Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

148 reviews

hannah_and_her_stories's review

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funny informative medium-paced

4.5


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zpitts's review against another edition

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challenging hopeful informative mysterious medium-paced

4.5


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divine529's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced
Cults are something I've been finding myself fascinated by more and more lately, especially given how much we hear about them on a regular basis. This is an absolutely fantastic book and a topic I've been interested in for awhile - language. This book really opened my eyes to a variety of things, expanded upon things I've believed, learned about and understood for awhile, and allowed me to view choices and experiences I've made and had in a different way. 

That said, tread lightly if you have triggers as this book deals with heavy and difficult topics at times. 

I highly recommend this to everyone. 

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remimicha's review

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funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.0


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trippyotter's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

4.0

This book... I knew about several of the things mentioned, but the few I didn't, yikes...

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alsoapples's review

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dark funny informative fast-paced

4.5


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crabbytaco's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.5


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brindolyn's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative medium-paced

4.25


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cady_sass's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but don’t join that MLM. 

In all seriousness this is EXPERTLY done and I’m blown away. I’ve always been drawn to cult history and I really, really appreciate the work the author did here to include “cultish” behavior (hence, the title) of non cult entities- MLMs, fitness & CrossFit culture, MAGA, etc.- along with the obvious identifiable cults like Jonestown, Heavens Gate, and Nxivm, among others. 

Super important to give language to the behaviors and vernacular that are big red flags 🚩 so people can engage carefully and make informed decisions. Highly, highly recommend.

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rionstorm's review

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funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

Really cool exploration into the linguistic techniques used by cults and cultish groups, written in an simple to read, conversational way so it's easy to get through.

I liked that the author explored a wide range of groups, from the types of groups that would traditionally be seen as cults, to new age social media healers, MLMs, and conspiracy theory communities like QAnon, as it was really fascinating to see the same core linguistic and persuasive principals being applied in such different scenarios. 

They look at both the positive and negative aspects of tight knit cultish groups, and consistently invite the reader to remain empathetic about to the factors that lead people to become part of these groups, without excusing any harmful behavior or views. 

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