A review by librarymouse
Cults: Inside the World's Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People Who Joined Them by Max Cutler

2.5

This whole book has an odd pro-Israel tilt, most directly addressed in the second to last chapter. The author notes the Zionist roots of many of the cults without ever considering or critiquing the role of Zionism in the destructive and deadly nature of the cults. Overall, this reads more like a poorly thought through encyclopedia of cult activity than the human-framed perspective promised by the title. In the chapters about the more violent acts committed by cult leaders or in the name of their beliefs, the author's focus was more on the act than the aftermath, which was unexpected with the title framing this book as focusing on the people who joined and the impact their respective cults had on them.
 I will not be listening to the podcast, and after the overt praise for Israel, I finished this book as a hate read.

The narrators of the audio version of the book pronounce religious terms like "vicar" oddly. There should have been some oversight to make sure a book about cults and religious movements that became cults had their terms pronounced correctly 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility, Antisemitism, and Abandonment