Cults

The World's Most Notorious Cults

By: Nigel Cawthorne

Narrated by: Stuart Nurse

Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

The inside story of 50 of the world's most notorious cults.

The strange and sinister world of cults is a source of endless fascination. Their secrets, rituals and shadowy hierarchies make for some of the most disturbing and shocking revelations in history.

Most chilling of all is the fact that many of their followers forfeit all independence in order to carry out the often sadistic bidding of a mysterious master manipulator - and continue to defend their leader to this day.

From Charles Manson, who instructed his followers to murder seven people, including a heavily pregnant Sharon Tate, to Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese doomsday cult that carried out deadly terror attacks, and the People's Temple, these cults and their leaders transfix us with their extreme ability to commit savage acts of cruelty and depravity in the name of a self-appointed higher power.

Fifty shocking and international cults are brought to life, including:

• The Manson Family
• People's Temple
• Colonia Dignidad
• Thuggees
• Aum Shinrikyo
• Skopsty
• Raëlism
• Heaven's Gate

©2019 Nigel Cawthorne (P)2019 Quercus Editions Limited

This is a very good resource on cults

A brief description and history of every major cult on our planet. I will be referring back to this audio book as a resource when I need to review a particular cult.

The description had me hooked! However...

There is a ton of great information in this book. In my opinion too much. It was hard to get really into any one cult before the next begins. Little was done to humanize any characters which left it feeling dry. I was also disappointed in the lack of references. How did you research this, good author? What are your sources? Is any of this speculation?
For me, the most fascinating aspects of the book were hearing about the groups I have certainly heard of before but never thought about in the context of being cult- like as well as the pre-20thC cults and even ancient "cults." But again when I hear about the ins and outs of groups acting so long ago I am especially interested in sources.
Finally for any of you interested in a similar but far superior (imho) read, may I suggest 'Zealot-a book about cults.' The book covers fewer cults but in much more depth, really humanizes many of the characters so you can get into the minds of the followers and even the leaders, and while the author does make speculations from time to time she calls them such. And perhaps the best part of all is the wit with which the author's- who read it herself- stories are told. I found myself laughing aloud more than once. Ok, that's my plug. Happy listening, fellow audibullies!

A very superficial look at "cults."

If this is a topic that piques your interest you probably already have all the information given here. This is a series of quick glances at noteworthy cults and a few that are not really cults at all. Each chapter reads like a high school essay: just a compilation of facts. There is very little analysis or contextualization.