{"product_id":"the-penguin-book-of-cults","title":"The Penguin Book of Cults","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePenguin Classics, 2026, Paperback, 320 pages, 12.7 x 19.56 cm \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe word “cult” conjures images of people in thrall to a charismatic leader who extracts obedience through lies and threats, and of apocalyptic prophecies, sexual perversion, and mass suicide. From the Celtic druids, whose ritual sacrifices inspired the folk horror film \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Wicker Man\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, all the way up to the Peoples Temple and Heaven’s Gate, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Penguin Book of Cults\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e charts the history of our fear of the religious other.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBringing to light little-known sources such as a “death tape” of Jonestown’s final hour, when Jim Jones led more than 900 of his followers to drink poison, and a minute-by-minute log of the FBI’s final assault on the Branch Davidian headquarters, and including accounts of drinking the blood of sacrificed cats, theories that we are living inside a hollow earth, and reports that space brothers from Venus are coming to redeem us from the threat of nuclear war, this volume opens a fascinating window into cults and why some of them have ended in spectacular violence.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ICA Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57977908396416,"sku":null,"price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0012\/4390\/6109\/files\/71q0ArLXr7L._SL1500.jpg?v=1777297902","url":"https:\/\/shop.ica.art\/products\/the-penguin-book-of-cults","provider":"ICA Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}