21 Books About Cults and Groupthink

I don’t know that I’d call my interest in books about cults an obsession, but it might be. I will almost always read a book if you tell me it involves a cult. I think my interest comes from wanting to understand the thinking behind those who join cults and those who stay in cults as well as how the people who leave cults process their experience. The following books are all ones that I have read. I didn’t love all of them, but I included all of them because they all provide insight into the people who choose to align themselves with extreme beliefs.

You may not think all of the groups mentioned in these books are cults, and you would be correct. However, given the warning signs offered by CultEducation.com, I would argue that the groups and movements described in these books exhibit cult-like groupthink. Feel free to disagree (kindly and politely) in the comments!

American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst by Jeffrey Toobin

I love me some Jeffrey Toobin. I’ve read almost all of his recent books, and I’d recommend any of them. I knew very little about Patty Hearst before this book, and by the time I finished, I felt I had an understanding of the circumstances that led to her very unusual predicament.

Starstruck: A Journalist’s Pursuit of a Fugitive Pop Star, Her Diabolical Maestro, and Their Teenage Sex Cult by Christopher McDougall

This book was a ride. I didn’t even read the full title before I started, and I didn’t know that it was going to reveal a story that might possibly be worse than what Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell did, though not to the same scale. This book sucked me in and would not let go. If you can handle the intense (though not graphic) descriptions of what was done to these girls, this is a must-read.

Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O’Neill

I already wrote about how this book was fine and I didn’t love it. I found the way the writer inserted his personal life into the story extremely annoying. But it did share a lot of interesting details about Charles Manson, the level of CIA involvement in the Manson situation, and other important events of the 1960s.

Don’t Call It a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM by Sarah Berman

This is another lesser-known cult that I hadn’t heard of until I read the book. I honestly don’t want to spoil anything, so all I’ll say is that this was a unique cult in that it wasn’t based on religion or spirituality, like many cults are.

Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage by Jeff Guinn

This book looks at Waco on a broader scale, while the book below looks at Koresh specifically and eventually gets to what happened at Waco. As you can see from the cover, the author of this book has also written books about Charles Manson and Jonestown. I have not read either, but it makes me think he’s got a pretty good idea of what makes a cult.

Koresh: The Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco by Stephan Talty

Hearing about Koresh’s childhood and how he was formed by his experiences made me feel deeply empathetic toward him. I don’t agree with the decisions he made, but I do think reading books like this can make us more aware of what has happened to people to make them seemingly appear completely unhinged.

End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America by Chris Jennings

This book is kind of about Ruby Ridge, but it brings in a lot of other stuff as it looks at what would cause someone like Randy Weaver to fall into the conspiracy theories and beliefs he held to. For a description of what happened at Ruby Ridge, see the book below. If you want a more macro-level view of the situation, read this one.

Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family by Jess Walter

Long-time readers will have heard me mention this book many times by now. First of all, it is an incredibly work of investigative journalism, one of the best I’ve ever read. Secondly, it tells you everything you could possibly want to know about Ruby Ridge. Jess Walter is one of my favorite authors, and this is a masterpiece.

Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming

This wouldn’t be a very good list of cult books if I didn’t include Jonestown, would it? This book goes back and starts with Jim Jones and his upbringing and goes all the way to the present-day through the testimony of one of his children.

Broken Faith: Inside the Word of Faith Fellowship, One of America’s Most Dangerous Cults by Mitch Weiss and Holbrook Mohr

This ranks as one of the most disturbing lesser-known cults. I was not aware of this cult until I read the book, and it did not make me want to investigate further. This book is comprehensive, including testimonies and stories from those who came out of the cult.

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

I listened to this while painting our bonus room so it could turn into our older two sons’ new bedroom, and I basically strained all my neck muscles while hearing about the history of Mormonism and fundamentalist cults within it. If you’ve watched or read any of the stories about FLDS groups, this will let you dive in even more deeply.

A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

I am not sure if you can call the KKK a cult, but it definitely falls in the destructive groupthink category. This is a somewhat terrifying book when you think about what could have happened if the woman in question did not do what she did. Not for the faint of heart.

Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin

Toobin returns! Did you know that Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was present at the scene when the Waco situation was falling apart? That, along with what happened to the Weaver family at Ruby Ridge, helped confirm his own beliefs that ultimately led to his terrible attack on civilians.

Liar’s Circus: A Strange and Terrifying Journey Into the Upside-Down World of Trump’s MAGA Rallies by Carl Hoffman

I am fascinated by the MAGA movement, as you will be able to tell by the number of MAGA-adjacent books on this list. I want to understand it and what compels people to fall into it wholeheartedly. This book specifically looks at the rallies that took place over the past several years and includes many interviews and stories from people he met at these events.

The MAGA Diaries: Life Among the Fanatics, Extremists, and True Believers that Created the Modern Right by Tina Nguyen

This was a recent read that I found pretty interesting. The author grew up in far right circles and stayed in those circles into college and beyond. She even worked for Tucker Carlson. I appreciated at the beginning of the book that she shared how she didn’t want anyone on either side to feel like she was attacking them. It is very much a memoir, with her sharing how her experiences shaped her and how her perspective changed over the years.

The Quiet Damage: QAnon and the Destruction of the American Family by Jesselyn Cook

This is a heartbreaking book about five different people who fell into various conspiracy theories in the wake of the pandemic. It is a compassionate book in which the author doesn’t demonize or villify these people but rather tells the stories of their families as they try to connect with their family member who is isolating themselves more and more.

Trust the Plan: The Rise of QAnon and the Conspiracy That Unhinged America by Will Sommer

I read this book several years ago because I knew more than one actual person who “for real life” (as Bluey would say) believed in QAnon conspiracy theories. I was confounded by it and wanted to understand better what was happening. This book carefully explains how it started and where it was going at the time of publication. (Thankfully, I haven’t heard much about QAnon in a long time.)

Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez

I think everyone should read this book. Even if you don’t agree with all of her conclusions, the way she traces evangelical thought for the last 70 years is fascinating, and you will probably find it hard not to look at the Christian church in America differently when you’re finished reading.

The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta

This is my most recommended book for people who want to understand evangelical Christianity at this point in time. The reason this book is my favorite is because the author is a Christian who grew up in evangelical Christianity. He is not afraid to speak the truth and call out all the ways that evangelicals have failed to actually behave in biblical ways, but he also does so out of concern for those who have strayed so far from what Scripture says.

Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies into Reality by Renee DiResta

This book isn’t so much about cults but rather how various forces have made it really easy for people to fall into groupthink movements. It might make you want to stay off of social media forever and closely monitor how the YouTube algorithm sends you to different videos.

Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America by Jane Borden

I’ll be honest: I didn’t love this book because I felt like the author did not accurately represent many of the religious movements she described, particularly Protestantism in general. There is plenty to mock in evangelical Christianity, but I was annoyed at how she made many blanket statements that, in my opinion, implied a lack of curiosity and maybe even a lack of research. That said, the information about cults was interesting.

---

Need more? Check out my post on 13 Memoirs from People who Escaped High-Control Groups or Families!