Cultish
The Language of Fanaticism
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Cultish
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Narrated by:
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Ann Marie Gideon
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Written by:
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Amanda Montell
About this listen
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.
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.
©2021 Amanda Montell (P)2021 HarperCollins PublishersYou may also enjoy...
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5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 6
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For most of Jen Sookfong Lee's life, pop culture was an escape from family tragedy and a means of fitting in with the larger culture around her. Anne of Green Gables promised her that, despite losing her father at the age of twelve, one day she might still have the loving family of her dreams. Princess Diana was proof that maybe there was more to being a good girl after all. And yet as Jen grew up, she began to recognize the ways in which pop culture was not made for someone like her.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Pop culture gold
- By Kenneth Davey on 2023-05-12
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Wordslut
- A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
- Written by: Amanda Montell
- Narrated by: Amanda Montell
- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 53
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 52
A brash, enlightening, and wildly entertaining feminist look at gendered language and the way it shapes us, written with humor and playfulness that challenges words and phrases and how we use them. Montell effortlessly moves between history and popular culture to explore these questions and more. Wordslut gets to the heart of our language, marvels at its elasticity, and sheds much-needed light into the biases that shadow women in our culture and our consciousness.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Choosing my words carefully ;)
- By Ben Minor on 2024-12-30
Written by: Amanda Montell
-
The Reality Bubble
- How Science Reveals the Hidden Truths that Shape Our World
- Written by: Ziya Tong
- Narrated by: Ziya Tong
- Length: 11 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 174
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 151
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 150
Our naked eyes see only a thin sliver of reality. We are blind in comparison to the X-rays that peer through skin, the mass spectrometers that detect the dead inside the living, or the high-tech surveillance systems that see with artificial intelligence. And we are blind compared to the animals that can see in infrared, or ultraviolet, or in 360-degree vision. These animals live in the same world we do, but they see something quite different when they look around.
-
5 out of 5 stars
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this book was a bittersweet and very entertaining
- By Gypsymama on 2019-07-10
Written by: Ziya Tong
-
The Escape Artist
- The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World
- Written by: Jonathan Freedland
- Narrated by: Jonathan Freedland
- Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 42
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 42
In April 1944, Rudolf Vrba became one of the very first Jews to escape from Auschwitz and make his way to freedom—among only a tiny handful who ever pulled off that near-impossible feat. He did it to reveal the truth of the death camp to the world—and to warn the last Jews of Europe what fate awaited them. Against all odds, Vrba and his fellow escapee, Fred Wetzler, climbed mountains, crossed rivers, and narrowly missed German bullets until they had smuggled out the first full account of Auschwitz the world had ever seen.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great book
- By Travis on 2023-08-10
Written by: Jonathan Freedland
-
The End of the World Is Just the Beginning
- Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
- Written by: Peter Zeihan
- Narrated by: Peter Zeihan
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 490
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 409
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 407
For generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it. America made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
What a great listen!
- By Jeremy on 2023-03-10
Written by: Peter Zeihan
-
The Age of Magical Overthinking
- Notes on Modern Irrationality
- Written by: Amanda Montell
- Narrated by: Amanda Montell
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 7
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 7
Utilizing the linguistic insights of her “witty and brilliant” (Blyth Roberson, author of America the Beautiful?) first book Wordslut and the sociological explorations of her breakout hit Cultish, Amanda Montell now turns her erudite eye to the inner workings of the human mind and its biases in her most personal and electrifying work yet.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
Meh
- By Pamela Trischuk on 2024-08-26
Written by: Amanda Montell
-
Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart
- A Memoir
- Written by: Jen Sookfong Lee
- Narrated by: Jen Sookfong Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 8
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 6
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 6
For most of Jen Sookfong Lee's life, pop culture was an escape from family tragedy and a means of fitting in with the larger culture around her. Anne of Green Gables promised her that, despite losing her father at the age of twelve, one day she might still have the loving family of her dreams. Princess Diana was proof that maybe there was more to being a good girl after all. And yet as Jen grew up, she began to recognize the ways in which pop culture was not made for someone like her.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Pop culture gold
- By Kenneth Davey on 2023-05-12
Written by: Jen Sookfong Lee
What listeners say about Cultish
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2021-09-02
A fascinating look at modern day cults
I'm always fascinated by cult stuff, and this is a really interesting study into what a cult means in the times of the internet; QAnon conspiracy theories, bossbabe hashtags, instagram gurus, Gideon investigates how and why cultish language and behaviour has entered into our everyday lives
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2021-11-05
Phenomenal book but wish the author did narration.
Paradigm shifting book! I have heard the author speak on podcasts and wish she read her own book as she presents very well. Highly recommend this book!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-04-06
Cult and linguistic in a easy to listen book
Very good book if you want to learn more about cults from a linguistic perspective. The author is serious with a bit of whimsy from time to time. Her expertise is adding a new angle to the subject. Easy to listen.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Rose
- 2023-01-20
A Sobering Account of Society
Spot on! I was in a cult, two MLMs, and Bikram Yoga. Now I see how my orientation made me easy fodder for these activities. No more. That ends here and now. Thanks for your research and perspective. Good to know how others disentangled themselves from this mess.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Laura W
- 2021-10-15
Awesome book that I wish I’d read instead
This book was amazing. I learned so much and was so engaged by it the whole way through.
The reading though was not very good. A robotic voice with SO many pronunciation errors, it didn’t flow. The performer was just reading word by word, not sentence by sentence — no understanding of or willingness to COMMUNICATE what she was delivering. I’d like to revisit this book but will do so myself, on the page.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2022-07-02
Enjoyed this from start to finish
Easy listening, enjoyable and very well read. I'm sure you yourself or someone you know can relate to a cult(ish) story covered in this book. Highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- ilke
- 2023-04-21
Excellent!
This is book is great. It’s entertaining and informative. Written so well- I couldn’t stop getting back to it.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Never received the product
- 2021-09-16
well put together, okay narration
loved the content. great connections. narration sounded a little robotic in tone and I don't know if it was the recording or my earbuds but the sound occasionally dropped from my right ear, which they've never done before.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-06-21
Must read in our 2023 world!
This book is a must read especially with the way technology has evolved to involve us all.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Bumo Mgabe
- 2023-06-29
Thoroughly enjoyed this book
Fascinating topic discussed in a nonjudgmental way. I’m eager to read more books by Amanda now!
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