This site contains several hundred book reviews published by International Cultic Studies Association since 1985.  

To access older book reviews, click on the down arrow next to "Book Reviews" in the top navigation.


If I Could Turn Back Time: Reflections of Former Cult Members

International Cultic Studies Association. 2023. 152 pages.

Reviewed by Nori Muster



Finding Miracles: Escape from a Cult

By Andrew LeCompte

Connections Press.  2024.  255 pages.

Reviewed by Ron Burks


I AM REVEALED: Behind the Ashram Door

By Robin Barbosa

Full Court Press. 2016. 280 pages.

Reviewed by Joseph Szimhart



Lost In the Ark

by Val Agnew

Angel Hill Press. 2022. 315 pages

Reviewed by Elizabeth Burchard



An Assassin in Utopia

by Susan Wels

Simon & Schuster. 2024. 272 pages.

Reviewed by Doug Duncan




Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross

Random House. 2023. 304 pages.

Reviewed by Nori Muster



How Religion Evolved: And Why It Endures

By Robin Dunbar

Penguin Books. 2022. 356 pages.

Reviewed by Joe Szimhart



The Contraption

By Barton Allen Stewart

Great Whale Books. 2024. 272 pages.

Reviewed by Esther Friedman



Paradise Undone: A Novel of Jonestown

By Annie Dawid1

Inkspot Publishing, 2023. ISBN: 978-1-916708-02-0 (2023, paperback, US, $15.99; 978-1-916708-00-6 (paperback, ex-US); 978-1-916708-01-3, eBook; Kindle (ASIN: B0CKHSZX7X), $6.99). 292 pages.

Reviewed by Joe Szimhart


Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International

By Charlene Edge

New Wings Press, LLC, 2017. ISBN-10: ‎ 0997874708; ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0997874709. Paperback, 474 pages, $24.95. Kindle, $8.49. Amazon.com

Reviewed by Bart Stewart


The Bad Cadet: Growing up in the Church of Scientology’s Sea Organization

By Katherine Spallino

Independently published, 2023. ISBN: 979-8-9878162-1-9. Paperback, 334 pages, $14.99, Kindle $9.99, Amazon.com

Reviewed by Joe Szimhart


Respectful, Authentic and Free Relationships

Las Relaciones Respetuosas, Auténticas y Libres 

 

By José Fernández-Aguado


Célebre Editorial, 2021. ISBN-10: 8412362098; ISBN-13: 978-8412362091.Paperback, Spanish language only, 306 pages, €16.15, Alibris.es  


Reviewed by J. Paul Lennon



Walking Free from the Trauma of Coercive, Cultic and Spiritual Abuse: A Workbook for Recovery and Growth

 

by Gillie Jenkinson

 

Routledge, 2023. ISBN-10 1032305878; ISBN-13: 978-1032305875. Paperback,$34.95 list price, Kindle, $19.22. Amazon.com

 

Reviewed by Nori Muster


How to Become a Cult Leader

Narrated by Peter Dinklage, produced by Citizen Jones/Estuary Films. Netflix release July 28, 2023.


Reviewed by Joseph Szimhart

 

Misguided: My Jesus Freak Life in a Doomsday Cult

by Perry Bulwer


Reviewed by Nori Muster

 

New Star Books, 2023. ISBN-10: 1554202051, ISBN-13: 978-1554202058. Paperback, 320 pages, $21.00, Amazon.com


When the World Didn't End

by Guinevere Turner


Reviewed by Bart Stewart

 

Crown Publishing, 2023. ISBN-10: 0593237595; ISBN-13: 978-0593237595. Hardcover, $28.00 list price. Kindle, $13.99, Amazon.com


Exquisite Torture

by Carrie Buddington


Reviewed by Ron Burks, MA, MDiv, PhD 

 

CBuddington. 2023. ISBN-13: ‎ 979-8987822111. Paperback 277 pages, $15 (Kindle, $9.99) Amazon.com 


The Gentle Souls Revolution: A secret cult, an open rebellion, and lessons in protecting & honoring your gentle soul 

by Esther Friedman


Reviewed by Lorna Goldberg, LCSW, PsyA

 

GSR Healing Arts, 2023. ISBN-13: 979-8986231501. Paperback, 195 pages, $15.95. (Kindle, $9.99), Amazon.com.


Cult Trip: Inside the world of coercion and control 

by Anke Richter


Reviewed by Joseph Szimhart

 

HarperCollins Publishers, 2023. ISBN: 978-1775492344, ISBN 10: 1775492346, ebook: $10.99, paperback 352 pages.


Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church 

by Diane Langberg 


Reviewed by Doug Duncan

 

Brazos Press, 2020, ISBN-10: 1587434385; ISBN-13: 978-1587434389, Paperback, 224 pages, $12.79 (Kindle, $12.15; also available as an Audiobook), Amazon.com

The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune

by Alexander Stille

Reviewed by Joe Szimhart

Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023. ISBN-10: 0374600392, ISBN-13: 978-600396 Paperback, 420 pages (uncorrected proof), Hardcover, 432 pages, $30 (Kindle $14.99), Amazon.