Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems

Alexandra Stein

Oct 2020 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Susan Ericksen

About this audiobook

Written by a cult survivor and renowned expert on cults and totalitarianism, Terror, Love & Brainwashing draws on the author's twenty-five 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.

About the author

Alexandra Stein is a social psychologist who lectures and writes on cults and totalitarianism. Formerly, she was an associate lecturer at Birkbeck, University of London, and has also taught at the University of Minnesota and the University of Westminster. She is the author of Inside Out and Terror, Love & Brainwashing.

Susan Ericksen is a three-time Audie Award-winning narrator who has recorded over 500 books. The winner of multiple awards, including twenty-plus AudioFile Earphones Awards for both fiction and nonfiction, Susan is a classically trained actress who excels at multiple narrative styles and accents.