Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Zealot
- A Book About Cults
- Narrated by: Jo Thornely
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
Buy Now for £18.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
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.
What listeners say about Zealot
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- J. Lyne
- 09-09-19
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
-
Performance
-
Story
- Grantley McDONALD
- 10-11-19
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!