Jane Borden

JaneBorden

Jane Borden, a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, is the author of Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America. Her work has also been featured in The New York Times Magazine and The Washington Post, among other publications. She lives in Los Angeles.

“The First Thanksgiving, 1621,” by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863–1930).

The Pilgrims Were Doomsday Cultists The Pilgrims Were Doomsday Cultists

The settlers who arrived in Plymouth were not escaping religious persecution. They left on the Mayflower to establish a theocracy in the Americas.

Nov 26, 2025 / Jane Borden

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