Book Talk: Cults Like Us

America was founded by a cult: the Puritans. They were a high-control doomsday group, something we don't acknowledge. Their radical ideology didn't go away but became the foundation of American culture. Cults Like Us traces certain bits of their apocalyptic thinking through secular American history, explains how this influence has made us a nation of credulous marks for con artists and demagogues, contextualizes the current rise in far-right extremism as a natural result of our latent indoctrination, and proposes that America is the largest cult of all. People often ask "how we got here" as a nation. The answer: the Mayflower.

Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America, is out March 25. https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cults-Like-Us/Jane-Borden/9781668007808

Jane Borden

Jane Borden is an author and culture journalist. She is the author of Cults Like Us and I Totally Meant to Do That. Her work has been featured in Vanity Fair, The New York Times Magazine, and The Washington Post, among other publications.

Chris Gethard

Chris Gethard is a comedian, actor, podcaster, and author from New Jersey. He hosts the "Beautiful/Anonymous" podcast, used to host a public access cult hit called The Chris Gethard Show, and received critical praise for his 2017 HBO special Career Suicide. He’s authored six books, and has appeared on "This American Life," The Office, Broad City, Parks and Recreation, and other TV shows.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, 126 Crosby Street, New York, United States