Don't Call It a Cult

This is a fantastic companion document to read alongside the Sky documentary The Vow about the Nxivm organisation. This included extra content and information that wasn't discussed explicitly in the TV documentary such as Allison Mack's and Lauren Salzman's deeper connections and influences in the DOS element of the organisation. As well as the wider and more damning influences of the Bronfman sisters and their roles in the organisation as a whole.

I was also shocked to learn about Keith Ranieres promiscuity within the organisation and his sexual relationship with Camila who was a minor at the time. This organisation has been so interesting to learn about through the documentary released onto Sky in 2020. I was fascinated to learn how men and women were indoctrinated into this organisation and why they went to the extent of allowing themselves to be branded and to be controlled by Raniere and his teachings.

This book was very informative and well researched. The author had a very close relationship with key members that were whistleblowers on the organisation like Sarah Edmondson. This made the book feel more authentic and closer to the victims and their testimonies which I found powerful. I really enjoyed this Non-Fiction and if you are interested in learning more about Nxivm, I would highly recommend picking this book up!

Thank you to author Sarah Berman,Steerforth Press and Edelweiss for a free downloadable ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, that was a RIDE of a read, and also UTTERLY INFURIATING AND TERRIFYING.
I learned about this book after I finished listening to a Cult Podcast episode on NXIVM and did some googling. There are other books out there about NXIVM, with some of them written by victims, as well as some that focus specifically on Keith Raniere, but I was looking for something that was written by someone uninvolved in NXIVM, and this book fit the bill. (Also ngl but the title look interesting compared to some of the other titles of NXIVM-related books out there, which also encouraged me to pick it up.)
Anyway: I think this book???s a very good introduction to what NXIVM did to the people who were involved in it, especially the women. Most people know about the branding and DOS, but the book shows that those were more the ultimate manifestation of what Raniere had been doing for years to those around him. He didn???t start out with those from the get-go; those were things that came about after he???d cemented his hold on the women surrounding him and manipulated and abused them into a mindset where they would do whatever he asked them to do. It was deeply upsetting how he twisted the language of self-help and psychology to prey upon vulnerable women, who should have been seeing qualified psychologists and psychiatrists and not this snake-oil salesman who wasn???t above turning tail and hiding when things weren???t going his way (which is something he did A LOT, often abandoning his loyal followers to the cops whenever the law came calling).
What???s interesting to me is that his victims don???t strike one immediately as being ???vulnerable???. Many of them are white, wealthy, and ambitious, with some working in fields like finance, law, and computer programming, which were heavily male-dominated during the late 1990s and into the early and mid-2000s (and still are, to a degree). I could see why they were drawn to NXIVM???s messaging of self-improvement and ???ethical responsibility???, but it???s disturbing how Raniere was able to con so many of them, to the point that some of them actually helped him perpetrate his abuse onto other women. It got me thinking about the deep-seated misogyny and self-hatred that lives in a lot of women no matter how successful they might seem on the surface, and which Raniere clearly knew how to pull up and prey upon. It also got me thinking about the self-help industry, and how so many people will fall for whatever unproven claptrap self-declared ???gurus??? spout out because they are desperate to find a way to help themselves and maybe others too.
Overall, this was a great overview of NXIVM and what happened before it all exploded in 2019. This has a more journalistic approach compared to some of the other books about NXIVM, which are either memoirs written by victims, or books that focus on Raniere himself, and I think this is useful if one wants to come to grips with what NXIVM was, and what the brouhaha was all about if one was only hearing about it for the first time in 2019. 

Straightforward but devastating account of Nxivm, from Keith Raniere's early days as a multilevel marketing scheme con man to his later role as the sadistic, sociopathic leader of Nxivm and the hundreds of individuals, mostly women, whom he ensnared along the way. I had read a NY Times article about a “weird sex cult” that involved women branding each other, but I had no idea that Raniere was literally trafficking young girls and controlling them through intimidation, blackmail, and the eager collusion of other Nxivm members. He was also bankrolled by two heiress sisters, so for many years he was able to avoid any legal repercussions for his actions by suing anyone who left his orbit.

The horrifying, compelling story doesn't require any embellishments. Even so, I wish Berman had delved a little deeper and explored why so many rich, successful women were taken in by this waste of human flesh. But I guess there is no simple answer to that question.

I haven't watched either of the documentaries (on HBO and Starz) that recently aired about Nxivm, but to me there's nothing more chilling than reading the words, and imagining for myself what these women endured in the name of self-improvement. What the hell is wrong with our society that evil can flourish unchecked for so long?