City of Belmont - Ruth Faulkner Public Library

The road to Jonestown, Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, Jeff Guinn

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 473-508) and index

individual biography

illustrationsplates

index present

non fiction

The road to Jonestown

bibliography

Jeff Guinn

Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

A portrait of the cult leader behind the Jonestown Massacre examines his personal life, from his extramarital affairs and drug use to his fraudulent faith healing practices and his decision to move his followers to Guyana, sharing new details about the events leading to the 1978 tragedy"The Road to Jonestown is the definitive account of Jim Jones and the tragic events at Jonestown, the largest murder-suicide in American history. Based on newly released documents and new interviews with survivors, some of whom had never spoken publicly before, it answers the question, How could so many people not only die for Jim Jones but kill for him, too? In the 1950s, Jim Jones was a young Indianapolis minister who preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially integrated, and he was a much-lauded leader in the contemporary civil rights movement. Eventually, Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to northern California. He became involved in electoral politics and soon was a prominent Bay Area leader. In this riveting narrative, Jeff Guinn examines Jones's life, from his extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing to the fraught decision to move almost a thousand of his followers to a settlement in the jungles of Guyana in South America. Guinn provides stunning new details of the events leading to the fatal day in November 1978, when more than nine hundred people died--including almost three hundred infants and children--after being ordered to swallow a cyanide-laced drink. Guinn examined thousands of pages of FBI files on the case, including material released during the course of his research. He traveled to Jones's Indiana hometown, where he spoke to people never previously interviewed, and uncovered fresh information from Jonestown survivors. He even visited the Jonestown site with the same pilot who flew there the day that Congressman Leo Ryan was murdered on Jones's orders. The Road to Jonestown is as fascinating as it is disturbing, a classic story of how a charismatic but deeply flawed figure could lead so many people to tragedy."--Jacket

Part one: Indiana. Lynetta and Jim ; Lynn ; Jimmy ; Growing up ; Richmond ; Marceline ; Jim and Marceline ; Beginnings ; A church where you get something now ; Peoples Temple ; Gaining influence ; Father Divine ; "All races together" ; A man to be reckoned with ; Breakdown ; Brazil ; Looking west -- Part two: California. Redneck Valley ; Dead end ; Resurrection ; Carolyn ; A socialist example ; Money ; Worker bees ; On the road ; Failures ; Drugs ; Sex ; Family ; The planning commission ; Los Angeles ; San Francisco ; Narrow escapes ; Reaching out ; The gang of eight ; Consequences ; The promised land ; Kimo ; City politics ; More money ; Defectors ; "Our year of ascendancy" ; New West -- Part three: Guyana. Jonestown ; Concerned relatives and the first White Night ; Death will be painless ; Betrayals ; Unraveling ; Final days ; "Some place that hope runs out" ; What happened? ; Aftermath

Jim Jones and Peoples Temple