Cultish takes a linguistic approach to understanding the behavior of fringe sects. For Montell, cults are distinguished primarily not by their authoritarian structure or novel theology, but by a unique use of language. We're speaking animals, and language is how we perform and enact our reality. Cultish is the unique language a believe uses to indicate their membership.

This book is best when it sticks closest to Montell's personal experiences with Los Angeles lifestyle fitness centers and multi-level marketing. Crossfit, SoulCycle, and a host of organic-weight loss-wellness-essential-oil MLM scams are what Montell and her peers experience most. Sections on Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, and Scientology are retreads of material better presented elsewhere.

Montell makes a solid argument that humans need ritual space to build meaning and connection in our lives, but that pathological cults don't ever ring the bell to end the ritual. You're always inside the sacred world of the cult, and attempts to get out, say spending time with non-believer relatives and friends, is met with thought-terminating cliches. Cults don't brainwash, but there's a conscious choice not to think about hard issues that the cult can't solve.

I do wish that there had been more about the language of love-bombing, which seems super common, or how New Age gurus are drawing on a language of quantum vibrations that has its origins in Scientology. But these parts, like the final section on QAnon, are at surface-level, a drive-by rather than a deep dive. This book is a lot of fun, and has some interesting if not 100% novel insights, but I wish it had gone deeper into the strange language of cultic belief.