Review by mattyvreads - Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

mattyvreads 's review for:

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

3.5

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

Definitely interesting and informative.

I got a lot out of this book:

how the American government’s failure to take care of its citizens enables, sustains, and fosters cults, because countries (like Japan and some European countries) that provide health care and resources for their people are less likely to turn to community protection out of desperation; how the language we use around cult survivors can negatively impact the help that they receive during FBI operations or post-escape; how cult leaders use unique euphemisms or phrasing which disguises their pernicious meanings. That new vocabulary provides a false sense of superiority for the user, while the controller uses it as a method of forced compliance. It also intentionally convolutes and confuses an outside audience.

Profoundly fascinating and scary.

There were some sections of this book wherein it felt like the author was saying a lot without saying much at all. Her writing style is not my favorite. I didn’t like the flow of the book — how it started with severe instances of cult behavior, and seemed to zoom out more and more. There were quite a few anecdotal and hypothetical arguments that, for me, weakened the very astute observations that the author made and historical events that she invokes. Many of her observations were predictable, and I found myself waiting for her to... just... get to the point.

I learned a lot, though! Hands down. I didn’t know about

thought terminating clichés, that the Jonestown victims drank FlavorAid — not KoolAid, or the phrase “cult plus time equals religion.”

I feel like this book could have been a documentary…. lol

Content Warnings