Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

57 reviews

marija_m95's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

2.75

The title indicated that this books concentrates mainly on the linguistic properties of cult language which was not the case. 
The first three parts (the book is divided in 6 parts) were somewhat satisfactory, and the author had some interesting views on how cultish language works to lure a person into becoming a part of a cult and also into staying in it.

But parts four, five, six felt like reading a completely different book, concentrating on MLMs, fitness groups and online communities which we can agree are "cult like" but they are not cults in the negative sense of the word associated with groups like Heaven's Gate or Jonestown. And while it was interesting to read how these groups and organisations possess cultish qualifies and cultish language it felt far too removed from the main topic. 

Other downsides of reading these were the author's writing style, especially the signposting. Reading lines as "more on that later"; "we'll discuss this in part 6"; etc. creates aversion to the book and it's not something I'd like to encounter in any type of book. It would've been more suitable if this was a research paper. 

Another thing was how the author was excessively present in the book and her numerous mentions of her hate towards Donald Trump felt like she was imposing her own political views upon the reader. We can agree that politicians use language to gain following and therefore a good political orator can have many similarities with a cult leader, but when only one politician is mentioned repeatedly as a bad example the book itself becomes biased.

Overall, this book felt misleading and not what I expected. While there were some interesting points to take from it, it wasn't anything groundbreaking and nothing I haven't heard of before. There was no new knowledge or perspective to be gained from this.

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ana_p_carvalho's review against another edition

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.0


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cpsawcd's review against another edition

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funny informative medium-paced

3.5


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julianairving's review

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dark hopeful informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.75

I greatly enjoyed the deep dive into how language is used in all sorts of different communities and how many groups (such as fitness clubs and MLMs) have religious roots and how it's used in their messaging. Loved the author's writing style. Both I formative and fun to read!

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rainbopagn's review

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lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

While there is something endearing about the way Montell breaks down all things “cultish,” there wasn’t anything really I didn’t already know. It was neat to hear about the origins of things like MLMs though I do think she oversimplified by describing everything cultish as a result of Protestant reforms and changes. I do recommend as an “intro” to thinking critically though. 

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unluckycat13's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

This is not a true crime book, this is a sociological look at how cults and the rhetorical/linguistic techniques affect the average things in life; and when it becomes a problem. 

I'm unsure what people want in regards to intersectionality. You could probably go into depth in a lot of topics, but the author does talk about a lot of things that affect minorities of all sorts even when she's not directly shouting that group out. She does directly shout out minority groups often though.

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aysha_blake's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75


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wright_rendon_reads's review

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challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I'm not a true crime girly, but I AM a cult girly. So when I heard about this book my interest was peaked. 

This book combines two of my special interests: language and cults. This book is split into sections covering cults and cult(ish) groups: religious groups, self-help groups, MLMs, fitness groups, and online influencers/political groups. The book doesn't claim all of these are cults but that they do use language that cult groups tend to use like thought terminating cliches and love bombing. 

This book was interesting, thought provoking, funny, and informative. I found myself turning it on even for a short drive to pick up food. (I listened to it on audiobook). I greatly enjoyed this as my last summer read before school started. 


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bashsbooks's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

This is an extremely cool linguistic exploration on how language impacts how people decided to join and stay in manipulative groups (broadly termed 'cultish'). From murder-suicides like Jonestown and Heaven's Gate to MLMs to fitness groups like Soul Cycle, the spectrum is wide, but Montell convincing demonstrates on how all these groups employ similar rhetorical strats to recruit people.  

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nykolereads's review

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informative reflective fast-paced

5.0


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