cultish: the language of fanaticism - amanda montell
★4/5BOOKS
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 crap 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!!
Related Stories
CyberSoprano™ © 2026
cybersoprano speaks is a creator-curator website where i express my opinions as my own, and create communal digital space to interact with various media together. the comments are heavily moderated, but cybersoprano cannot be held legally liable for content posted by other users. users take legal responsibility for any and all content they've uploaded. harmful or abusive content is STRICTLY prohibited, and can lead to permanent removal of the website. let's play nice, ok?
if you want to stay up to date with new content, the newsletter is the best way to keep up with posts as they go live.
subscribe to the newsletter to keep up the shenanigans!