The Sullivanians

"[An] astounding story . . . Like a hawk crouching on a grotesque at the fabled Apthorp building, which also makes a cameo in this tale, [Stille] gives us a keen bird’s-eye view."—Alexandra Jacobs, The New York Times

"[An] absorbing account . . . Stille carefully documents the institute’s unravelling and eventual collapse . . . [He] is sensitive to the human cost of this experiment . . . [and] elicits zinging critiques from his sources.”—The Economist

"[An] addicting, compassionate account of how earnest societal questions about community were quietly warped in broad daylight, through an ugly Manhattan cult (once the largest in the country) that splintered families for decades."—Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune

“[A] rip-roaring new book . . . The kind of compulsive read meant to be devoured on a fire escape in the sultriest August heat.”—Mattie Kahn, Town & Country

“Intensely readable . . . Through all phases of the story, from the kinky, free-love eccentricity of the early years to the insularity, paranoia, and criminality of the later years, Stille maintains an admirable, almost tenacious sympathy for his subjects . . . As the cognitive dissonance grows, so too does the tension, making [The Sullivanians] an improbable thriller, propelling us from chapter to chapter.”—Jon Zobenica, The American Scholar

"Though there were always whispers on the Upper West Side about our neighborhood cult, the Sullivanians kept their secrets well. Now Alexander Stille exposes their truth and it’s more awful and bizarre than anything we’d imagined—a gothic tale of Boomer dreams for a better world twisted into control, abuse, and yes, even some amateur theater. But The Sullivanians doesn’t stop there. Ultimately the questions it asks aren’t just about cults; they’re about the nature of family and what it means to belong."—Thomas Dyja, author of New York, New York, New York

"The tragic history of the notorious pseudo-psychoanalytic group known as the Sullivanians and the lives of its leaders and members is chronicled here by Alexander Stille with great clarity, without ever sacrificing complexity. The reader is given a carefully nuanced, insightful history of a social experiment begun in the 1960s that went horribly out of control over a period of 30 years. Each person described in the story is given dimensionality and humanity, which creates a far more moving and meaningful picture of a cult than the typical salacious accounts offered in the media. Stille's portrait of the Sullivanians, a group that is emblematic in so many ways of the human potential movement of the late 20th century, is fully relevant today. Cults and conspiracy theories have never been more prolific than now, in a (maybe) post-COVID world. Stille tells this fascinating history masterfully."—Daniel Shaw, psychoanalyst and author of Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation

“[A] riveting narrative . . . A brilliantly written, sobering investigation of a secret society within plain sight.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Stille interviewed multiple Sullivanians and poured over personal papers and court documents to develop a linear account of the group’s astonishing rise and decline . . . [An] in-depth, endlessly absorbing history.”—Booklist

“[An] authoritative account of counterculture family re-engineering gone wrong . . . Engrossing and mesmerizing . . . This gripping tale of an attempted societal shift will entrance readers.”—Library Journal (starred review)

“An intimate and engrossing look at the Sullivan Institute, a radical polygamous therapy group that emerged in 1950s New York . . . Doggedly researched and thoroughly compassionate, this is a page-turning exposé.”—Publishers Weekly