A Little Bit Culty: Navigating Cults, Control and Coercion - Softcover

Edmondson, Sarah; Ames, Nippy

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9798993872117

Publisher: Trace 120 Press, 2026

Synopsis

Culty shit is everywhere—and this book shows you how to spot it, escape it, and heal from it.

From former NXIVM insiders turned whistleblowers and hosts of the hit podcast A Little Bit Culty comes a gripping, practical, and surprisingly hopeful guide to understanding how manipulative people and systems get their hooks into us—and how to get your life back when they do.

Drawing from their harrowing experiences inside NXIVM, their roles in HBO’s The Vow, and hundreds of conversations with survivors and experts, Sarah Edmondson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames pull back the curtain on the tactics of coercive control: love bombing, gaslighting, identity erosion, charismatic leadership, toxic spirituality, trauma bonding, and more.
Blending memoir, survivor wisdom, cultural commentary, and hard-won humor, A Little Bit Culty decodes the red flags hiding in plain sight—in relationships, workplaces, wellness communities, social media movements, churches, and anywhere someone claims to have all the answers.

Whether you’re untangling your own experience, worried about someone you love, or simply curious how smart, capable people get drawn into high-control groups, this book is the compassionate, no-BS field guide you’ve been waiting for.
Part cautionary tale, part survival manual, and part rallying cry, A Little Bit Culty will leave you wiser, stronger, and far less likely to fall for anyone promising “transformation” at the cost of your autonomy.

Welcome to the club—the one that helps you stay out of cults.

About this title

About the Author

Sarah Edmondson had been working in film, TV, and voiceover when she first encountered NXIVM—a personal and professional development company that promised to offer the tools to unlock her full potential. From 2005 to 2017, she went from student to coach, eventually running her own NXIVM center in Vancouver. After being invited to join DOS, a secretive "sisterhood" within NXIVM, Sarah questioned the organization's true intentions and became one of its most prominent whistleblowers.

In 2019, Sarah published Scarred: The True Story of How I Escaped NXIVM, the Cult that Bound My Life with Kristine Gasbarre. In this tell-all memoir, she shares her harrowing fight to get out. Her whistleblower story is also featured in the CBC podcast Uncover: Escaping NXIVM and The Vow, the critically acclaimed HBO documentary series on NXIVM. 

Now based in Atlanta, Sarah and her co-host/husband Anthony "Nippy" Ames continue the conversation with their podcast and book of the same name, A Little Bit Culty—exploring the healing process with the help of experts, advocates, and fellow survivors. She's spoken at conferences and other events as a cult-recovery advocate. Her TEDx talk, "How to spot a cult," is featured on TED and has been viewed over 1.6 million times.

From the Back Cover

"The absorbing stories and research in this book spotlight the many ways cults can show up—and remind us that the best parts of anyone can be exploited by manipulative systems."
—Ramani Durvasula, PhD, clinical psychologist and NYT bestselling author

" A raw, comprehensive look inside the psychology that makes us all vulnerable and human."
—Evan Rachel Wood, actor and activist

"This should be a textbook for everyone in narcissistic abuse recovery. Comprehensive and incredibly helpful."
—Bethany Joy Lenz, actor and author

Culty shit is everywhere—and this book shows you how to spot it, escape it, and heal from it.

From NXIVM whistleblowers featured in HBO's The Vow and hosts of the hit podcast A Little Bit Culty, Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames reveal how manipulative people and systems gain power—and how to take yours back.

Blending personal experience, expert insight, and survivor wisdom, this practical guide exposes the hidden red flags of coercive control in relationships, workplaces, wellness communities, and beyond.

Whether you're untangling your own experience or protecting someone you love, this is the compassionate, no-BS field guide to staying free.

Edition details

• Publisher: Trace 120 Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9798993872117
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 311