Atheistically Speaking Book Club discussion

This is the discussion thread for the first part of The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements.

Preface
Chapter I - The Desire for Change
Chapter II - The Desire for Substitutes
Chapter III - The Interchangeability of Mass Movements
Chapter IV - The Role of the Undesirables in Human Affairs
Chapter V - The Poor

Is anyone else having a hard time with this book? It's a short book, but very densely packed. I'm having a hard time with the era it was written in. It's written very directly with no messing about with political correctness, and it often rubs me the wrong way, though I can't put my finger on anything it's wrong about. It reminds me of when I first read the The God Delusion.

I guess this quote from the book sums up my feelings:

The reader is expected to quarrel with much that is said in this part of the book. He is likely to feel that much has been exaggerated and much ignored. But this is not an authoritative textbook. It is a book of thoughts, and it does not shy away from half-truths so long as they seem to hint at a new approach and help to formulate new questions. “To illustrate a principle,” says Bagehot, “you must exaggerate much and you must omit much.”

I've been having some issues as well. It may be a kind of intellectual elitism, but I was put off by the fact that Hoffer is not an "expert" in any kind of psychological study, nor a student. It kind of reads like a journal written by that guy at the coffee shop who has an opinion on everything (not that there is anything wrong with that guy). I feel like I'm missing something because this book is referenced by other psychologists often. Also, That Bagehot quote irked me... I'm allergic to exaggeration and hyperbole, it's literally the worst thing EVER!