Cult Trip

A leading journalist’s intense, riveting and personal investigation into the worlds and minds of cults At a new age festival in Byron Bay, journalist Anke Richter is finding her spiritual awakening when she meets a woman – a survivor of the Auckland cult Centrepoint – who will change the course of her life and career.

Over the next ten years, Anke pursues a labyrinthine investigation into how and why cults attract, entrap and destroy otherwise ordinary people, asking what the line is between tribe and cult, participant and perpetrator, seduction and sexual abuse.

From the emotional and criminal carnage of Auckland’s Centrepoint to an anti-cult conference in Manchester, the infamous Osho’s ashram in India, the tantric Agama Yoga school in remote Thailand, and culminating in a visit to Gloriavale on the West Coast of the South Island, Anke uncovers a disturbing pattern of violence and suffering. Cult Trip is a powerful exploration of what really goes on inside the groups we call cults, and how to reckon with their aftermath.

‘Wild stuff. Anke Richter is one of my favourite writers, blurring the line between participant and reporter.’ David Farrier, journalist behind Dark Tourist and Tickled

‘Thorough and compassionate … Cult Trip is a brittle, sensitive book.’ Steve Braunias

‘What a book and what a writer! Cult Trip is an incredibly immersive, intense and necessary reading experience put together with doggedness and skill. The stories are heart-rending, told with bravery and care.’ Noelle McCarthy, author of Grand

‘Phenomenal. I cannot recommend this book enough.’ Tova O’Brien, Today FM

‘Cult Trip is incredibly painful and powerful – an eye opener, a tour de force and a call for justice.’ Janja Lalich, author of Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships

‘Bringing together information from around the globe, Anke Richter pinpoints the internal struggles of those coming out of cults, and the debilitating harm that lingers afterwards.’ Rachel Bernstein, cult specialist and educator

Author Biography

Anke Richter is a foreign correspondent, columnist and reporter based in Lyttelton. Before she immigrated with her family to New Zealand, she worked in newsrooms and TV productions in Hamburg and Cologne. Her investigative and personal features are published in New Zealand Geographic, North & South, The Spinoff, Canvas, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, FAZ, taz, and others. She has written three previous non-fiction books that were published in Germany.