New York Times Bestseller
Cultish
The Language of Fanaticism
/ˈkʌl.tɪʃ/ adj.
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.
“Montell’s masterful translation of our need to belong will mesmerize.”
About the book
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.
Praise for Cultish
“A rigorous and fascinating examination of the power of language to spellbind us all. Montell’s command over cultish language makes her as mesmerizing and charismatic as the gurus she dissects.”
“Witty, slick, and self-assured, Cultish sparkles with muscular prose and snappy asides, but its true wizardry is how Montell peels back the veneer over topics we’re confident we already understand—brainwashing, even the term “cult” itself—and demonstrates how a few potent verbal tricks, wielded correctly, render us more susceptible to cultish influences than we’d like to think. Compulsively readable and startlingly of-the-moment.”
“Montell’s masterful translation of our need to belong will mesmerize.”
