My favorite nonfiction books about cults, scams, and schemes ↗

The books people recommended

2026-08-23 · 284 points · 126 comments · 9 books named by at least one person here and at least 3 people overall. The number on the left is how many people named it in this thread.

1
Ishmael
Daniel Quinn
1 here · 44 all-time · #104 overall
Buy on Amazon4.6 out of 5, 7,045 ratings on Amazon
1
Bad Blood
John Carreyrou
1 here · 44 all-time · #105 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 33,871 ratings on Amazon
1
The Prize
Daniel Yergin
1 here · 20 all-time · #314 overall
Buy on Amazon4.7 out of 5, 2,705 ratings on Amazon
1The Guns of August
The Guns of August
Barbara Tuchman
1 here · 13 all-time · #497 overall
Buy on Amazon4.5 out of 5, 8,588 ratings on Amazon
1The True Believer
The True Believer
Eric Hoffer
1 here · 10 all-time · #647 overall
1Going Clear
Going Clear
Lawrence Wright
1 here · 7 all-time · #995 overall
1The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Tom Wolfe
1 here · 5 all-time · #1284 overall
1Underground
Underground
Haruki Murakami
1 here · 5 all-time · #1404 overall
1Lying For Money
Lying For Money
Dan Davies
1 here · 3 all-time · #2105 overall