Learn more about the strange and sinister world of cults.
Weiss, Mitch, author
2020
Jones, Sarah, ex-cult member
2011
Oxenberg, Catherine, 1961- author
2018
Melnick, Jeffrey Paul, author
2018
Montell, Amanda.
2021
Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of "brainwashing." Amanda Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. 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. Print run 30,000.
Thompson, Emily G., 1991- author
2020
Discover the shocking truth about some of the most disturbing cults that have ever existed--cults led by psychopaths such as Charles Manson, David Koresh, and Jim Jones that have exploded into acts of appalling savagery and evil. Explores these and many more bizarre and frightening cases to reveal terrifying stories of manipulation, coercion, abuse, and murder.
Cawthorne, Nigel, 1951-, author
2019
The inside story of the world's most notorious cults. The strange and sinister world of cults is a source of endless fascination. Their secrets, rituals and shadowy hierarchies make for some of the most disturbing and shocking revelations in history. Most chilling of all is the fact that many of their followers forfeit all independence in order to carry out the often sadistic bidding of a mysterious master manipulator and continue to defend their leader to this day. From Charles Manson, who instructed his followers to murder seven people, including a heavily pregnant Sharon Tate, to Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese doomsday cult that carried out deadly terror attacks, and the People's Temple, these cults and their leaders transfix us with their extreme ability to commit savage acts of cruelty and depravity in the name of a self-appointed higher power.
Goldwag, Arthur
2009
Largo, Michael, 1954-
2010
What is the meaning of life? Since the dawn of civilization, humankind has sought to answer the mysteries of existence. Unfortunately this restless search for the divine has, all too often, driven seekers in regrettable directions-- toward the comically ridiculous and irrational but also the frighteningly horrific and maniacal.
Jollett, Mikel, author
2020
Mikel Jollett commences his story in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country's most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader's mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brother, were separated from their parents when they were six months old, and handed over to the cult's "School." This book is told at first through the limited perspective of a child, and then broadens as Jollett begins to understand the world around him. Although Mikel Jollett's story is filled with heartbreak, it is ultimately an unforgettable portrayal of love at its fiercest and most loyal.
Singular, Stephen.
2020
"How do the leaders of some cults get such often-unfathomable power over their adherents? Across a series of profiles, Killer Cults reveals the truth behind some of the most mystifying and deadly cults and their leaders, all of whom led their followers down a dark, murderous path"-- Provided by publisher.
Lake, Dianne, author
2017
Natalie, Toni, author
2019
Edmondson, Sarah, author
2019
Levin, Daniel Barban.
2021
In September 2010, at Sarah Lawrence College, sophomore Talia Ray asked her roommates if her father could stay with them for a while. Larry Ray arrived at the dorm, a communal house called Slonim Woods 9, and stayed for the whole year. Eventually, Ray and the students moved into a small apartment, beginning years of manipulation and abuse, as Ray tightened his control over his young charges through blackmail, extortion, and ritualized humiliation. This brave, lyrical, and redemptive memoir reveals how a group of friends were led from campus to a cult without the world even noticing.
Ashline, Susan, author
2019
