Terror, Love and Brainwashing
Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems
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Narrated by:
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Susan Ericksen
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By:
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Alexandra Stein
About this listen
Written by a cult survivor and renowned expert on cults and totalitarianism, Terror, Love and Brainwashing draws on the author's 25 years of study and research to explain how almost anyone, given the right set of circumstances, can be radically manipulated to engage in otherwise incomprehensible and often dangerous acts.
Illustrated with compelling stories from a range of cults and totalitarian systems, from religious to political to commercial, the book defines and analyzes the common and identifiable traits that underlie almost all these groups. It focuses on how charismatic, authoritarian leaders control their followers' attachment relationships via manipulative social structures and ideologies so that, emotionally and cognitively isolated, they become unable to act in their own survival interests. Using the evolutionary theory of attachment to demonstrate the psychological impact of these environments, and incorporating the latest neuroscientific findings, Stein illustrates how the combined dynamic of terror and "love" works to break down people's ability to think and behave rationally.
This important book offers clarity and a unique perspective on the dynamics of these systems of control and concludes with guidance to foster greater awareness and prevention.
©2017 Alexandra Stein (P)2020 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
When she was 18 years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger - a man 32 years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn's heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church.
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Like a train wreck you can't turn away
- By Cheryl D on 10-28-07
By: Carolyn Jessop, and others
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Don't Call It a Cult
- The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM
- By: Sarah Berman
- Narrated by: Ewa Wolniczek
- Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Investigative journalist Sarah Berman explores the shocking practices of NXIVM, a cult run by Keith Raniere and many enablers. Through the accounts of central NXIVM figures, Berman uncovers how dozens of women seeking creative coaching and networking opportunities instead were blackmailed, literally branded, near-starved, and enslaved. Don't Call It a Cult is a riveting account of NXIVM's rise to power, its ability to evade prosecution for decades, and the investigation that finally revealed its dark secrets to the world.
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Detailed (best for those already interested)
- By JR on 05-02-21
By: Sarah Berman
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Shattered Dreams
- My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
- By: Irene Spencer
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law, Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's brothers' Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan's six brothers, one sister, and numerous wives and children.
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Eye Opening... Difficult Listen... Honest
- By Paul Mullen on 06-24-08
By: Irene Spencer
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Church of Lies
- By: Flora Jessop, Paul T. Brown
- Narrated by: Eve Bianco
- Length: 10 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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"I was one of 28 children born to my dad and his three wives. Indoctrinated to believe that the outside world was evil, and that I resided among the righteous, I was destined to marry a man chosen for me by the Prophet. I would then live in harmony with my sister-wives, bear many children, and obey and serve my future husband in this life and throughout eternity. But my innocence didn't last long." Flora goes on from there to tell the dramatic true story of how she ultimately escaped and has been rescuing women and children from the FLDS.
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So sad!
- By Granny of 9 on 08-02-20
By: Flora Jessop, and others
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Sure, I'll Join Your Cult
- A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere
- By: Maria Bamford
- Narrated by: Maria Bamford
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Maria Bamford is a comedian’s comedian (an outsider among outsiders) and has forever fought to find a place to belong. From struggling with an eating disorder as a child of the 1980s, to navigating a career in the arts (and medical debt and psychiatric institutionalization), she has tried just about every method possible to not only be a part of the world, but to want to be a part of it. In Bamford’s “trademark blend of disarming intimacy and dark whimsy” (Publishers Weekly), Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult brings us on a quest to participate in something.
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Hilarious and sincere
- By B. Bazzell on 09-06-23
By: Maria Bamford
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Cultish
- The Language of Fanaticism
- By: Amanda Montell
- Narrated by: Ann Marie Gideon
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Get this book ASAP
- By chris boutte on 06-17-21
By: Amanda Montell
What listeners say about Terror, Love and Brainwashing
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Audible Listener
- 02-08-21
Thank You!
Wonderfully layed out and insightful for those looking to better understand coercive control and totalitarianism.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Evie S.
- 04-02-22
Alexandra Stein understands cults
Alexandra Stein was a cult member herself before she decided to help others to escape totalitarian systems. It pays off that she really knows what she's talking about - she's been there, done that. Great insight into human psychology and her own trappings. A fascinating read and help for people who are prone to hand over their power to a system or a person who have not their best interests in mind.
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- Amy
- 05-28-22
Excellent explanation of totalitarianism and attachment
I love the personal stories interwoven with attachment theory, for a comprehensive and understandable explanation of how attachment theory and assessment can create trauma bonds and reveal continued unresolved traumas. Being able to recognize the underlying mechanics of totalitarian/coercive dynamics is crucial to having that ‘Ah-ha’ realization and running the other way, and protecting/ advocating for the safety of possible vulnerable children within.
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1 person found this helpful
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- JandL
- 11-23-23
Very informative!
As a clinician, working with clients that experience attachment trauma and dissociative experiences,, I respect the work that went into this book to describe how those experiences lead to an intractable sense of duty to an organization based in disorganized attachment.
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- Jessica Jones
- 07-27-24
Accurate research, Horrid narrator
The voice acting is at minimum unnecessarily theatrical and distracting, but as much as I wanted to stop listening I couldn't because as a cult survivor I need this information to heal. This spot on research has provided clarity and a wealth of knowledge to reset my foundation and rebuild from spiritual and psychological abuse.
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- Aurora
- 11-07-20
Great book about nos cults work
Great book about what is a cult, types of cult - religions, political and others -, nos people join these types of groups or relationships, cult leaders, brainwashing or undue influence, how members are isolated, how the cult self works and many other features of cults. Clear and detailed exposition with examples of people in cults and many references to the literature on this topic.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Max
- 08-01-22
Excellent book, distracting performance
Thoroughly researched, well written, and profoundly insightful… but the narrator sounds like a character in a crime noir film. It’s not as bad once you get a third of the way through, but it struck me as a pretty odd match for a book of this caliber. Don’t let that stop you from spending a credit on this though - it’s an important read. Highly recommend
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1 person found this helpful
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- Homer
- 03-04-24
The Narration is Bad
The material was informative but took a while to get there. A lot of the info in the beginning is common knowledge but I enjoyed learning as it went on. The narration almost made me quit. I sped it up to 1.2 which made it more bearable.
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- Simon
- 03-28-23
Weirdest narrator
The narrator is really grating. She sounds like a robot that doesn't understand English but knows how to say all the words. Very rote-reading style. She's also very slow and if you speed it up she sounds stressed out and angry.
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- C.Schillings~
- 07-12-24
Informative important book here.
A very educated clinical break down of cults and totalitarian control methods and the psychological ramifications resulting from them, writing in a very accessible way, Dr Stein, a survivor of a cult herself, not only gives us exampled overview of some cults but a thorough examination of people who've been exploited by them as well, often using their very own survivor testimonials, while weaving helpful informed assessments. Understanding them is probably more important now in the 21st century than it's ever been before as we travel through a technological global epoch that makes the world much smaller than it once was and any of us vulnerable to cultic psychological coercion than ever before. Would love to see her personal memoir "Inside Out" on Audible as well. Good narration and loaded with info I found helpful and enlightening. I highly recommend this.
See also "Qanon And On" by Van Badham & "The Storm Is Upon Us" By Mike Rothschild, great accompaniments to this knowledgeable piece of work.
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