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A review by kevin_shepherd
American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today by Robyn Chapman
4.0
Considering that many of today’s “orthodox religions” began as cults, including Christianity in its infancy, it is probably best to start off with a definition or two…
cult: a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous. -Brittanica
cult: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious. -Merriam-Webster
…the point being that, though many cults are extremely nefarious, not all are dangerous (and even the ones that are didn’t necessarily start out that way).
Robyn Chapman has assembled a nicely illustrated, nonfiction, graphic compendium consisting of 18 chapters, each describing a different American cult and each written and drawn by a different artist. American Cult’s narratives span more than 300 years of North American history (1694-2020) and include familiar as well as obscure religious and pseudo-religious sects. Some of the cults are fairly benign, others are horrendously malevolent and cruel—almost all eventually devolved into some form of dictatorship.
This book feels a bit condensed. Fitting eighteen different religious incarnations into less than 200 pages would be difficult even in text, but to do so with imaginative art work leaves room for only the briefest of depictions. Still, even the shortest chapters piqued my interest and made me want to know more. 4 stars.
“. . . no strategy or set of politics is inherently revolutionary if it empowers an oppressive individual or inner circle over their peers. We have to be careful. This is America, and in America we have a history of prophets who will lead us from one cage to another.” (pg 97)
cult: a small religious group that is not part of a larger and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or dangerous. -Brittanica
cult: a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious. -Merriam-Webster
…the point being that, though many cults are extremely nefarious, not all are dangerous (and even the ones that are didn’t necessarily start out that way).
Robyn Chapman has assembled a nicely illustrated, nonfiction, graphic compendium consisting of 18 chapters, each describing a different American cult and each written and drawn by a different artist. American Cult’s narratives span more than 300 years of North American history (1694-2020) and include familiar as well as obscure religious and pseudo-religious sects. Some of the cults are fairly benign, others are horrendously malevolent and cruel—almost all eventually devolved into some form of dictatorship.
This book feels a bit condensed. Fitting eighteen different religious incarnations into less than 200 pages would be difficult even in text, but to do so with imaginative art work leaves room for only the briefest of depictions. Still, even the shortest chapters piqued my interest and made me want to know more. 4 stars.
“. . . no strategy or set of politics is inherently revolutionary if it empowers an oppressive individual or inner circle over their peers. We have to be careful. This is America, and in America we have a history of prophets who will lead us from one cage to another.” (pg 97)