Cults: Inside the World’s Most Notorious Groups and Understanding the People Who Joined Them

In this chilling account, Parcast podcaster Cutler surveys 10 mainly high-profile cults and their leaders from recent decades. Familiar names include Charles Manson, who introduced the cult image to America thanks to the TV coverage of the Tate-LaBianca murders; David Koresh, whose followers joined him in a deadly standoff with the FBI at their compound in Waco, Tex., in 1993; and Marshall Applewhite, who in 1997 persuaded his Heaven’s Gate followers to swallow poison in the largest mass suicide in U.S. history. Among lesser known cult leaders is Canadian Roch Thériault, who used charisma and religion to keep his followers under his sway as he abused them, going so far as to amputate his wife’s arm. (He died in prison.) While most met violent ends, Uganda’s Credonia Mwerinde, one of the rare female cult leaders, vanished after burning alive 530 of her followers after locking them into a wooden “ark” she made them build. Cutler insightfully explores what attracts people to cults and the psychology of their leaders, but much of this won’t be news to true crime buffs. This works best as a companion volume to the author’s podcasts. Agent: Eve Attermann, WME. (July)