The author’s experience as a linguist melds well with her research into the psychological underpinnings of cultish language, including interviews with several cult survivors ... demonstrates that we are all more susceptible to joining the in-group than we may realize.
An empathetic listener, Montell takes careful note of the empty words that cult members turn to for solace. Though written in punchy and fun prose style, Cultish is more than a fascinating guide to the workings of cults; it’s also an infuriating window into just how starved people have been made to feel for community and structures of collective care.
Montell...takes the reader on a brisk, chatty, and sympathetically even-handed (sometimes overly so) tour through the widely varied forms that cultishness can take, and the role that language plays in cults’ magnetic power ... Montell perceptively connects the willingness with which people fall into such cultish traps with the lingering influence of the Protestant Ethic ... One significant flaw in Cultish’s structure is that since Montell tacks easily from chapter topic to chapter topic, it can feel like she puts each form of cultish behavior on more or less the same level. Jonestown was truly horrific, involving the violent death of hundreds of people. Scientology’s treatment of its lower members is evidently dangerous to their mental and physical health. But getting yelled at by an autocratic yoga instructor in an overheated room isn’t remotely comparable to mass suicide. Montell doesn’t explicitly intend to equate these experiences, but putting them side-by-side in chapters unintentionally lumps a lot of varied cultish behavior together. She also doesn’t explore as deeply as she could the implications of what linguists call 'the theory of performativity' ... As long as there are human frailties like insecurity, anxiety, and the need to belong, and a culture that exacerbates these perfectly normal human emotions for some kind of gain, there will be cults. Montell understands this, and to her credit, she doesn’t condemn or mock all the poor lost souls who get swept up in the momentum.
Montell demystifies this twisty language into something readers will recognize, whether it’s being employed to manipulate or to motivate ... Reading Montell is like a satisfying chat session with your bestie—albeit one that focuses on obsession, language tricks, and manipulation. Her personal connection to the topic is compelling, as we learn of her father’s teen experience living in Synanon and her own disturbing brush with Scientology. Cultish will have huge appeal for those who have been listening to the podcasts The Dream or American Rehab, or watching The Vow. Montell’s masterful translation of our need to belong will mesmerize.
With the same verve demonstrated in her debut, Montell explores how language can manipulate masses of people in detrimental ways. Using accessible prose, the author discusses the varied definitions of the word cult, the dangers of universally demonizing its terminology, and its murky history as society’s relationship with spirituality has evolved ... The author is an engaging storyteller, sharing tales of bizarre cult behavior found in a vast spectrum of memberships and organizations, including her own hard-sell encounter with Hollywood Scientologists ... With a provocative combination of interviews, anecdotes, and scientific and psychological research, Montell educates and empowers readers to become more aware of 'the varying dialects of Cultish that imbue our daily lives' ... A fascinating, enthusiastic narrative on the loaded language of cults.
... vivid ... Though the personal digressions occasionally distract from the bigger picture, Montell is an engaging and well-informed tour guide through the world of 'cultish scenarios.' This intriguing account is worth a look.
