published by harper wave (2021)
I really enjoyed this book!! I love that the language and voice are incredibly accessible and conversational, like a friend or cool aunt telling you about all the weird shit she’s been working on. I appreciate that the author uses case studies to emphasize the main cult tactics; thought terminating clichés, us-vs-them mentality, the all-knowing guru, in-group vocabulary, etc. my only real gripe i think was the way this book was organized: i didn’t love that every page had a “we’ll talk about this more in part xx” reference, i really could’ve gone without it and just read about it when we got there. especially considering how repetitive a lot of the information is (rightfully so; the concept relies heavily on identifying patterns so it only makes sense!). i think if the chapters had been divided by cult tactics instead of by cult, the readability would have been more fluid(i.e ways different cults use us-vs-them mentality to varying degrees with examples vs. MLM cults and how they use each tactic). honestly this critique is more on the editors than the author though, and i love the concept and approach to the very word “cult” neutrally, so kudos!!
