Charles Dederich (1913-1997) established Synanon in 1958 as a rehabilitation center designed to help chronic substance abusers overcome their dependence on alcohol and other drugs. The central feature of Dederich's system was the Game, which was designed to strip its players of the mechanisms that kept them addicted. In this practice (modeled in part on the Oneida Community system of mutual criticism) the participants verbally attacked one another in order to force each other to recognize and eliminate their own self-destructive behaviors. Synanon became a social movement dedicated to creating an alternative society in 1969 and a religion (with Dederich acting as priest and pope) in 1975. The group disbanded in 1991 after the IRS functionally eliminated its economic base by refusing to grant the church tax-exempt status.

Although Synanon was controversial from its beginnings, it was criticized particularly after its transformation into a religion and its subsequent near total isolation and increasingly violent philosophy (including an attempt to murder Attorney Paul Morantz, who had recently won a case against Synanon, in 1977). Not surprisingly, the organization was sued many times. The case best documented in this collection is Macyl Burke v. Reader's Digest, D. MacDonald, D. Mitchell, C. Mitchell, et al., which was filed in response to what Dederich perceived as the publication's gross misrepresentation of his organization. The case was decided in favor of Reader's Digest.