About the Book: Cultish The Language of Fanaticism
What makes cults so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? What
causes people to join—and, more important, stay in—extreme groups? We secretly
want to know: Could it happen to me? Amanda Montells argument is that, on some
level, it already has. Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to
questions of cult influence, mostly vague talk of "brainwashing." But the true
answer has nothing to do with mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish,
Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and an
"us/them" attitude all comes down to language. In both positive