Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Cultos by Amanda Montell

65 reviews

clawsandjaws's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Cults have been an interest of mine. I've listened to podcasts that are geared towards true crime that have done research about the events. Very few that I've heard focused on the mentality and the loaded language and the thought terminating cliches that Amanda Montell sheds light on. 

With cited sources and plenty of references that allow insight to the thoughts that celebrities, scientists, politicians, etc. subscribe to. 

This book ultimately is more of a reminder that language is a powerful tool and it's within the best interest of everyone to pay closer attention to the way language is used today. Especially today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting and Bullying

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Suicide, Classism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Racism

bootsmom3's review against another edition

funny informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Child death, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Body shaming, Death, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol

kerttuli's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Murder, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Mental illness and Bullying

taelights's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

Cults are a topic that deeply interests me so this one was a fun read despite being very surface-level information but it was interesting and I did learn a few things I didn't know before. Plus the exploration of more "untraditional" cults was cool as well. I don't think I would have gotten through this if I hadn't listened to the audiobook version because this way it was like a long podcast on cults but I think it would drag on too much and be too repetitive if I had tried to read it in any other format. I probably would have dnf it if it wasn't for the audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Death, Child death, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Racism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

literary__mary's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

I really enjoyed this! It talks about well known cults like Jonestown and heaven’s gate, and discusses how they became powerful through specific use of language. It also goes into how companies from fitness clubs to MLMs use similar language. My only complaint is that it got a little repetitive because it applied the same concepts over and over, but it’s very easy to read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide and Murder

Minor: Racism and Fatphobia

sunn_bleach's review against another edition

funny informative mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Another awesome Montiel book. This one is a little less outright funny compared to “Wordslut”, likely due to the heavy subject matter within. Great elucidation and discussion on cultish thinking and how the language used impacts predilections we all have toward that kind of idea. Only bit complaint it a very very weak conclusion that’s at odds with the rest of the book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cursing, Sexism, and Racism

toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

5.0

This is a solid nonfiction book that is an examination of different types of cults within our society and how those who lead them use language to manipulate their followers. On the other hand, this book is also about how many of us have already fallen into cultish groups/dynamics. The inside flap reads, "We secretly want to know, 'could it happen to me?' Amanda Montell's argument is that on some level, it already has." From Instagram to Heaven's Gate, Montell describes cults and cult victims with both sensitivity and great intelligence.

I really enjoyed this one. It read easily for a nonfiction. I feel like even if you aren't a nonfiction person, you might like this. Anyone who has spent any time immersed in internet culture, interested in true crime, language, and obviously, cults will find something for them within these pages. I don't really have anything smart to say about it other than I really liked it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Homophobia, Bullying, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Suicide, Violence, Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Rape, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Racism

Moderate: War, Cancer, Medical trauma, Car accident, Drug use, Miscarriage, Vomit, and Medical content

Minor: Stalking, Addiction, and Excrement

ashleycmms's review against another edition

challenging informative fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Cursing, Body shaming, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Racism, Death, Confinement, Cancer, and Emotional abuse

nickoliver's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

4.25

As a language/linguistics freak, I found a lot about this book very interesting! Admittedly, it wasn't quite as focused on the vocabulary of cults as I expected - a lot was simply about some infamous cults or cult-like things like MLMs or QAnon -, and I did find some of the writing a bit redundant (you don't have to tell me that something was coming in a later chapter when you're already halfway through the book), but it didn't bother me all too much (maybe also because I listened to this on audiobook and didn't read it physically). 

Montell did state that she focused on the US because US-Americans apparently were more into cults than other countries, but I still would've liked to see the way other countries' experiences with them. Because truth to be told, I've never actually heard of cults that weren't based in the US, so it would've been extremely interesting to see those. Though I guess it might be hard to talk about the language used in cults when the language used isn't English and you're an English-speaker from the US. 

Despite what I've read in reviews, I don't think it was bad that she talked so much about cults like Heaven's Gate or Jonestown, because fun fact, not everyone knows about them outside the US. For example, I personally have only heard of the former, and only because I saw a video talking about it once. So I was glad and thrilled that she explained what exactly had happened.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Murder, Racism, Body shaming, and Death

Minor: Sexism, Sexual harassment, Cursing, and Child death

stampest's review against another edition

dark funny informative mysterious fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Rape, Religious bigotry, Hate crime, Murder, Alcoholism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, and Racism