Cults: Books, websites, & podcasts
Documentaries are a good place to start learning about cults and I recently posted a recommendation list.
If you want to dig further into cults, here are few books (popular and academic), podcasts, and websites that should be of interest when you are ready to go a bit further down the cult rabbit hole. If you have gotten this far, I assume you already know works like Cultish by Amanda Montell and Uncultured by Daniella Mestyanek, aka The Knitting Cult Lady on TikTok.
What I’m recommending here are books you might not have stumbled upon, but are well worth your time.
Books
Written by a psychiatrist, The Wrong Way Home explains how cults fulfill a need for security. He uses the metaphor of wanting to be like a child sleeping in the back seat of a car, knowing you will be taken care of. Cults promote that they will provide that feeling of security. This book came out in the wake of Waco and the Branch Davidians.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Comprehending Cults: The Sociology of New Religious Movements. This is very much an academic book, but still fairly accessible. I use Professor Dawson’s framework for recruitment and retention in Hoodwinked. Note: Religious scholars call cults “new religious movements” or NRMs, because of the negative connotations associated with the word cult. Don’t let that dissuade you from this book.
Let Our Children Go! was one of the first books I ever read about cults. I read it in 1977 right before I left for college in Boston. I believe it is what kept me from being taken in by Scientology.
People usually think of Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, perhaps because it became an HBO documentary of the same name. The book I recommend is Inside Scientology: The Story of American’s Most Secretive Religion by Janet Reitman. It is incredibly detailed (it clocks in at 464 pages), but if you want a deep understanding, this is the book.
Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America made me think about cults and their integration into American culture in a whole new way. Based in historical research, this book explains how individualism has left us open to being recruited. As Jane Borden so appropriately writes, “when someone claims others aim to steal from you, the thief is usually the one talking.”
A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion, by Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames, is part memoir, part how-to guide, part cult resource book. What I love about this book is that it is linked to their podcast where they have interviewed hundreds of people who are cult experts, cult survivors, and others who are cult adjacent. Topics in the book are linked to ALBC podcast episode, where you can find addition resources.
Hoodwinked: How marketers use the same tactics as cults. Really, if you haven’t read this yet, what are you waiting for? Using Dawson’s framework, I explain how brands from Lululemon to influencers to multilevel marketing companies, like Herbalife and Amway, use cult-like tactics to get you to buy.
Other titles of interest
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer: The starting point is about two brothers who murder their sister-in-law and infant niece to convince their brother to join a breakaway FLDS cult (somehow, he is not convinced) and opens up into a story about Mormonism and the West.
The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the People's Temple by Jeff Guinn. Because Jonestown.
Branding Bhakti: Krishna Consciousness and the Makeover of a Movement by Nicole Karapanagiotis. How the Hare Krishnas became ISKCON and far less relevant than they were in the 1960s.
WEBSITES/PODCASTS
I’ve already mentioned A Little Bit Culty and, of course, there’s Sounds like a Cult (check out my recent appearance on this pod here).
Here are some other websites and podcasts, you’re going to want to check out:
Keeping it 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion Podcast
One of my favorite websites for all things religion, including cults. While there have been no new episodes since late 2025, the content is relevant. Here’s why. The podcast (and upcoming book) is created by two religion professors. Not only do they provide transcripts and show notes, they include a section called, “The 101,” where they teach religion basics and provide readings that they would assign in class. This is pure gold!
Freedom of Mind Resource Center. Steven Hassan is one of the leading voices in the anti-cult movement. I read his book, Combatting Mind Control more than 20 years ago. Be sure to check out his BITE Model of Authoritarian Control, and his book, The Cult of Trump.
Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion. Janja Lalich is a sociologist and former cult member, and I have relied on her work extensive for my own research. This website has a wealth of additional resources about cults.
Beware of the Cult Awareness Network
Ted Patrick founded the Cult Awareness Network (CAN), an anti-cult organization whose purpose was to disseminate information about cults at a time when people had few resources. The organization existed from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. After Patrick lost a lawsuit and filed form bankruptcy, the name and logo was acquired by a Scientologist. If you see information from this group, be very cautious.
A site you can trust for information about cults is Cult Education Institute. Rick Ross, a well-known cult expert, is behind this website.