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The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune
FINALIST FOR THE 2024 GOTHAM BOOK PRIZE
The devolution of the Sullivan Institute, from psychoanalytic organization to insular, radical cult.
In the middle of the Ozzie and Harriet 1950s, the birth control pill was introduced and a maverick psychoanalytic institute, the Sullivan Institute for Research in Psychoanalysis, opened its doors in New York City. Its founders, Saul Newton and Jane Pearce, wanted to start a revolution, one grounded in ideals of creative expression, sexual liberation, and freedom from the expectations of society, and the revolution, they felt, needed to begin at home. Dismantling the nuclear family—and monogamous marriage—would free people from the repressive forces of their parents. In its first two decades, the movement attracted many brilliant, creative people as the painter Jackson Pollock and a swarm of other abstract expressionist artists, the famed art critic Clement Greenberg, the singer Judy Collins, and the dancer Lucinda Childs. In the 1960s, the group evolved into an urban commune of three or four hundred people, with patients living with other patients, leading creative, polyamorous lives.
But by the mid-1970s, under the leadership of Saul Newton, the Institute had devolved from a radical communal experiment into an insular cult, with therapists controlling virtually every aspect of their patients’ lives, from where they lived and the work they did to how often they saw their sexual partners and their children. Although the group was highly secretive during its lifetime and even after its dissolution in 1991, the noted journalist Alexander Stille has succeeded in reconstructing the inner life of a parallel world hidden in plain sight in the middle of Manhattan. Through countless interviews and personal papers, The Sullivanians reveals the nearly unbelievable story of a fallen utopia.
The devolution of the Sullivan Institute, from psychoanalytic organization to insular, radical cult.
In the middle of the Ozzie and Harriet 1950s, the birth control pill was introduced and a maverick psychoanalytic institute, the Sullivan Institute for Research in Psychoanalysis, opened its doors in New York City. Its founders, Saul Newton and Jane Pearce, wanted to start a revolution, one grounded in ideals of creative expression, sexual liberation, and freedom from the expectations of society, and the revolution, they felt, needed to begin at home. Dismantling the nuclear family—and monogamous marriage—would free people from the repressive forces of their parents. In its first two decades, the movement attracted many brilliant, creative people as the painter Jackson Pollock and a swarm of other abstract expressionist artists, the famed art critic Clement Greenberg, the singer Judy Collins, and the dancer Lucinda Childs. In the 1960s, the group evolved into an urban commune of three or four hundred people, with patients living with other patients, leading creative, polyamorous lives.
But by the mid-1970s, under the leadership of Saul Newton, the Institute had devolved from a radical communal experiment into an insular cult, with therapists controlling virtually every aspect of their patients’ lives, from where they lived and the work they did to how often they saw their sexual partners and their children. Although the group was highly secretive during its lifetime and even after its dissolution in 1991, the noted journalist Alexander Stille has succeeded in reconstructing the inner life of a parallel world hidden in plain sight in the middle of Manhattan. Through countless interviews and personal papers, The Sullivanians reveals the nearly unbelievable story of a fallen utopia.
434 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 20, 2023
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July 24, 2023
This work is an examination of The Sullivan Institute. It was founded in the 1950s in New York City with the goal of starting a revolution against social norms. The focus was to be on creativity, sexual liberation, and freedom from constricting and overbearing family structure. With these goals, a sort of commune was started with therapists and patients constantly interacting, and patients living with other patients, free from their family structure.
I learned some interesting things from this read about the Sullivan Institute and its shift into a cult-like group during the 1970s. The exploration of how a counter-culture experiment turned into something so controlling and harmful to people was fascinating. I also enjoyed the interesting insights the author included about how the utter control of the therapists and their rules were even more harmful to the few Black members of the group. Though I would have loved to have more of an explanation and analysis of this aspect included. It was impossible to not feel sorry for the children of the adults who got caught up in this cult as well, as they were often mistreated and ignored in order to “free them” from the ”repressive forces of parents.”
This book needs a thorough editing. There was so much repetition throughout the entire read, even down to hearing the same quote, verbatim, multiple times throughout the book. And this usually occurred when the author was going over information that had been discussed previously in the book, which became frustrating and boring. There were many extraneous details included that bogged down the facts and the main focus of the work, which unfortunately made it difficult to stay engaged with this read. It is also not set up in an approachable way. It seemed to jump around often in time and with who it was focused on. I think this read would benefit greatly from some reorganizing, trimming, and general editing to make it more approachable and interesting.
The author tried to write this in a narrative form and as an in-depth history; I think this read would have been better if he’d stuck with one approach. There’s a lot of good information here, but until it undergoes some editing and reworking, I don’t necessarily recommend this read. My thanks to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
I learned some interesting things from this read about the Sullivan Institute and its shift into a cult-like group during the 1970s. The exploration of how a counter-culture experiment turned into something so controlling and harmful to people was fascinating. I also enjoyed the interesting insights the author included about how the utter control of the therapists and their rules were even more harmful to the few Black members of the group. Though I would have loved to have more of an explanation and analysis of this aspect included. It was impossible to not feel sorry for the children of the adults who got caught up in this cult as well, as they were often mistreated and ignored in order to “free them” from the ”repressive forces of parents.”
This book needs a thorough editing. There was so much repetition throughout the entire read, even down to hearing the same quote, verbatim, multiple times throughout the book. And this usually occurred when the author was going over information that had been discussed previously in the book, which became frustrating and boring. There were many extraneous details included that bogged down the facts and the main focus of the work, which unfortunately made it difficult to stay engaged with this read. It is also not set up in an approachable way. It seemed to jump around often in time and with who it was focused on. I think this read would benefit greatly from some reorganizing, trimming, and general editing to make it more approachable and interesting.
The author tried to write this in a narrative form and as an in-depth history; I think this read would have been better if he’d stuck with one approach. There’s a lot of good information here, but until it undergoes some editing and reworking, I don’t necessarily recommend this read. My thanks to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.
June 30, 2025
One reason I rarely read self-published work is that it often has bad (or no) editors. A good editor cannot spin straw into gold, but she can polish and shape gold from a shiny nugget into something beautiful. By the same token a bad editor, can utterly destroy a good book. There are certain publishing houses I rely upon to provide their writers with great editors. I may not love every book those publishers release, but I can be reasonably certain I will get the best iteration of the book I am reading. In the top 5 on that list is FSG. They have a long history and a notable present facility for releasing books that have literary merit and which are beautifully edited and presented. And so I am surprised and disappointed by this book, which seems to have been edited by people with short-term memory loss and no training in sentence structure. That editing team made what should have been a really good read an absolute chore.
This story is one that would be of great interest, both intellectual and prurient, to most people, including me. I don't want to go into the workings of the cult, many other reviews have done so, but an adult child of one of the founders (who grew up with her mother and was not raised in the cult) said that the Fourth Wall incorporated the worst elements of psychotherapy, Marxism, and musical theater, and that is the most perfect and succinct description ever. Sadly, this led to neglected and abused children, women raped as a regular event, vulnerable people being told by their therapists they should kill themselves, people being made destitute, and other tragedies. There is pathos and comedy to spare in this tale, but this book is repetitive and dry. One character (this is non-fiction, I use the word "character" for real people) who is quite central cannot be featured in a scene without the author noting that he felt he could not leave the cult because of the threat of losing his two children. Another character is always reintroduced with the reminder of how sweet and adorable he is. We are constantly reminded that one member is 6-feet tall and unattractive (until she loses 35 pounds and becomes desirable - insert eyeroll) The women at the top of the cult were cruel and abusive to the women drafted and forced to be their babysitters. Over and over Stille tells the stories of babysitters making innocent mistakes and the women at the top flying into rages, screaming at, and hitting them and of the community being convinced that these innocent lapses meant the sitters were psychopaths (that is the precise word used.) He tells us over and over about the group's head, Saul Newton, demanding his patients give him blow jobs during their psychotherapy sessions (for which they were paying hourly.) He also repreatedly tells us how long those blow jobs were because an 8o year old requires a lot of snake-charming to get off. I am not saying these are not all horrifying incidents. I am saying they could be covered once or twice with the note that these behaviors were rampant in the cult, and maybe quick references - "Sue also suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Newton and Klein" or "Naomi, despite not wanting to be a babysitter, stayed in the postion despite the frequent abuse from Joan Harvey" rather than yet another blow-by-blow (no pun intended) of these behaviors. And these repeated utterances are not juicy descriptions. This book is extremely well researched, but the writing is bone dry. Stille makes boring an upper-west side polyamorous sex cult led by psychoanalysts where people were forced to stage revolutionary original musicals in a downton blackbox theater in the spare time they had after work, regular therapy, and guerilla action to protect the cult against paranoid fantasies of imminent government attack. It is really hard to make that dull. And yet Stille does just that. Between the endless repetition (this could he easily 100 pages shorter without losing a single thing) the endlessly long over-complicated sentences, and the over-explication of events, Stille somehow managed to excise anything remotely titillating. Stille sucked the life out of this. I get that he did not want to further sensationalize this story, but in his efforts to avoid sensationalization he somehow managed to make all of this seem ho-hum.
There was some interesting sociological and psychological perspective in the last 100 pages (Though that was also repetitive. Tell me about the Stanford Prison Experiment once, not three times! Especially since most people who would read this book likely know about the Stanford Prison Experiment.) However, IMO the analysis of the actions of the cult leaders and followers should have been blended more with the reporting so the reader would get that analysis while reading about the actions rather than have to try to remember specifics of actions that happened on page 27 while reading the analysis on page 427.
Great topic great research smothered by a writer and editor who have an aversion to declarative sentences and a strange need to tell you the same story 11 times. A 2.5. I will tip it to a 3 for the great cover art and for making me see how valuable the offer of cheap rent and psychoanalysis would be when starting a cult in Manhattan -- it would definitely get people through the front door even now. (Note: sent this back to 2-star. I could not get myself to see this as a 3-star.)
This story is one that would be of great interest, both intellectual and prurient, to most people, including me. I don't want to go into the workings of the cult, many other reviews have done so, but an adult child of one of the founders (who grew up with her mother and was not raised in the cult) said that the Fourth Wall incorporated the worst elements of psychotherapy, Marxism, and musical theater, and that is the most perfect and succinct description ever. Sadly, this led to neglected and abused children, women raped as a regular event, vulnerable people being told by their therapists they should kill themselves, people being made destitute, and other tragedies. There is pathos and comedy to spare in this tale, but this book is repetitive and dry. One character (this is non-fiction, I use the word "character" for real people) who is quite central cannot be featured in a scene without the author noting that he felt he could not leave the cult because of the threat of losing his two children. Another character is always reintroduced with the reminder of how sweet and adorable he is. We are constantly reminded that one member is 6-feet tall and unattractive (until she loses 35 pounds and becomes desirable - insert eyeroll) The women at the top of the cult were cruel and abusive to the women drafted and forced to be their babysitters. Over and over Stille tells the stories of babysitters making innocent mistakes and the women at the top flying into rages, screaming at, and hitting them and of the community being convinced that these innocent lapses meant the sitters were psychopaths (that is the precise word used.) He tells us over and over about the group's head, Saul Newton, demanding his patients give him blow jobs during their psychotherapy sessions (for which they were paying hourly.) He also repreatedly tells us how long those blow jobs were because an 8o year old requires a lot of snake-charming to get off. I am not saying these are not all horrifying incidents. I am saying they could be covered once or twice with the note that these behaviors were rampant in the cult, and maybe quick references - "Sue also suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Newton and Klein" or "Naomi, despite not wanting to be a babysitter, stayed in the postion despite the frequent abuse from Joan Harvey" rather than yet another blow-by-blow (no pun intended) of these behaviors. And these repeated utterances are not juicy descriptions. This book is extremely well researched, but the writing is bone dry. Stille makes boring an upper-west side polyamorous sex cult led by psychoanalysts where people were forced to stage revolutionary original musicals in a downton blackbox theater in the spare time they had after work, regular therapy, and guerilla action to protect the cult against paranoid fantasies of imminent government attack. It is really hard to make that dull. And yet Stille does just that. Between the endless repetition (this could he easily 100 pages shorter without losing a single thing) the endlessly long over-complicated sentences, and the over-explication of events, Stille somehow managed to excise anything remotely titillating. Stille sucked the life out of this. I get that he did not want to further sensationalize this story, but in his efforts to avoid sensationalization he somehow managed to make all of this seem ho-hum.
There was some interesting sociological and psychological perspective in the last 100 pages (Though that was also repetitive. Tell me about the Stanford Prison Experiment once, not three times! Especially since most people who would read this book likely know about the Stanford Prison Experiment.) However, IMO the analysis of the actions of the cult leaders and followers should have been blended more with the reporting so the reader would get that analysis while reading about the actions rather than have to try to remember specifics of actions that happened on page 27 while reading the analysis on page 427.
Great topic great research smothered by a writer and editor who have an aversion to declarative sentences and a strange need to tell you the same story 11 times. A 2.5. I will tip it to a 3 for the great cover art and for making me see how valuable the offer of cheap rent and psychoanalysis would be when starting a cult in Manhattan -- it would definitely get people through the front door even now. (Note: sent this back to 2-star. I could not get myself to see this as a 3-star.)
August 16, 2023
Fascinating, disturbing, very detailed, and yet incomplete, "The Sullivanians" was a book (and audiobook) difficult to put down. The audiobook reader, Jamie Renell, is excellent. The author made some choices to personalize the story which led to repetitiveness and a limited perspective.
The group, which came to be known as The Fourth Wall -- the name of its theater company -- was a Left Wing-inspired attempt at communal living, centered on polyamorous sex (sans the amour) and a revolutionary collective recasting of parent-child roles. The context was dominated by psychotherapist-patient relationships way outside the customary boundaries of that profession. Sex was abundant, romantic pair bonding prohibited, family ties obliterated, motherhood demeaned, insemination randomized, and kids torn from parents and dispatched to sleep-away schools and camps. Along the way there's enough financial chicanery, threats of summary eviction, verbal chastisement, physical intimidation, and Stasi-like therapist control of thoughts and actions to make me consider shelving this book under "true crime."
Many of the communards had advanced degrees from presigious colleges like nearby Columbia University. That's right, this multi-venue commune, supposedly peaking at several hundred in membership during the 1970s, had locations on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The guy next to you on line at Zabar's or the well-dressed psychotherapist taking the LIRR to the Hamptons group house may have been a full-on cultist, harboring paranoid delusions about radiation from Three Mile Island, and lining up used school buses for mass escapes during the next meltdown.
They were all Lefties, btw. For those too young to remember, the 1970s brought the inevitable ugly aftermath following 1960's altruism, when flower power and give-peace-a-chance had mutated into Altamont, Manson, the Weather Underground, and so much self-absorption that magazines called it "The Me Decade." If you didn't have an heiress to kidnap or enough capitalism in your gut to get in early on the natural foods rage, if you slept too late for Hare Krishna, or were smart enough to laugh off the Scientology entrance exam, here was an outfit for you. Cheap group apartments, summer shares in Amagansett, lots of friends, and only one requirement: openness to sex with anyone in the group who asks. So you can see the draw. But read the small print: sex was to be guilt-free, but falling in love was a must to avoid. Imagine how many rock lyrics had to be unlearned!
Did I mention sacrificing your free will? And ceding control over whether and how you'd be allowed to sire children? Want to stay in touch with your parents ? Verboten! (save for supervised prospective Bank of Dad visitation.) What, you thought a hedonistic utopia had no rules? Individualistic impulses in Sullivania would be reported from your therapist to your therapist's therapist, on up the psychological food chain to the therapist-in-chief, the uncredentialed king Saul, if necessary. Yes, there was an ultimate authority figure, a boss of bosses, Saul Newton, with a couple of ex-wives and another shrink as the ruling Gang of Four atop the hierarchy. Want to leave the group? Better call Saul. Want to spend a weekend with your son? I'll pass the request along, but he'll say no. You can see why the sons and daughters in this utopian experiment started referring to the 91 Street headquarters brownstone as The Kremlin.
The political underpinning of the entire enterprise doesn't get enough attention in the book. The question was never whether Marxism should be taught, it was who gets to teach it. What gives you the right to pick your own Marxism instructor? Philosophical questions don't get much play. The group's artistic designs (political theater of the Left, by definition) aren't much discussed, nor do we hear of any plan to integrate Sullivanian precepts into society. I suppose shrinks forever banging the patients requires a certain amount of discretion.
Careers outside the group don't get much mention. Some members of an artistic inclination are ordered into IT for better financial prospects. Aside from a few with academic positions outside the Fourth Wall, we really don't learn much about career goals. Just as group members were discouraged from dating outside the group, it stands to reason that professional networking with New York's larger business and creative communities had to be stunted. Early associations with well known artists are mentioned, and a couple of members of the Sha Na Na group later on, but the central occupation and rent payor was therapy fees. When the Fourth Wall theater launched and required a venue, monthly membership fees and internal capital assessments paid the bills. This insularity kept the group from branching out and discovering new revenue streams. (Maybe Saul Newton should have taken a Scientology course or two!)
The book eventually settles in to an endless litany of horrors visited upon the families of the patients. Kids directly related to the Gang of Four received elite educations and got to live at home. Wow, just like the Politburo! The rest, mid-prestige therapists to lowly room cleaners, were politely asked (or impolitely forced) to send the kids off to some faraway nasty boarding school or back-to-back summer camps, and don't expect a visit in a spare moment. As the group ages and fertility clocks keep ticking, wannabee moms get conflicted, to say the least.
You can guess where it all ends up. Sexual freedom segues into sexual abuse. Old Saul sunsets in seeming sync with Soviet communism, the Berlin Wall collapsing around the same time as his (pre-Viagra) functionality. Custody proceedings, DNA tests, sad family stories, regrets, and the chance (for some) to make amends with long neglected moms, pops, etc. close out the book. If you meet a character, you will find out what happens to them. Some find joy in what they were avoiding: love, families, and single family dwellings in suburbia. We don't get enough detail on how the fluctuations of the Upper West Side apartment market -- pre-1976 bargains, rent control and vacancy de-control, co-op sales, etc. play into the group's finances and individual financial outcomes.
The author doesn't generalize about the experiment, instead sticking with the individual storylines of the often damaged participants. His core group of interviewees had close ties to the leadership team. The reader might wonder if life was a little more benign for those a safer distance away from the center. Were members on the fringes of the group, e.g. patients with private residences and jobs, safer and happier with this phase of their life, and the friends they made before things got crazier?
I'm curious because for a short time in the late 1970s, I'd unknowingly made the acquaintance of a Sullivanian, a college instructor with strong talents in writing and theatrical performance. Members didn't talk about the group, but this book did ring a memory bell for me. The giveaway, besides recalling a goofy Fourth Wall production of Ionesco's "The Bald Soprano", was the thick date book which had to be consulted, many pages flipped for a social appointment. Turns out they all had them. Friendships aplenty! No "bowling alone" in this crowd. Small wonder it caught on.
Personally I think it was the political philosophy which did them in. Romantic love and caring family life had to be wrong because they reinforced America's dominant midcentury lifestyle, and the capitalist system. It's ironic that the Sullivanians shared a group paranoia over nuclear energy. It was their politically-mandated conscious attempt to split the nuclear family that ruined their commune, not the atom-splitting of Three Mile Island and the Cold War.
The kernal of truth in their philosophy was that the times were a-changin' when it came to sexual repression in American society. Not everyone is suited for parenthood, but that's no reason to abstain from sexual pleasure. Romance and love are nevertheless wonderfully available for all, singles and parents. For those who wish to conceive and create families, the two parent model is pretty darned essential. The Sullivanians attacked motherhood, and failed. Elements of our society have dismissed fatherhood over the last half century, with equally destructive results.
The nuclear family also provides the economic engine of the free market system: parenting responsibilities and earning a living go hand-in-hand. Strip it away (for all except those in leadership) and what's left? The Sullivanian model, an economy based on therapist fees, couldn't possibly be sustainable even if you're very good at making people crazy. The Sullivanians embrace of Marxism over capitalism doomed their experiment. And yet, somehow, I get the feeling that the one thing which most of the group members retained after the group collapsed, was the left wing politics. Go figure.
The group, which came to be known as The Fourth Wall -- the name of its theater company -- was a Left Wing-inspired attempt at communal living, centered on polyamorous sex (sans the amour) and a revolutionary collective recasting of parent-child roles. The context was dominated by psychotherapist-patient relationships way outside the customary boundaries of that profession. Sex was abundant, romantic pair bonding prohibited, family ties obliterated, motherhood demeaned, insemination randomized, and kids torn from parents and dispatched to sleep-away schools and camps. Along the way there's enough financial chicanery, threats of summary eviction, verbal chastisement, physical intimidation, and Stasi-like therapist control of thoughts and actions to make me consider shelving this book under "true crime."
Many of the communards had advanced degrees from presigious colleges like nearby Columbia University. That's right, this multi-venue commune, supposedly peaking at several hundred in membership during the 1970s, had locations on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The guy next to you on line at Zabar's or the well-dressed psychotherapist taking the LIRR to the Hamptons group house may have been a full-on cultist, harboring paranoid delusions about radiation from Three Mile Island, and lining up used school buses for mass escapes during the next meltdown.
They were all Lefties, btw. For those too young to remember, the 1970s brought the inevitable ugly aftermath following 1960's altruism, when flower power and give-peace-a-chance had mutated into Altamont, Manson, the Weather Underground, and so much self-absorption that magazines called it "The Me Decade." If you didn't have an heiress to kidnap or enough capitalism in your gut to get in early on the natural foods rage, if you slept too late for Hare Krishna, or were smart enough to laugh off the Scientology entrance exam, here was an outfit for you. Cheap group apartments, summer shares in Amagansett, lots of friends, and only one requirement: openness to sex with anyone in the group who asks. So you can see the draw. But read the small print: sex was to be guilt-free, but falling in love was a must to avoid. Imagine how many rock lyrics had to be unlearned!
Did I mention sacrificing your free will? And ceding control over whether and how you'd be allowed to sire children? Want to stay in touch with your parents ? Verboten! (save for supervised prospective Bank of Dad visitation.) What, you thought a hedonistic utopia had no rules? Individualistic impulses in Sullivania would be reported from your therapist to your therapist's therapist, on up the psychological food chain to the therapist-in-chief, the uncredentialed king Saul, if necessary. Yes, there was an ultimate authority figure, a boss of bosses, Saul Newton, with a couple of ex-wives and another shrink as the ruling Gang of Four atop the hierarchy. Want to leave the group? Better call Saul. Want to spend a weekend with your son? I'll pass the request along, but he'll say no. You can see why the sons and daughters in this utopian experiment started referring to the 91 Street headquarters brownstone as The Kremlin.
The political underpinning of the entire enterprise doesn't get enough attention in the book. The question was never whether Marxism should be taught, it was who gets to teach it. What gives you the right to pick your own Marxism instructor? Philosophical questions don't get much play. The group's artistic designs (political theater of the Left, by definition) aren't much discussed, nor do we hear of any plan to integrate Sullivanian precepts into society. I suppose shrinks forever banging the patients requires a certain amount of discretion.
Careers outside the group don't get much mention. Some members of an artistic inclination are ordered into IT for better financial prospects. Aside from a few with academic positions outside the Fourth Wall, we really don't learn much about career goals. Just as group members were discouraged from dating outside the group, it stands to reason that professional networking with New York's larger business and creative communities had to be stunted. Early associations with well known artists are mentioned, and a couple of members of the Sha Na Na group later on, but the central occupation and rent payor was therapy fees. When the Fourth Wall theater launched and required a venue, monthly membership fees and internal capital assessments paid the bills. This insularity kept the group from branching out and discovering new revenue streams. (Maybe Saul Newton should have taken a Scientology course or two!)
The book eventually settles in to an endless litany of horrors visited upon the families of the patients. Kids directly related to the Gang of Four received elite educations and got to live at home. Wow, just like the Politburo! The rest, mid-prestige therapists to lowly room cleaners, were politely asked (or impolitely forced) to send the kids off to some faraway nasty boarding school or back-to-back summer camps, and don't expect a visit in a spare moment. As the group ages and fertility clocks keep ticking, wannabee moms get conflicted, to say the least.
You can guess where it all ends up. Sexual freedom segues into sexual abuse. Old Saul sunsets in seeming sync with Soviet communism, the Berlin Wall collapsing around the same time as his (pre-Viagra) functionality. Custody proceedings, DNA tests, sad family stories, regrets, and the chance (for some) to make amends with long neglected moms, pops, etc. close out the book. If you meet a character, you will find out what happens to them. Some find joy in what they were avoiding: love, families, and single family dwellings in suburbia. We don't get enough detail on how the fluctuations of the Upper West Side apartment market -- pre-1976 bargains, rent control and vacancy de-control, co-op sales, etc. play into the group's finances and individual financial outcomes.
The author doesn't generalize about the experiment, instead sticking with the individual storylines of the often damaged participants. His core group of interviewees had close ties to the leadership team. The reader might wonder if life was a little more benign for those a safer distance away from the center. Were members on the fringes of the group, e.g. patients with private residences and jobs, safer and happier with this phase of their life, and the friends they made before things got crazier?
I'm curious because for a short time in the late 1970s, I'd unknowingly made the acquaintance of a Sullivanian, a college instructor with strong talents in writing and theatrical performance. Members didn't talk about the group, but this book did ring a memory bell for me. The giveaway, besides recalling a goofy Fourth Wall production of Ionesco's "The Bald Soprano", was the thick date book which had to be consulted, many pages flipped for a social appointment. Turns out they all had them. Friendships aplenty! No "bowling alone" in this crowd. Small wonder it caught on.
Personally I think it was the political philosophy which did them in. Romantic love and caring family life had to be wrong because they reinforced America's dominant midcentury lifestyle, and the capitalist system. It's ironic that the Sullivanians shared a group paranoia over nuclear energy. It was their politically-mandated conscious attempt to split the nuclear family that ruined their commune, not the atom-splitting of Three Mile Island and the Cold War.
The kernal of truth in their philosophy was that the times were a-changin' when it came to sexual repression in American society. Not everyone is suited for parenthood, but that's no reason to abstain from sexual pleasure. Romance and love are nevertheless wonderfully available for all, singles and parents. For those who wish to conceive and create families, the two parent model is pretty darned essential. The Sullivanians attacked motherhood, and failed. Elements of our society have dismissed fatherhood over the last half century, with equally destructive results.
The nuclear family also provides the economic engine of the free market system: parenting responsibilities and earning a living go hand-in-hand. Strip it away (for all except those in leadership) and what's left? The Sullivanian model, an economy based on therapist fees, couldn't possibly be sustainable even if you're very good at making people crazy. The Sullivanians embrace of Marxism over capitalism doomed their experiment. And yet, somehow, I get the feeling that the one thing which most of the group members retained after the group collapsed, was the left wing politics. Go figure.
December 30, 2022
Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 20th, 2023
A comprehensive and detailed account of The Sullivan Institute — a (somewhat secret) urban commune in New York City that ran a 35 year “experiment” to reengineer family, sex, and social life. Starting in the 50s as a combination of psychotherapy and radical politics, it evolved into an oppressive cult before finally crumbling in the early 90s (largely as a result of various salacious court cases).
Stille compiled the narrative from extensive interviews, written member accounts, and court case documentation. He proceeds linearly through time covering various motivations and experiences as well as the long dissolution into a bit of a nightmare and the “waking up” of those who went mainstream once it all fell apart.
Begun in the 50s by avowed Marxists, the goal of the Institute was partially to bring the “human” into Marx. The founders came to see: “the nuclear family as the basic unit of capitalist production, the means by which the system perpetuated itself to the detriment of individual growth. Parents tamed and squelched their children’s most vital needs in order to turn them into obedient and productive citizens.” They felt that growth could only occur only through interaction with others. Unusually for therapy at the time, therapists encouraged complete patient dependence — telling patients what to do in every aspect of their life. Members were forced to break all bonds with those outside the group, they were not allowed to form pair bonds, and were not allowed to raise their children, being told that they would be “poison” to those children.
What fascinated me was how the group fit into the times — starting with Marxist theories and communal living and progressing through the 70s where alternative therapies— EST, TM, rebirthing, etc. — were thriving. And the way initial egalitarianism devolved into hierarchical conformity with a controlling personality at the top. The pattern matches those of cults, certain religious orders (ultra-orthodox Jews, strict evangelical Christians, …), and true communist countries as a whole: impose a demanding lifestyle on members, maintain a boundary between the group and the outside, and ostracize those who want to leave. And the people in this group were intelligent and well-educated. In its heyday, the group boasted famous members such as Jackson Pollack, Lucinda Childs, Richard Price, members of the musical group Sha Na Na, etc.
Completely fascinating.
A comprehensive and detailed account of The Sullivan Institute — a (somewhat secret) urban commune in New York City that ran a 35 year “experiment” to reengineer family, sex, and social life. Starting in the 50s as a combination of psychotherapy and radical politics, it evolved into an oppressive cult before finally crumbling in the early 90s (largely as a result of various salacious court cases).
Stille compiled the narrative from extensive interviews, written member accounts, and court case documentation. He proceeds linearly through time covering various motivations and experiences as well as the long dissolution into a bit of a nightmare and the “waking up” of those who went mainstream once it all fell apart.
Begun in the 50s by avowed Marxists, the goal of the Institute was partially to bring the “human” into Marx. The founders came to see: “the nuclear family as the basic unit of capitalist production, the means by which the system perpetuated itself to the detriment of individual growth. Parents tamed and squelched their children’s most vital needs in order to turn them into obedient and productive citizens.” They felt that growth could only occur only through interaction with others. Unusually for therapy at the time, therapists encouraged complete patient dependence — telling patients what to do in every aspect of their life. Members were forced to break all bonds with those outside the group, they were not allowed to form pair bonds, and were not allowed to raise their children, being told that they would be “poison” to those children.
What fascinated me was how the group fit into the times — starting with Marxist theories and communal living and progressing through the 70s where alternative therapies— EST, TM, rebirthing, etc. — were thriving. And the way initial egalitarianism devolved into hierarchical conformity with a controlling personality at the top. The pattern matches those of cults, certain religious orders (ultra-orthodox Jews, strict evangelical Christians, …), and true communist countries as a whole: impose a demanding lifestyle on members, maintain a boundary between the group and the outside, and ostracize those who want to leave. And the people in this group were intelligent and well-educated. In its heyday, the group boasted famous members such as Jackson Pollack, Lucinda Childs, Richard Price, members of the musical group Sha Na Na, etc.
Completely fascinating.
April 6, 2025
Fascinating story! -2 stars for reading like a Wikipedia article.
July 1, 2023
Absolutely bananas.
September 27, 2023
This needed to be edited. Way too long and repetitive, like literal quotes and sentences are repeated multiple times. This also has a flat feel for such a wild story.
I would have left the cult as soon as they made it a theater group.
I would have left the cult as soon as they made it a theater group.
June 29, 2023
This book was chock full of details. The same or very similar details, over and over. I didn’t get much of a sense of individuals, just wrongheaded crazy abusive people and their victims. Repetitive and kinda boring.
July 17, 2023
There’s interesting stuff here, but it’s far too long and in need of serious editing. There’s egregious repetition at points (of whole sentences), and a far too wide cast of characters. It tries to be narrative nonfiction AND a thorough history of this group and ends up doing neither well. The author also constantly refers to what most people would call “polyamory” as “polygamy,” which is a pretty big error for a book about this sort of group written in 2023.
July 30, 2023
I was really excited to read this because I find cults endlessly fascinating. While this was full of details it was just too repetitive and a slog to get through. It took me a month to finish a book on a topic I'm obsessed with, so do with that what you will.
February 20, 2025
How could a book about a violent sex cult in NYC be so boring?
August 21, 2024
This book was a deep education and study about the mental manipulation that takes place in vulnerable people causing them to be involved in a cult. I wanted to read this because cults are curious things to me. I don’t understand them. It’s a very strange process that people who attach themselves go through. The blind belief. The following of rules and practices that they truly don’t believe but are prayed upon and romanced by some charismatic leader into following. It boggles my mind.
The Sullivan Institute was started in the 50’s by psychologists who at first believed that they could create a communal life of certain principles, free love and friendship that would help people live better and more fulfilling lives than their parents. It started out as an idealistic experiment. It morphed into a nightmare that destroyed lives, traumatized children, was overrun with paranoia and filled with rampant chaos run by leaders who were drunk on power and enjoyed manipulation. This went on for decades and this book is a type of tell all through interviews of the ex members after the group fell apart in the early 90’s.
I feel the author has done a remarkable job researching and obtaining interviews and information to tell this story. It is definitely a good read. 4 stars in the best way. I just can’t give 5 stars to such heartache.
The Sullivan Institute was started in the 50’s by psychologists who at first believed that they could create a communal life of certain principles, free love and friendship that would help people live better and more fulfilling lives than their parents. It started out as an idealistic experiment. It morphed into a nightmare that destroyed lives, traumatized children, was overrun with paranoia and filled with rampant chaos run by leaders who were drunk on power and enjoyed manipulation. This went on for decades and this book is a type of tell all through interviews of the ex members after the group fell apart in the early 90’s.
I feel the author has done a remarkable job researching and obtaining interviews and information to tell this story. It is definitely a good read. 4 stars in the best way. I just can’t give 5 stars to such heartache.
August 3, 2023
Very interesting look into one of the more sophisticated cults that ever existed, a bit like the NY sex cult. Relying heavily on radical psychological ideas with no scientific basis, the cult's leaders managed to take control over people's lives, managing every aspect of it, and, of course, robbing them blind while they're at it. I'm always fascinated with cults and like to read about them, trying to understand how educated, intelligent people fall into the trap every time, even while being fully aware by now of how cults work. This book certainly answered some of my questions, and was very readable and interesting throughout. It looks at the cult's mechanisms, but also at the individual stories, helping the readers understand the full and extensive impact on the lives of the members and the people close to them. It's still amazing to me how easy it is to control people and ruin their lives. My hope is that humanity manages to find a psychological vaccine against this phenomena one day, sparing much suffering and many tragedies.
June 29, 2023
Really enjoyed this audiobook about a cult/commune I had never heard of before! The Sullivan Institute started out as a psychotherapy collective before devolving into a full-blown cult, falling into your classic stereotypes of group sex, familial/child separation and leaders taking advantage of their followers. My only note is that some of what was shared was a bit repetitive, although I know the goal in doing so was to point of the hypocrisy of the group’s rules and the leaders who imposed, but did not follow them.
The narration for this audiobook was great! The narrator’s voice and tone suited the subject matter of the book.
Thanks to NetGalley, Highbridge and FSG for the ALC!
The narration for this audiobook was great! The narrator’s voice and tone suited the subject matter of the book.
Thanks to NetGalley, Highbridge and FSG for the ALC!
June 28, 2023
Thoroughly researched and reported, though just not very interesting to me. I feel for the kids, but, as far as cults (or cult-adjacent groups) go, this one was pretty boring. I can see some folks cherry-picking this for evidence in their bad faith arguments against communism.
Read
October 30, 2024A book that made me ask: Would it kill longform narrative nonfiction writers to zhuzh it up a little? I like it when a book is not just a 432 page article. Also, no need to describe every woman as "atrractive," "beautiful," "lean," &c. :)
July 18, 2024
Where I live, people in an older generation have all these fears about therapy—it makes women promiscuous, it wrecks families, it makes you hate your mother, etc. Turns out this is why. The Sullivanians did all that stuff on purpose. It started as an experiment in living their philosophy, but turned into a cult that sought to destroy the nuclear family, control its members, and take their money—not to mention the sexual predators. Most of the analysts weren’t even licensed, which fits the 1960’s but not the later years. This went on until 1991.
One interesting point near the end that will keep me thinking is the suggestion that whether or not a group is a cult can depend on the level of influence you let it have over your behaviors.
One interesting point near the end that will keep me thinking is the suggestion that whether or not a group is a cult can depend on the level of influence you let it have over your behaviors.
June 24, 2023
Both fascinating and deeply disturbing, The Sullivanians recounts the founding and evolution of a radical cult in New York City over the decades from the 1950s through its dissolution in 1991. It’s appalling what certain people will do in their desire to exert control over others, and the founders of this cult are no different in that regard. Claiming to be “grounded in ideals of creative expression, sexual liberation, and freedom from societal norms,” these leaders forced their members into “therapy”- with mostly unlicensed therapists, and where forced/ coerced sexual acts were a regular feature during appointments, especially for women. Not to mention the fact that the appointments also served to further indoctrinate members. Add to it all the other normalization of rape and sexual coercion, the forced “breeding” of members and then separating parents from their children, and it brings to mind some of the hallmarks of a cultural genocide (designed to break the bonds between people and destroy the individual’s sense of self) - but in a microcosm, all in a major city, not at war. It boggles the mind that in this case, people consented to it (mostly) willingly.
I found this narration captivating but also a bit hard to listen to add times. The narrator, Jamie Renell, did a good job as well.
Thank you Alexander Stille, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.
I found this narration captivating but also a bit hard to listen to add times. The narrator, Jamie Renell, did a good job as well.
Thank you Alexander Stille, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.
July 18, 2023
Imagine giving birth to a set of girl twins that were, as you could tell, fraternal.
But then imagine thinking... wow, each of these fraternal twins looks like two of the men I have sex with regularly.
So much so that you think, I think these twins are legit from different dads. Because I have THAT much sex with THAT many people. (That it's basically possible for two men's sperm to fertilize two eggs at the same time, resulting in not only fraternal twins but "half twins.")
Welcome to the Sullivanians sex commune in New York in the 1960s–90s. Where anything—and I mean, anything—goes. Do you feel like you should drink in excess all the time to numb yourself? Sure, go right ahead. Do you want to get in the car and drive after you've been doing all this drinking? If that's what you want, go for it. (Jackson Pollock, a member of this commune, did exactly that and ended up dying in a car accident due to his drunk driving.) And even most shocking—do you want to have sex with literally anyone and everyone all the time, regardless of marital status, age, or sexual preference? Sure, go ahead. We can provide all of that on the reg.
This is insane. The ultimate "counterculture" in every way. This was long. There were a lot of names. It was hard to follow. Seemed kind of stale throughout. So for that, three stars from me.
But then imagine thinking... wow, each of these fraternal twins looks like two of the men I have sex with regularly.
So much so that you think, I think these twins are legit from different dads. Because I have THAT much sex with THAT many people. (That it's basically possible for two men's sperm to fertilize two eggs at the same time, resulting in not only fraternal twins but "half twins.")
Welcome to the Sullivanians sex commune in New York in the 1960s–90s. Where anything—and I mean, anything—goes. Do you feel like you should drink in excess all the time to numb yourself? Sure, go right ahead. Do you want to get in the car and drive after you've been doing all this drinking? If that's what you want, go for it. (Jackson Pollock, a member of this commune, did exactly that and ended up dying in a car accident due to his drunk driving.) And even most shocking—do you want to have sex with literally anyone and everyone all the time, regardless of marital status, age, or sexual preference? Sure, go ahead. We can provide all of that on the reg.
This is insane. The ultimate "counterculture" in every way. This was long. There were a lot of names. It was hard to follow. Seemed kind of stale throughout. So for that, three stars from me.
August 20, 2023
This book intrigued me just from the cover and title. I decided to just pick it up and give it a chance. Now I love learning about random cults and just interesting stuff throughout history.
I was expecting more from this book! It was very long winded and often times I ended up becoming bored within a chapter. It was a lot of over explanation of things that could have been just a paragraph instead of an entire chapter. Mind you, I did learn something from this book, I just wish it was edited a bit better so readers can actually be invested in this book.
I took me a few months to even finish it. If you have a very long road trip or some flights I suggest reading this book, otherwise just don’t pick it up.
I was expecting more from this book! It was very long winded and often times I ended up becoming bored within a chapter. It was a lot of over explanation of things that could have been just a paragraph instead of an entire chapter. Mind you, I did learn something from this book, I just wish it was edited a bit better so readers can actually be invested in this book.
I took me a few months to even finish it. If you have a very long road trip or some flights I suggest reading this book, otherwise just don’t pick it up.
December 30, 2023
Recommended to me by my advisor. This book is SO wild. A deep dive into an Upper West Side cult that anticipated our current veneration of therapy speak and dissatisfaction with late-stage capitalism. I have always been very drawn to reading about cults and what’s so unique about this one is that the author approaches the subject material with the kind of empathy that never allows us to forget that many of his victims (well educated, intelligent liberals and idealists) are not so dissimilar from the people reading the book now. I love it when non-fiction reads as a page turner.
January 30, 2024
I feel like this would have an interesting article where we dive into a few individuals and their experience with the cult but we instead jump around between 30 narratives and add odd commentary about how attractive everyone is?
June 8, 2024
This is an incredible true story of a psychoanalytic cult that formed in New York City in the middle 1950's that lasted till 1991. The cults I have read about in the past were historically based on religion or a devotion to a religious leader, and I have always thought of the followers as being dimwits. However this group was based on psycho-analysis and was peopled by very intelligent and well-educated followers. The stories that are told are almost unbelievable, but there is very convincing evidence that they are true.
These people lived in an inner city commune, residing in various apartment buildings and brownstones in Manhattan where they raised families together. One of their main beliefs was that your family, particularly your mother ruins your life and therefore these people were instructed to cut off all family members except to ask them for money from time to time. Worse, the children of these believers were sent away to boarding schools from 7 years of age, and a few even younger so that their parents weren't able to ruin them. The members of the cult were encouraged to have many sexual partners and so the children were not identified as belonging to a certain set of parents but were raised by the whole group.
The book is slow at times which is good because it's not meant to be a spellbinder. However, it's interesting enough that you will find it draws you in and keeps your attention from start to finish. I sometimes felt like my jaw was hanging open while I was reading this.
These people lived in an inner city commune, residing in various apartment buildings and brownstones in Manhattan where they raised families together. One of their main beliefs was that your family, particularly your mother ruins your life and therefore these people were instructed to cut off all family members except to ask them for money from time to time. Worse, the children of these believers were sent away to boarding schools from 7 years of age, and a few even younger so that their parents weren't able to ruin them. The members of the cult were encouraged to have many sexual partners and so the children were not identified as belonging to a certain set of parents but were raised by the whole group.
The book is slow at times which is good because it's not meant to be a spellbinder. However, it's interesting enough that you will find it draws you in and keeps your attention from start to finish. I sometimes felt like my jaw was hanging open while I was reading this.
August 4, 2023
The writing was meh but the story was wild. I agree it could have been 200 pages shorter, but go you Alexander.
January 5, 2024
"More than any other specialty, psychoanalysis is meat for the charlatan." That was true in the 50s and it's even truer today. Also, my heart breaks for Chris.
February 25, 2025
Interesting story, but the writing was difficult to get through at times. I hope the children of this group find healing.
September 1, 2023
It’s technically not fair for me to rate this because I didn’t finish but honestly I have to give up. This book is going nowhere and putting me in a reading slump 😵💫 I love cult stories and was excited for a non-fiction read but honestly this read more like a textbook than anything.
I read 100/400 pages and didn’t learn anything. There is almost too many random people thrown into this, that I’m sure our connected and relevant, but the way it’s presented makes it completely incomprehensible and honestly boring.
After reading some other reviews, I think knowing it’s a self-published book makes a lot of sense. I think that can be a great area, but this book just really needed more work.
It was constantly jumping to different people (like 3 within a page), throwing in different stories randomly and ultimately I was learning nothing.
My first DNF read 😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫 I always always try to push through a book but I just have way more I’m excited about I can’t force myself through this
I read 100/400 pages and didn’t learn anything. There is almost too many random people thrown into this, that I’m sure our connected and relevant, but the way it’s presented makes it completely incomprehensible and honestly boring.
After reading some other reviews, I think knowing it’s a self-published book makes a lot of sense. I think that can be a great area, but this book just really needed more work.
It was constantly jumping to different people (like 3 within a page), throwing in different stories randomly and ultimately I was learning nothing.
My first DNF read 😵💫😵💫😵💫😵💫 I always always try to push through a book but I just have way more I’m excited about I can’t force myself through this
November 16, 2023
Of all the books, THIS was the one that captivated me enough to finish on my honeymoon—potentially the least romantic book possible, lol. It’s a comprehensive account of the rise and fall of the Sullivanians, a group of therapists and their patients who, in their attempts to create a self-actualized, left-wing utopia, ended up becoming a cult that destroyed families, engendered horrific abuse, and permanently damaged multiple generations of members. Also, they ended up becoming a theater troupe. Smh!
Stille traces the group carefully through its many phases, from its origin as an offbeat but credentialed psychoanalytic practice to its ending among a series of harrowing custody disputes. The slow progression of the group’s tactics and ideology—the boiling water slowly cooking the frog members—is related in such a detailed, fluid manner that it’s easy to see why people fell into this group and stayed, sometimes for decades.
The most interesting thing to me about the Sullivanians is how much the life experiences of the leaders informed the supposed “scientific theory” that formed the basis of the group. Saul Newton and Jane Pearce, its founders, had horrible childhoods because of their troubled parents; therefore, all parents must be psychopathic murderers who have to be kept away from their children for their own good. Pearce was a big drinker (read: in the throes of a pernicious case of alcohol use disorder); therefore, alcohol must be a necessary tool to help members relax and grow. Newton liked to have sex with lots of women; therefore, monogamy is the root of all evil and polyamory is the only way to live.
It’s just laughable when seen from the outside, but it made people with similarly difficult upbringings especially vulnerable to the group. At the beginning, they basically told therapy patients: cut off your evil parents, party and have sex and befriend tons of interesting people, and do whatever you want to make yourself happy. Unsurprisingly, that was a compelling message for a lot of people! But then came the coercive control—relationships outside the group became forbidden, parents were separated from their children, members were expected to pay exorbitant sums as “dues” or “fines” for perceived mistakes. The transition from party therapy to abusive theater group took place over about 30 years, so it’s understandable that people were acclimated to the abuse at such a slow pace that they didn’t realize how awful it had become.
As empathetic as this book is to the adult Sullivanians, it’s impossible to get around how unconscionably the group treated its children. It is heartbreaking to read about how children were sent away at a young age, often to sketchy boarding schools, and never allowed to spend time with their parents despite desperately craving their love. The cult disrupted one of the most powerful bonds, that between parent and child, as a way to control its members. It’s hard to find sympathy for the parents that went along with this, even when Stille makes a strong case that in many cases it was impossible for them to resist due to the psychological hold leadership had on them.
Anyway, this book is absolutely fascinating, and gave me SO much food for thought even as a cult enthusiast who considers myself an amateur expert on these types of groups lol. It can get a little repetitive—there were a couple of instances where exact quotes were repeated verbatim, which was odd—but overall it’s an incredibly thorough, compassionate account of the lifetime of the Sullivanians. Definitely recommend it.
Stille traces the group carefully through its many phases, from its origin as an offbeat but credentialed psychoanalytic practice to its ending among a series of harrowing custody disputes. The slow progression of the group’s tactics and ideology—the boiling water slowly cooking the frog members—is related in such a detailed, fluid manner that it’s easy to see why people fell into this group and stayed, sometimes for decades.
The most interesting thing to me about the Sullivanians is how much the life experiences of the leaders informed the supposed “scientific theory” that formed the basis of the group. Saul Newton and Jane Pearce, its founders, had horrible childhoods because of their troubled parents; therefore, all parents must be psychopathic murderers who have to be kept away from their children for their own good. Pearce was a big drinker (read: in the throes of a pernicious case of alcohol use disorder); therefore, alcohol must be a necessary tool to help members relax and grow. Newton liked to have sex with lots of women; therefore, monogamy is the root of all evil and polyamory is the only way to live.
It’s just laughable when seen from the outside, but it made people with similarly difficult upbringings especially vulnerable to the group. At the beginning, they basically told therapy patients: cut off your evil parents, party and have sex and befriend tons of interesting people, and do whatever you want to make yourself happy. Unsurprisingly, that was a compelling message for a lot of people! But then came the coercive control—relationships outside the group became forbidden, parents were separated from their children, members were expected to pay exorbitant sums as “dues” or “fines” for perceived mistakes. The transition from party therapy to abusive theater group took place over about 30 years, so it’s understandable that people were acclimated to the abuse at such a slow pace that they didn’t realize how awful it had become.
As empathetic as this book is to the adult Sullivanians, it’s impossible to get around how unconscionably the group treated its children. It is heartbreaking to read about how children were sent away at a young age, often to sketchy boarding schools, and never allowed to spend time with their parents despite desperately craving their love. The cult disrupted one of the most powerful bonds, that between parent and child, as a way to control its members. It’s hard to find sympathy for the parents that went along with this, even when Stille makes a strong case that in many cases it was impossible for them to resist due to the psychological hold leadership had on them.
Anyway, this book is absolutely fascinating, and gave me SO much food for thought even as a cult enthusiast who considers myself an amateur expert on these types of groups lol. It can get a little repetitive—there were a couple of instances where exact quotes were repeated verbatim, which was odd—but overall it’s an incredibly thorough, compassionate account of the lifetime of the Sullivanians. Definitely recommend it.
July 25, 2023
"They combined the worst of Marxism, psychoanalysis, and the musical theatre."
Well, this was depressing AF. Depressing book about seriously awful people. This was undoubtedly a cult. Some questionable editing here - the writer clearly pieced together chapters after the fact as we were introduced to people multiple times having already read their bios in the chapter prior. A lot could have been trimmed without impacting the emotional magnitude of this story. Also, at one point the author quotes 400+ ppl were in this group at its height however, later in the book she states that the group's membership had a high of 250. The analysis contained towards the end with trained cult experts/psychologists and comparative studies was compelling and at the least, I'm glad I stuck around for that.
To spare you the pain of reading this, here are the sensational sound bites:
--Charismatic asshole (likely sociopath) with no psych degree or training latches onto up and coming wealthy MD student, makes her his 3rd wife.
--"They" (read: her) write an authoritative book about the human condition, rejecting main stream values, culture, capitalism etc., inspired by a counterculture psychologist at the time (Sullivan) & as a sort of antidote to the stuffy, elite therapy of psychoanalysis.
--Foundation of their theory stated parents royally f**k up their kids, mothers are by nature violent and toxic for their children, monogamy = creative death, adults should be free to live out their lives as they choose without the trappings of parenthood (which is bad for kids anyway), and with an emphasis on same sex friendship and no romantic partnerships, just many, many f**k buddies. Indiscriminate sex was required and that should significantly ramp up when you procreate so that a bio father's identity is unknown. No nuclear families just babysitters. And everyone needed to be in therapy like 3x per week where you were told that you would amount to nothing if you left the group. No boundaries existed between therapists and patients who lived, had sex, demanded sex, and worked with/for each other. Oh, and they made you sever ties with your own parents/siblings and hand over money to them. AND PPL DID IT. IT WAS THE ZEITGEIST!
--The #1 casualty of this "alternative lifestyle": the children of the people who got ensnared and brainwashed by this fucking nonsense. Kids as young as seven were sent to "boarding schools" which were really just horrific state schools where scores of children were abused. Can't keep the kiddos around when you've got a painting class and adult sleepover to attend, besides parents have an unhealthy attachment to children which fucks them up anyway (!!).
--Lots more irrational behavior ensued as the community became more and more insulated (Quit your job as an artist and become a computer programmer! Don't eat any food grown in the North East because it contains radiation from Three Mile Island! You have to commit six hrs a day to our theater group! Our leaders are under government surveillance!)
--What was most fascinating about this terrible, terrible social experiment - aka cult - was how the community completely devolved into a totalitarian state with leaders sexually and financially exploiting rank and file members.
So much for peace, love, and understanding?
Well, this was depressing AF. Depressing book about seriously awful people. This was undoubtedly a cult. Some questionable editing here - the writer clearly pieced together chapters after the fact as we were introduced to people multiple times having already read their bios in the chapter prior. A lot could have been trimmed without impacting the emotional magnitude of this story. Also, at one point the author quotes 400+ ppl were in this group at its height however, later in the book she states that the group's membership had a high of 250. The analysis contained towards the end with trained cult experts/psychologists and comparative studies was compelling and at the least, I'm glad I stuck around for that.
To spare you the pain of reading this, here are the sensational sound bites:
--Charismatic asshole (likely sociopath) with no psych degree or training latches onto up and coming wealthy MD student, makes her his 3rd wife.
--"They" (read: her) write an authoritative book about the human condition, rejecting main stream values, culture, capitalism etc., inspired by a counterculture psychologist at the time (Sullivan) & as a sort of antidote to the stuffy, elite therapy of psychoanalysis.
--Foundation of their theory stated parents royally f**k up their kids, mothers are by nature violent and toxic for their children, monogamy = creative death, adults should be free to live out their lives as they choose without the trappings of parenthood (which is bad for kids anyway), and with an emphasis on same sex friendship and no romantic partnerships, just many, many f**k buddies. Indiscriminate sex was required and that should significantly ramp up when you procreate so that a bio father's identity is unknown. No nuclear families just babysitters. And everyone needed to be in therapy like 3x per week where you were told that you would amount to nothing if you left the group. No boundaries existed between therapists and patients who lived, had sex, demanded sex, and worked with/for each other. Oh, and they made you sever ties with your own parents/siblings and hand over money to them. AND PPL DID IT. IT WAS THE ZEITGEIST!
--The #1 casualty of this "alternative lifestyle": the children of the people who got ensnared and brainwashed by this fucking nonsense. Kids as young as seven were sent to "boarding schools" which were really just horrific state schools where scores of children were abused. Can't keep the kiddos around when you've got a painting class and adult sleepover to attend, besides parents have an unhealthy attachment to children which fucks them up anyway (!!).
--Lots more irrational behavior ensued as the community became more and more insulated (Quit your job as an artist and become a computer programmer! Don't eat any food grown in the North East because it contains radiation from Three Mile Island! You have to commit six hrs a day to our theater group! Our leaders are under government surveillance!)
--What was most fascinating about this terrible, terrible social experiment - aka cult - was how the community completely devolved into a totalitarian state with leaders sexually and financially exploiting rank and file members.
So much for peace, love, and understanding?
August 8, 2023
I love a good cult book, and The Sullivanians is definitely interesting. There was so much information about the psychotherapy they practiced and the open sexual culture. Before reading it, I just couldn't picture how a commune/cult could exist right in the middle of New York City! There were also a lot of people/names to keep track of. I was really fascinated by the Sullivanians and the book mostly kept my attention... however, I felt like it could have used a bit of editing. A lot of information was repeated a few different times throughout the book. It also started to drag at parts. I received an advance review copy for free and I'm leaving this review voluntarily.
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