Hardcover, 320 pages
Published June 15, 2021 by Harper Wave.
The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power.
What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .
Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, …
The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power.
What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .
Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.
Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.
Montell describes how cults rely on language to spread their views. She investigates how charismatic cult leaders used language to gain members and deceive people, offering them a path to a better world that only the leader understands.
This is non-fiction as beach read, and felt more like a book-length Slate article that a serious attempt to understand or make an argument. The sources are the author's personal experience and a few interviews, so it comes off like a memoir of escaping a cult written by someone who was never in a cult.
The fitness and online influencer sections taught me a few new things, but the early parts of the book about religious cults gave high level summaries of the cults that are already the best know to any reader who has an interest in the subject.
At its worst this felt like the downscale kind of true crime or cult podcast where the hosts riff over a Wikipedia summary.
I was hoping for more depth, better research, and a clearer thesis. I would have stopped somewhere midway if this weren't as short as it was.
I wanted to give this book a 3 for entertainment, but by the end I was honestly getting really bored. I don’t want to be that person, but it’s a 2 for me.
My main complaints were:
1) Murky thesis. I finished this book unsure of the boundaries and the details of the cultish language she’s trying to highlight as a thing. For the first half of the book I wondered how she would differentiate between jargon related to specific knowledge vs cultish language. I shouldn’t get halfway through the book before I get a statement about that.
2) Perhaps connected to the first thing, what is the organization of content here? Generally speaking it moves from awful cults to more cult adjacent things. But the chapter breaks and the parts were there for unknown reasons. They broke up the book but provided no structure for her points.
3) Self …
I wanted to give this book a 3 for entertainment, but by the end I was honestly getting really bored. I don’t want to be that person, but it’s a 2 for me.
My main complaints were:
1) Murky thesis. I finished this book unsure of the boundaries and the details of the cultish language she’s trying to highlight as a thing. For the first half of the book I wondered how she would differentiate between jargon related to specific knowledge vs cultish language. I shouldn’t get halfway through the book before I get a statement about that.
2) Perhaps connected to the first thing, what is the organization of content here? Generally speaking it moves from awful cults to more cult adjacent things. But the chapter breaks and the parts were there for unknown reasons. They broke up the book but provided no structure for her points.
3) Self insertion. This is a personal preference. I know that other readers really enjoy this because it can make nonfiction more fun to read. Personally, however, I do not enjoy nonfiction with so much of the author’s personality coming through the writing or the extra, irrelevant descriptions of people interviewed.
4) Lastly, while I don’t think you need a PhD to have insights, I was annoyed by what seems to be deliberate obfuscation of the author’s bachelors degree. It feels like we are meant to assume she has a higher level degree than the one she’s got.
What I did like/learn:
1) Cults! I actually am not someone who has already learned about a lot of cults already, so much of that information was new to me.
2) It’s interesting to reflect on what makes someone susceptible to a cult, and I hadn’t thought it would be someone who is actually very driven and disciplined. It’s also interesting to reflect on the appeal of cults in a secular world.
DNF at 62%
all over the place, unorganized, badly written (and badly researched too)
I have read a lot of books about cults but I think that this one really makes an important point. One of the key factors of cults and cult like groups is that language that they use. Speaking the language of the group sets you apart from outsiders. Some words or phrases used inside the group have different meanings to those outside the group.
Looking at the insider language of group gives a really good indication of how insular they are and also how similar they are to other other groups. For example the words and phrases that are particular to certain Christian denominations highlight their key differences.
It also highlights the attraction of in-groups, people like to belong and learning the lingo and speaking like an insider can be fun and add to your sense of belonging.
So looking at the language of groups gives you a tool to …
I have read a lot of books about cults but I think that this one really makes an important point. One of the key factors of cults and cult like groups is that language that they use. Speaking the language of the group sets you apart from outsiders. Some words or phrases used inside the group have different meanings to those outside the group.
Looking at the insider language of group gives a really good indication of how insular they are and also how similar they are to other other groups. For example the words and phrases that are particular to certain Christian denominations highlight their key differences.
It also highlights the attraction of in-groups, people like to belong and learning the lingo and speaking like an insider can be fun and add to your sense of belonging.
So looking at the language of groups gives you a tool to analyse and understand the group.
Overall, very useful and interesting.
A little more poppy than I prefer in my analysis, but it will reach a wider audience that way and God knows we could all benefit from thinking more deeply about the language that influences us.
