Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Zealot

  • A Book About Cults
  • By: Jo Thornely
  • Narrated by: Jo Thornely
  • Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (12 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Zealot

By: Jo Thornely
Narrated by: Jo Thornely
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Why would anyone join a cult?

Maybe they're unhappy with their current religion, or they want to change the world, or they're disappointed with their lives and want to find something bigger or holier that makes sense of this confusing, chaotic and dangerous world. Or maybe they just want to give themselves the best possible chance of having sex with aliens.

Whatever the reason, once people are in, it's usually very difficult for them to leave. Cults have ways of making their followers do loopy, dangerous stuff to prove their loyalty, and in return they get a chance to feel secure within the cult's embrace, with an added bonus of being utterly terrified of the outside world.

From the tragic Jonestown Kool-Aid drinkers to the Australian cult The Family to the fiery Waco climax of The Branch Davidians, this is a wide-sweeping look at cults around the world, from the host of the popular podcast Zealot.

©2019 Jo Thornely (P)2019 Hachette Australia Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Underqualified Advice cover art
American Savage cover art
The True American cover art
Across the Border cover art
The Martian cover art
Slaughterhouse-Five cover art
Catch the Jew! cover art
Rabbit Hole cover art
Inside the Hotel Rwanda cover art
Pale Horse Rider cover art
If I Could Tell You Just One Thing cover art
Stick a Flag in It cover art
The Harvard Psychedelic Club cover art
The Colour of Magic cover art
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! cover art
The United States of Absurdity cover art

What listeners say about Zealot

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    8
  • 4 Stars
    3
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    6
  • 4 Stars
    5
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love the podcast, love the book.

I love the enthusiasm with which the author talks about the subject. Interesting and horrifying on so many levels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Very funny, very disturbing, but somehow lacking

This book is immensely entertaining, and had be snorting with laughter at many points. But somehow I felt that something important was missing: Thornely’s portraits of cult leaders and members from the 1970s until the present are ultimately caricatures. Many of the episodes described are funny because they are simply so strange or outrageous, such as Jim Jones’ sideline as a travelling spider-monkey salesman, or Bhagwan Rajneesh’s insatiable desire to acquire a hundred Rolls-Royces. Yet there is little attempt to try to understand the motivations of the various agents involved, apart from the obvious: the desire for money, power, and sex. I kept asking myself why people would turn their lives upside down to join a cult when such things can usually be had in radically less disruptive ways. Unfortunately, Thornely offers little reflective insight about such more complex motivations on the part of leaders or followers. Nevertheless, this remains a very funny book which I would recommend if you just want a good belly laugh at the extent of human folly.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!