Looking to dig into some true stories about cults? It’s fascinating, often chilling stuff. Dip into any one of these memoirs from people who were in the thick of it — before finding their way out. For something on the fiction side on the same subject, check out our Page & Pairing guide to the novel The Vicious Circle by Katherine St. John.
Hollywood Park: A Memoir
by Mikel Jollett
Hollywood Park is a remarkable memoir of a tumultuous life. Mikel Jollett was born into one of the country's most infamous cults, and subjected to a childhood filled with poverty, addiction, and emotional abuse. Yet, ultimately, his is a story of fierce love and family loyalty told in a raw, poetic voice that signals the emergence of a uniquely gifted writer.
The Community: A Memoir
by N. Jamiyla Chisholm
An arresting and emotional memoir about a family's indoctrination into a religious cult, a daughter coming to terms with a parent's devastating choices, and the trials ahead in post-9/11 New York.
Member of the Family
by Dianne Lake and Deborah Herman
In this poignant and disturbing memoir of lost innocence, coercion, survival, and healing, Dianne Lake chronicles her years with Charles Manson, revealing for the first time how she became the youngest member of his Family and offering new insights into one of the twentieth century's most notorious criminals and life as one of his "girls."
Escape: A Memoir
by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer
The dramatic true story of one woman's life inside the ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect led by Warren Jeffs and featured in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey - and her courageous flight to freedom with her eight children.
The World in Flames
by Jerald Walker
A lively memoir of growing up with blind African American parents in a segregated cult preaching the imminent end of the world - for fans of James McBride's The Good Lord Bird.
Breaking Free
by Rachel Jeffs
In this searing memoir of survival in the spirit of Stolen Innocence, the daughter of Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed Prophet of the FLDS Church, takes you deep inside the secretive polygamist Mormon fundamentalist cult run by her family and how she escaped it.
Slonim Woods 9: A Memoir
by Daniel Barban Levin
Daniel Barban Levin was one of the original residents of Slonim Woods 9. Beginning the moment Daniel set foot on Sarah Lawrence's idyllic campus and spanning the two years he spent in the grip of a megalomaniac, this brave, lyrical, and redemptive memoir reveals how a group of friends were led from college to a cult without the world even noticing.