoyev for opening his heart and sharing his harrowing experiences with us.
