The Best Books on Cults, for These Cult-Obsessed Times

Seductive Poison— recommended by threeof our experts — is a memoir by Deborah Layton, who escapedJim Jones’sPeople’s Temple just months before more cult members drank Jones’s cyanide punch to commit “revolutionary suicide.” Layton gives a detailed history of the People’s Temple, paints a three-dimensional portrait of Jones, and describes her complex escape from the Guyanese jungle, where the majority of the group lived and died. “The book is a moving, highly readable, firsthand account of one of the most tragic cults in U.S. history,” says Stein, who adds that Layton’s account is comprehensive, starting at the beginning, when People’s Temple was still a church supported by some prominent political figures. Ross commends Layton for articulating just how Jones was able to influence and murder close to 1,000 people. “Hypnotic and harrowing,” Feinblatt says.

Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People, by a journalist who covered Jonestown for the San FranciscoExaminer, also got two votes. The writer,Tim Reiterman, accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan on a fact-finding mission to Jonestown, Guyana; the morning that more than 900 members of the People’s Temple died in a mass-suicide ceremony, the congressman was murdered by People’s Temple gunmen and Reiterman was wounded. “This is an indispensable account of the Reverend Jim Jones’s homicidal cult, and its catastrophic demise at Jonestown,” said Horowitz. “Reiterman is a prize-winning journalist,” added Conway.

“This is the mother of all cult books,” say Siegelman and Conway ofHelter Skelter, attorney Vincent Bugliosi’s account of the Manson Family. The California group gained notoriety after its members murdered actress Sharon Tate and four others, under the instruction ofCharles Manson. Countless books and articles have been written about Manson and his followers, including a recent, well-reviewed biography (Jeff Guinn’sManson), but this is the best.Feinblatt agrees: “Few people have laid out the truth aboutCharles Mansonand the Manson Family murders as clearly as Vincent Bugliosi has.” Put bluntly: “Helter Skelteris still a classic,” says Goldwag, who liked Guinn’sManson, but saidHelter Skeltermore incisively looks at the cruelty of his followers — i.e., the cult itself.

The aforementioned biography ofCharles Manson, which came out in 2013. It traces Manson’s life from early childhood onward and looks into his brainwashing tactics, all set against the tableau of a messy, druggy period in American and Californian history.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is an offshoot of Mormonism that practices polygamy and has always been led by a succession of men regarded as prophets. In July 2005, eight men of the church were indicted for sexual contact with minors; the current prophet, Warren Jeffs, will die in prison for child sexual assault. The FLDS world has been popularized in the public eye through HBO’sBig Love, and in Jon Krakauer’sUnder the Banner of Heaven, but Feinblatt and Carlisle both recommendProphet’s Prey, written by a private investigator who cracked open the case that led to the conviction of Jeffs. The book includes the contents of Jeffs’s personal priesthood journal, and goes deep inside the FLDS compound. “Although theFLDSand Warren Jeffs were in the news quite a bit,” Feinblatt says, “few people truly understand how destructive and abusive this cult was, and Sam Brower does an excellent job at outlining their history and bringing their victims into the light.” Carlisle agrees: “It’s very, very well researched,” he says.

As for memoirs by escaped members, Stein and Carlisle both recommend Carolyn Jessop’sEscape.Jessop is a sixth-generation descendant of FLDS who grew up on the compound in Hildale, Utah, and was forced into an arranged marriage with 50-year-old Merril Jessop at age 18. “It’s one of the best escaped-wife memoirs, but it’s a bit outdated — it doesn’t get into theWarren Jeffsyears because she’d left by then,” Carlisle says.

For a more current account of life on the compound, Carlisle recommends the recently releasedBreaking Freeby Rachel Jeffs, the daughter ofWarren Jeffsby his second of more than 50 wives. Rachel Jeffs was sexually assaulted, compelled into an arranged polygamous marriage, and physically separated from her children. “It’s a well-written book,” says Carlisle. “And very up-to-date.”

Though the United States recognizesScientologyas a religion, it is (justifiably) classified as a cult in France, Chile, Israel, and Norway. In any case, to better understand what life inside the group looks like, several of our experts recommended Lawrence Wright’sGoing Clear, which HBO also turned into a documentary film in 2015. “This book examinesScientology’shistory and its long association with the entertainment industry,” says Goldman. “It is grounded in meticulous research and a thorough bibliography.” Shaw calls it a masterpiece, point-blank, and Conway callsGoing Clear“the definitive journalistic work on this global religious and self-helpenterprise— that many knowledgeable observers agree is one of the worst cults out there.”

In 1993, the Branch Davidians — an offshoot of Seventh-day Adventists led by David Koresh, in Waco, Texas — were raided by the FBI. It led to a 51-day standoff and the eventual death of Koresh and 82 of his followers. Rosenfeld and Miller both recommend reading survivor David Thibodeau’s autobiography,Waco: A Survivor’s Story, which was recently adapted fortelevision.“It’s immensely valuable,” Miller says, “because it was written by someone who was actually there. Thibodeau escaped the fire at the Davidians compound at Waco that ended the raid and, before that, saw the wholesiegefrom the inside. With it, you get an understanding of what the Branch Davidians were all about” — which had a lot to do with preparing for the second coming of Christ — “and it becomes clear that they weren’t raving maniacs held captive by a madman,” but also victims of a hostile takeover from the FBI.

For a more critical analysis, Miller and Goldman recommendArmageddon: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict.“A number of scholars present balanced perspectives on the Branch Davidians and violence that could have been averted,” says Goldman. “This book charts the relationships between new religious movements, law enforcement, and the state.”

The Unification church, sometimes referred to colloquially as theMoonies, was founded in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon, a Korean spiritual leader. Members believed that Jesus appeared to their leader when he was 16, and asked him to finish his spiritual work for him. It has faced criticism since the 1970s, when hundreds of parents of members used deprogrammers to remove their children from the church. Feinblatt recommendsIn the Shadow of the Moons, My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s Familyby Nansook Hong, Moon’s daughter-in-law. “It’s rare to hear from someone so close to a cult leader,” she says. “She provides an eye-opening look into a cultleader’sfamily system, as well as an inspiring story of escaping a highly abusive relationship.” Steven Hassan, a former member of the group, recommends Hong’s book as well. “It’s quite the expose, as she was born into the ‘royal family,’” he says.

The Family International (initially called the Children of God) began in 1968 in Huntington Beach, California, and attracted attention for alleged child abuse (sexual and otherwise) and for its use of sex in missionary work. You might know it because Rose McGowan and the Phoenix siblings (River, Joaquin, Rain, and Summer) were members of the group from 1972 to 1978; River, who died of a drug overdose in 1993, toldDetailsmagazine that the group was “ruining people’s lives.” Stein recommendsNot Without My Sister,by Juliana Buhring, which recounts the lives of three sisters — Kristina, Celeste, and Juliana — all of whom were born into the cult and who were badly abused from the age of 3. “This book tells the heartbreaking experience of three sisters who grew up in the Family International,” says Stein, “where polygamy and pedophilia were enforced by the leader. All three sisters survived neglect and abuse and have shown immense bravery and resilience in telling their stories.”

Two of our experts also recommendedLiving in the Children of Godby David Van Zandt. “It’s a useful introduction and overview of a group that changed names and configurations several times,” says White. “This is one of the few academic books written about the Children of God,” says Goldman. “Though it does not address the ways that the group redefined itself as the Family International.”

The famous author ofOne Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nestlived communally throughout the 1960s with a group of friends and followers called the Merry Pranksters, who renounced society (which they dubbed “The Establishment”) and went on bus trips where they organized parties and handed out LSD. “In Tom Wolfe’s seminalThe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,Ken Keseyand the Merry Pranksters seem to avoid the stigma of being called a cult,” wrote Maclain and Chapman Way over email. “They are most often referred to as a ‘group’ or even the more prestigious term ‘movement,’ but the hippies completely separated themselves from mainstream society and were led by a charismatic figure who advocated extensive drug use as a way of achieving spirituality. One ofWolfe’scrowning achievements — for newcomers it’s a must-read, and for others it’s worth a reread.”

A criticalsuccesswhen it was released in 2016, thisbookreimagines the summer preceding the Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles.

Father Yod — born James Edward Baker — was the owner of one of America’s first health-food restaurants, on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. He was also the founder of a spiritual commune in the Hollywood Hills known as the Source Family, comprised of 150 members, who lived in mansions in the Hollywood Hills, had their own rock band, and practiced so-called sex magic.Father Yodhad 14 wives, and died hang gliding in Hawaii in 1975. This documentary about them was made in 2012 by Jodi Wille, and is a total trip.