Simplify Jane Borden: Cults and the American Monomyth
Feb 9, 2026
Jane Borden, journalist and author of Cults Like Us, explores how cult dynamics thread through U.S. history and culture. She connects Puritan doomsday thinking to the American monomyth and traces how leader-worship, thought control, and marketing tactics show up in politics, consumer culture, and self-help. The conversation probes how comfort and division reshape power and civic life.
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Puritan Roots Shaped American Work Ethic
- The Puritans functioned as a high-control, doomsday group that shaped American culture and work ethics.
- Their theology tied success to divine favor and normalized social hierarchies that persist today.
College Rowing Team Mirrored Cult Dynamics
- Caitlin Schiller recounts being in a college rowing team that resembled a cult with a charismatic abusive leader.
- Jane Borden agrees that cult-like dynamics exist on a spectrum from abuse to dictatorship.
The American Monomyth Normalizes Strongmen
- The American monomyth centers on an outsider hero who uses targeted violence to save a community.
- This narrative normalizes autocratic saviors and undermines democratic solutions.
