On this episode we are joined by author, linguist, and podcast host Amanda Montell. Amanda is the author of Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism and Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language. We use her books as a lens to discuss the relationship of language to power and community, the ways women continue to be at the forefront of language innovation, and to look at cultural normativity.
The Stacks Book Club selection for November is Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, we will discuss the book on November 24th with Dawnie Walton.
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Everything we talk about on today’s episode can be found below in the show notes. You can also find everything we talked about on Amazon.
- Wordslut by Amanda Montell
- Cultish by Amanda Montell
- Scientology
- Soulcycle
- Amanda’s Youtube Videos
- The PeoplesTemple
- Heaven’s Gate
- Synanon
- Jim Jones
- NXIVM
- QAnon
- Intelligentsia
- Blue Bottle Coffee
- Utz Crab Chips
- “The Short Stacks 9: Isaac Butler//The World Only Spins Forward” (The Stacks)
- The World Only Turns Forward by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois
- The Method by Isaac Butler
- Lee Strasberg
- Sounds Like a Cult Podcast (Amanda Montell & Isa Medina)
- Headgum
- Gumball
- John McWhorter
- Nine Nasty Words by John McWhorter
- Strange Rites by Tara Isabell Burton
- Amanda’s Cult Book + Podcast Pairings
- Don’t Call it a Cult by Sarah Berman
- Uncanny Valley by Anna Wiener
- Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino
- “Ep. 96 Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino — The Stacks Book Club (Jordan Moblo)” (The Stacks)
- A Thousand Lives by Julia Scheeres
- White Nights, Black Paradise by Sikivu Hutchinson
- “Don’t be afraid to die: Jonestown revisited” (Julia Scheeres, Newsweek)
- Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres
- Jesus Camp (Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, 2006)
Connect with Amanda: Instagram | Twitter | Website | Sounds Like a Cult Podcast
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