Sarah Berman is an investigative journalist based in Vancouver covering crime, drugs, cults, politics, and culture. She is a former senior editor at VICE and past contributor to Adbusters, Maclean's, The Globe and Mail, the Vancouver Sun and other publications.
*SHORTLISTED for the 2022 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer
Prize*
*FINALIST for 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Brass Knuckles
Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book*
*One of Oxygen.com's best crime books of 2021.*
"...Sarah Berman’s Don’t Call It a Cult is a thoroughly reported
work that details a staggering amount of relevant information the
TV series left out."
--The Atlantic
"...investigative journalist Berman front-loads her startling,
comprehensive exposé on the NXIVM group with key information on how
the association became popular yet remained elusive to law
enforcement...the author’s engrossing reportage meticulously
reveals the tumultuous rise and fall of NXIVM after numerous
criminal indictments and prosecutions...File this alongside
Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear and Jeff Guinn’s The Road to
Jonestown...An incendiary, serpentine report on criminal
manipulation of staggering proportions."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Investigative journalist Berman debuts with the definitive
look at the NXIVM cult, which victimized dozens of women for more
than a decade ... This deep dive behind the headlines isn’t to be
missed."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Berman demonstrates the tactics cults use to manipulate and
control without casting judgment or blame on the victims. Truly
gripping, this is the definitive book on NXIVM."
--Booklist
"Journalist Sarah Berman brings her signature gimlet eye and
impeccable reporting to the story of the NXIVM women in Don’t
Call It a Cult, a chilling true crime account...Don’t Call It a
Cult is the nightmarish, unflinching true story of the women
who survived NXIVM—and the women who didn’t."
--Foreword Reviews (starred review)
"This is a very thought provoking book about a subject that many
may have glanced at the headlines and not known much about. From
empowerment to manipulation, it should serve as a warning to be
careful about how you trust and with how much."
--The Parkersburg News & Sentinel
"A new book reveals the shocking ways that "self-help guru" Keith
Raniere trapped women into his sick scheme."
--Eric Spitznagel, The New York Post
"An absolute work of art"
--Vancouver is Awesome
"This true crime is for readers of stories about cults and anyone
looking for a deep dive into the recent news stories regarding
NXIVM"
--Bookriot
"Both captivating and frightening, Don’t Call it a
Cult will astonish most readers."
--New York Journal of Books
"Vancouver investigative reporter Sarah Berman's nonfiction
account, "Don't Call it a Cult," goes deep into the organization,
meticulously tracing how it began and how it grew."
--Laurie Hertzel, Minneapolis Star Tribune
“Her [Berman’s] engrossing narrative style humanizes the victims in
a way not fully realized during the trial itself, and most
certainly not allowed during their involvement in NXIVM. She
skillfully incorporates personal testimonies from the women
targeted by Raniere, probing issues of power, consent and agency on
an individual level while also zooming out to investigate the
nature and dynamics of what we call cults as a whole.”
--Law & Crime
“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
“Sarah Berman is absolutely fearless in Don’t Call It a Cult.
Her determination to not only tell the difficult, often disturbing
story of NXIVM, but tell it right, shines through in every aspect
of this gripping book. I simply could not put it down.”
--Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground
“Berman has crafted a tour-de-force and powerful homage to
first-person reportage. A riveting page-turner, Don’t Call It
a Cult is a must-read for anyone who is fascinated by the long
term effects of cult culture, abuse, and pseudoscience.”
--Lindsay Wong, author of The Woo-Woo
“Sarah Berman’s reporting on the inner workings of NXIVM and its
secret, coercive ‘women’s group’ fully elucidates how scores of
incredibly talented, smart young women fell under the spell of a
mousy, volleyball-playing con man. Don’t Call It a
Cult is an incisive, empathetic page-turner.”
--andrea bennett, author of Like a Boy But Not a Boy
“Don’t Call It A Cult is a thorough and compelling examination
of a terrifying organization. Berman understands and brilliantly
conveys the complexity of abuse, assault, and the lasting effects
of each, and delivers a book that says as much about human nature
as it does about NXIVM. Required reading!”
--Anne T. Donahue, author of Nobody Cares
“Don’t Call It a Cult explains Raniere’s dark charisma and why
so many people were attracted to NXIVM and stayed on, even as the
manipulation, exploitation, and abuse got extreme.
A thoughtful, deeply reported take on a sensational story, one
that I won’t soon forget.”
--Rachel Monroe, author of Savage Appetites
“Berman lays bare this longest of cons: lost souls and ambitious
young people drawn into NXIVM’s vortex of sexual assault, child
exploitation, fraud, manipulation, and blackmail. This
too-crazy-for-fiction tale is expertly spooled out with
journalistic precision and a screenwriter’s sense of scene and
story. I couldn’t put it down.”
--Lorimer Shenher, author of That Lonely Section of Hell and This
One Looks Like a Boy
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