Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

4.2 | 4,082 ratings

Price: 19.68

Last update: 01-09-2025

About this item

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.

Christa M Hines, author of Happy, Healthy & Hyperconnected: Raise a Thoughtful Communicator...

Wow, this was a fascinating read!

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2024

An excellent and somewhat alarming read when you consider how easy it can be to get drawn in by innocent sounding rhetoric during a time when so many people are seeking connection, a sense of belonging and healthy community. This fascinating and timely book underscores the need for us to be critical thinkers. (I see you, love bombers! ;))

Cultish is a must-read especially in a day and age when we are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information--much of it garbage -- along with oily influencers and shady "thought leaders."

I also appreciated Montell's pragmatism and sense of humor, including her explanation around the differences between a dangerous cult and a community that engages in cultish but overall harmless behavior.

An entertaining, well-researched read. I look forward to reading more from this author.

Pia

Good, read it for my research paper

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2022

I needed to pick a nonfiction book for a research paper assignment, and this topic seemed extremely interesting, so I bought the book.

At first I was dreading reading this book and doing the assignment but when I kept reading, i found that I did enjoy this book. I found it extremely interesting and opened my eyes on things I’ve seen every single day of my life, but never considered “cultish”.

The book is sectioned off into different parts, the First Part is an introduction to the book and cults - it broadens the definition of the word “cult” and introduces you to the main ideas of the book. The second is about Jonestown and Heaven’s Gate, the third is about Scientology/ religious cults, and the 4-6parts are about the media, MLM’s, 3HO, lululemon, etc…

If you’re wanting to get into nonfiction, I believe this would be a good start. It’s an easy read. It does include some heavy topics! The only thing I didn’t love is the writing style of the book. It looks like a young adult on tik tok wrote this; there are times where the author tries to be “modern” and I don’t like that. It’s not awful !! But compared to other books I’ve read, it’s not the greatest.

Another thing I didn’t like was the lack of evidence. Maybe you don’t care about that, maybe you do. This book was the foundation of my research paper and so one thing I had to pay attention to was the evidence that the author used to back up her claims. I found she does not have a lot of things backing up what she says, which was problematic, specially to me and my research.

It was still a very informative read. It was mind blowing to me the things that happened in these cults. The way hyperboles, thought-terminating cliches, loaded language, etc… were used to bring followers into cults was all extremely interesting and important to learn about. The things we don’t consider cults : lululemon, fitness studios, Instagram, your schools band… they could all be considered cults after reading this book.

What Montell writes in her book proves that cult leaders’ greatest and most dangerous weapon is not brainwashing … it’s language.

Casual discussion of cults, and the types of language they use

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2021

This book about cults and “cultish” language was written by Amanda Montell, an author with a degree in linguistics, and the daughter of a former cult member.

The book is divided into six parts. In the first part, Montell discusses the language that we use to describe cults, and how difficult it can even be to define the word “cult.” Part 2 looks at suicide cults, like Heaven's Gate and Jonestown, to try to determine what they have in common, and what examples of “cultish” language were used. Part 3 follows the same format; this time focusing on religions. Part 4 is about multi-level-marketing and pyramid schemes, Part 5 cover fitness movements, and Part 6 discusses social media gurus.

Montell approaches this book as more of a reporter than an expert; interviewing former cult members, and asking questions of experts in fields like psychology and language. Her style of writing seems to be targeted toward a teenage to 20-something demographic, and is more casual than most non-fiction books that I've read. This isn't a super technical discussion prepared by a linguistic psychology expert; just a few stories and examples collected by someone that is fascinated by cults, and the power of “inside” language to make people feel like they are part of a group.

This wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but I did learn a bit about various cult groups, and certain similarities between them. The style of writing wasn't my favorite, and I felt like I some of the author's descriptions and trendy analogies were lost on me, but that is just personal preference. Overall a decent book, I'd give it a 3.4 / 5.

T. Hunter Glass

Very interesting

Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2024

Very enjoyable and thought provoking

Nicole

Enjoyable

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2024

A fun and informative read. Cultish is meant to be a light-hearted review of human behavior. Cultish is at times thought-provoking but it's mostly just Montell's opinions on what makes some groups culty and what to look out for to protect yourself so you don't get sucked into a cult.

Best Sellers in

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds

4.5 4428

13.12

The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control over Their Lives

4.7 1327

17.72

Character Matters: And Other Life Lessons from George H. W. Bush

4.8 127

19.1

There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather: A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from F

4.7 1405

17.46

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

4.6 19041

23.62

Think Ahead: 7 Decisions You Can Make Today for the God-Honoring Life You Want Tomorrow

4.8 284

19.68

Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less

4.5 2140

12.96

Learn Japanese with Paul Noble for Beginners – Complete Course: Japanese Made Easy with Your Personal Language Coach

4.7 15

21.59