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We are kicking off 2026 and season 3 with the book club’s favorite topic; :ults. And trust me when I say, we are in good hands with our January 2026 pick…

Today, tarot cards, astrology an,d crystals are everywhere — on Instagram and TikTok, and sold at upscale boutiques and pricey wellness retreats. Journalist Leah Sottile turns her investigative eye toward the recent surge of New Age influencing American Culture with her latest book, BLAZING EYE SEES ALL: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age. She looks at self-professed gurus like Love Has Won's Mother God and the mysterious channeler Ramtha, who have built devout followings based on their teachings. For more than a century, this pastel-colored world of love, light, and enlightenment has been built upon a foundation of conspiracies, antisemitism, nationalism, and a rejection of science. In Blazing Eye Sees All, Sottile seeks to understand the quest for New Age spirituality in an era of fear that has made us open to anything that claims to bring relief from war, the climate crisis, COVID 19, and the myriad of other issues we face. At the same time, she attempts to draw a line between truly helpful, healing ideas and snake oil—helping us sort through the crystals to find true clarity.

Leah Sottile is the author of two books: Blazing Eye Sees All and When the Moon Turns to Blood. Her journalism has been published by The Washington Post, The New York Times Magazine, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Outside, the BBC, The Atlantic and High Country News, where she is a correspondent. She is the host of the podcasts Hush, Burn Wild, Two Minutes Past Nine and the National Magazine Award-nominated series Bundyville. She lives in Oregon.

Her website: https://www.leahsottile.com/

Enjoy the episode!

Welcome to an archive episode!

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In 2024, I launched this podcast to delve deeper into our book club's nonfiction selections by engaging directly with the authors, the experts behind these compelling works. However, the book club has been around since 2021...so there are some 'archive' picks that we need to discuss!

In January of 2022, we read CULTISH: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell a,nd it has become a staple in the MCBC, our Bible...if you will.

About the book: What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day. Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.

About Amanda: Her nonfiction books include Wordslut and the New York Times bestsellers Cultish and The Age of Magical Overthinking. Translated into over fifteen languages, Amanda’s books have been praised by publications including The Atlantic, The Economist, and NPR and spotlit as monthly selections by Barnes & Noble and the Dylan Mulvaney Book Club. Amanda’s podcasts Sounds Like A Cult and Magical Overthinkers have been downloaded over 40 million times and praised by The New York Times, Vulture, and Esquire. Sounds Like A Cult won the 2023 iHeart Radio Award for Best Emerging Podcast.

Amanda’s writing has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Harper’s Bazaar, among others. Speaking about her work, Amanda has appeared in documentaries including Netflix’s “How to Become A Cult Leader” and HBO’s “Breath of Fire.” She holds a degree in linguistics from NYU and lives in Southern California, where she is at work on her debut novel, Where to Put Your Tongue (Simon & Schuster, 2028).

Find Amanda on Instagram @amanda_montell.

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Here is our 2026 lineup:

January "Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age" by Leah Sottile

February "Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus" by Bill Wasik & Monica Murphy

March "Whack Job: A History of Axe Murder" by Rachel McCarthy James

April "Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist" by Jennifer Wright

May "The Forever Witness: How DNA and Genealogy Solved a Cold Case Double Murder" by Edward Humes

June "Still Life with Bones: Genocide, Forensics, and What Remains" by Alexa Hagerty

July "Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum" by Antonia Hylton

August "American Afterlives: Reinventing Death in the 21st Century" by Shannon Lee Dawdy

September "Empire of the Scalpel: The History of Surgery" by Ira Rutkow

October "Spiritualism's Place: Reformers, Seekers, and Séance in Lily Dale" by Earls/Handley-Cousins/Rhodes/Masarik

November "Expert Witness: The Weight of our Testimony When Justice Hangs in the Balance" by Ann Wolbert Burgess and Steven Matthew Constantine

December "Society of the Snow: The Definitive Account of the Worlds Greatest Survival Story" by Pablo Vierci

Thank you for being here with me on this journey. I cannot wait to discuss these titles with you, and chat with these incredible authors! Which title are you most excited for? Have you read any already? Let me know!

Cheers!