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Don't Call It a Cult

The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere and the Women of NXIVM

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Don't Call It a Cult

Written by: Sarah Berman
Narrated by: Ewa Wolniczek
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About this listen

 AN INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER

SHORTLISTED for the 2022 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize

FINALIST for 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book
FINALIST for the 2023 SCWES Book Awards

"Don't Call It A Cult is the most detailed, well-reported, and nuanced look at NXIVM's history, its supporters, and those left destroyed in its wake. If you want to understand NXIVM--and other groups like it--reading Sarah Berman's account is essential."
--Scaachi Koul, bestselling author of One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter

They draw you in with the promise of empowerment, self-discovery, women helping women. The more secretive those connections are, the more exclusive you feel. Little did you know, you just joined a cult.

Sex trafficking. Self-help coaching. Forced labour. Mentorship. Multi-level marketing. Gaslighting. Investigative journalist Sarah Berman explores the shocking practices of NXIVM, an organization run by Keith Raniere and his high-profile enablers (Seagram heir Clare Bronfman; Smallville actor Allison Mack; Battlestar Galactica actor Nicki Clyne). In her deeply researched account, Berman unravels how young women seeking creative coaching and networking opportunities found themselves blackmailed, literally branded, near-starved, and enslaved. With the help of the Bronfman fortune Raniere built a wall of silence around these abuses, leveraging the legal system to go after enemies and whistleblowers.

Don't Call It a Cult shows that these abuses looked very different from the inside, where young women initially received mentorship and protection. 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. It explores why so many were drawn to its message of empowerment yet could not recognize its manipulative and harmful leader for what he was--a criminal. Religious Studies Sexual Crimes & Assault True Crime Crime Disappearance
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The story is unbelievable in all its details and the narrator is adequate, aside from the mispronunciation of the word "library".

Fascinating Tragedy

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This is one of those pieces of investigative journalism that is equal parts fascinating and horrifying, with each new reveal of the absurdity of what happened within the walls of this cult. I cannot recommend it enough for true crime lovers.

Fascinating and Horrifying

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Loved listening to this. Way more details were included then the documentaries I watched. You'll get very emotionally invested. Highly recommend.

Incredible

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Without a doubt the most comprehensive account of the NXIVM cult that I have come across so far. I had to stop myself reading at multiple points because I felt myself becoming physically angry at what these women endured. Thankfully it has a mostly happy ending

Comprehensive and gripping

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not at all enjoyable as a listen. the writing isn't chronological or even well-organized. too much detail but given in a random, haphazard way without any timelines. three reader was extremely monotonous for my liking, as if I were listening to a newscaster. I also personally prefer to learn f
more about the culprit's journey and the victim's backgrounds. there's too much talk of money and numbers. the why wasn't really explored here. it's like the book doesn't have a soul.

too much detail, unorganized

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