Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

Genuine “it was okay” rating (perhaps 2.5 stars). To me, this book felt like the idiom - “50 feet wide but 2 feet deep”.

I was hoping for a book that dove deeper into the genuine linguistics behind cults, and how they entice and operate. It covered these ideas loosely, but the book was far more filled with first hand accounts from interviewees (who spent time in cults) or anecdotes from the author.

Unfortunately, it felt like the majority of the content was just... obvious? I'm not even a “cult fanatic”, I haven't read other books, I don't watch the documentaries, and I don't even listen to podcasts - but even for me, a lot of the content felt so surface level. Do I really need a general description of the Jonestown massacre, or how a Soulcycle class operates? Isn't this just baseline common knowledge?

The book was well written, and if the previous topics are something you're interested in I think you'll probably enjoy it – I just felt like it was advertised as one thing, and delivered another.