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The Language of Fanaticism?Understanding the Social Science of Cult Influence
by Amanda Montell
The New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how "cultish" groups, from Jonestown and Scientologists 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.
"A fascinating, enthusiastic narrative on the loaded language of cults." —Kirkus Reviews
"Whip-smart, engaging, and utterly intriguing. Cultish is a witty and thorough examination of power, community, words, and the junctures between them." —Alexis Henderson, author of The Year of the Witching
"A playful but canny exploration of the ways language can entrance and beguile us—sometimes past the point of no return." —Elisabeth Thomas, author of Catherine House
This information about Cultish was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amanda Montell is a writer and language scholar from Baltimore. She is the author of two books: Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, about the language of "cults" from Scientology to SoulCycle (forthcoming from HarperCollins, June 2021), and the critically acclaimed Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language (HarperCollins, 2019). Amanda's books have earned praise from the New York Times, The Atlantic, Time Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly, among others, and Amanda is currently developing Wordslut for television with FX Studios, serving as creator, writer, and executive producer. Her forthcoming podcast, Sounds Like a Cult, will premiere June 2021. As a reporter and essayist, Amanda's writing has been featured in Marie Claire, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Nylon, The Rumpus, Byrdie, and Who What Wear, where she formerly served as the Features & Beauty Editor. She holds a degree in linguistics from NYU and lives in Los Angeles with her partner, plants, and pets. Find her on Instagram @amanda_montell.
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