kerasalwaysreading's review against another edition
4.0
I have been a fan of the Cults podcast for years so when I had the opportunity to read this I jumped.
Cutler and Conley brought an eye opening spread of some truly notorious cult leaders and the WHY of it all that makes cults bring in members. I have always been fascinated by the mechanics and the behaviors that give these leaders the ability to make people see them as how they want to be seen.
I enjoyed this one, though a lot of this is covered in the podcast through various episodes. This was just a different avenue.
Cutler and Conley brought an eye opening spread of some truly notorious cult leaders and the WHY of it all that makes cults bring in members. I have always been fascinated by the mechanics and the behaviors that give these leaders the ability to make people see them as how they want to be seen.
I enjoyed this one, though a lot of this is covered in the podcast through various episodes. This was just a different avenue.
emmavonb's review against another edition
3.0
A 10 part series of vignette-like accounts detailing the rise to power (and ultimate demise) of cults and their leaders is what makes up the book "Cults: Inside the World's Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People who Joined Them" written by Max Cutler with Kevin Conley. Cutler runs an acclaimed podcast titled 'Cults' and selected these ten of the most famous to the most obscure cults to try and explain how they came about and why. From The Manson Family Murders to a mysterious Ugandan group named 'The Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God's' , Cutler gives intriguing and well researched accounts of what happened in the minds of the leaders and the dangerous repercussions of what they led their devotees to do.
nerdynatreads's review against another edition
dark
informative
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Alright, I’ve read so many fictional cult stories lately, I figured it’d be perfect to finally pick up a non-fiction about them, and this worked out well!
This played on my fascination with true crime well, hopping back and forth between well-known groups and some that I’d never heard of (or only knew a little about). The different narrators for every chapter also made this feel like an episodic podcast. I appreciated that each cult section also would have a bit of the science behind the leader’s manipulation or the followers’ psychology, but I really wanted more of those in particular and I feel like that’s where the book fell short.
Also, it’s a little odd that there’s a (very short) introduction, but no epilogue. Finale? Nothing to tie up the end of this book? The last story is told and then that’s it! All done! Bye and have a good night! That was odd.
cassiecraycray's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.5
Gives a good base for all the different cults discussed.
Shows similarities between different leaders.
Shows similarities between different leaders.