The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

2018 Edgar Award Finalistâ€”Best Fact Crime
â€œA thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account of a brilliant con man and his all-too vulnerable preyâ€ (The Boston Globe)â€”the definitive story of preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre, the largest murder-suicide in American history, by the New York Times bestselling author of Manson.

In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially mixed, and he was a leader in the early civil rights movement. Eventually, Jones moved his church, Peoples Temple, to northern California, where he got involved in electoral politics and became a prominent Bay Area leader. But underneath the surface lurked a terrible darkness.

In this riveting narrative, Jeff Guinn examines Jonesâ€™s life, from his early days as an idealistic minister to a secret life of extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing, before the fateful 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 diedâ€”including almost three hundred infants and childrenâ€”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 Jonesâ€™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 Jonesâ€™s orders. The Road to Jonestown is â€œthe most complete picture to date of this tragic saga, and of the man who engineered itâ€¦The result is a disturbing portrait of evilâ€”and a compassionate memorial to those taken in by Jonesâ€™s malign charismaâ€ (San Francisco Chronicle).
Country USA
Brand Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9781476763835
ReleaseDate 2018-04-10
UnitCount 1
Format Illustrated
EANs 9781476763835

Country	USA
Brand	Simon & Schuster
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9781476763835
ReleaseDate	2018-04-10
UnitCount	1
Format	Illustrated
EANs	9781476763835

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

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