Martha Beck

Beck holds three Harvard degrees, a doctorate in sociology among them, and left both academia and the Mormon church to work as a life coach, writing a column in Oprah Winfrey's magazine for years. Finding Your Own North Star is the practical book. Leaving the Saints, published in 2005, describes recovering memories of abuse by her father, the Mormon scholar Hugh Nibley; her family disputed the account publicly and defended him, and the memories were recovered rather than continuous, a category psychologists treat with caution. She writes now about anxiety and integrity.