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Road to Jonestown
- Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
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Summary
From the New York Times best-selling author of Manson comes the comprehensive, authoritative, and tragic story of preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre - the largest murder-suicide in American history.
In the 1950s a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones 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' life, from his extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing to the fraught decision to move almost 1,000 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 900 people died - including almost 300 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' 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' orders. The Road to Jonestown is the definitive book about Jim Jones and the events that led to the tragedy at Jonestown.
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- Calum Francis Dougan
- 22-04-18
The definitive book on Jim & The Peoples Temple.
I've delved into a lot of information on Jonestown over the years. From 5 hour long podcasts to TV documentaries and this is by far the best coverage of Jim's life and also the lives followers I've come across. It's got a perfect balance of readability and detail. If you are interested in anything to do with Jonestown you'll find it here.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Mrs
- 10-08-17
Quite shocking
Such an incredibly sad story. Starting with (what came to be) a relatively large group of people - setting out with the best of intentions. This is the tale of their trials and tribulations under the leadership of one man. A word of warning: the ending is not for the faint hearted. It is very well researched, written and narrated. I recommend it for anyone who wants the full story behind this infamous man and his followers.
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5 people found this helpful
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- nyecamden
- 14-09-17
Nuanced true horror
Gripping story of the Peoples Temple and Jamestown massacre that includes both the megalomania of Jim Jones, but also the idealism and good works of him and his followers. This book doesn't give an answer as to the why of the matter, but illuminates much of the how using testimony of survivors and other evidence. I appreciated the balanced feel. It feels more chilling to hear of a mass-murderer who was seemingly both good and evil than it is to have him depicted as purely monstrous.
In the closing few chapters - don't listen at bedtime! This truly is the stuff of nightmares.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Shane canning
- 26-10-22
one off the best
great narratation unreal story amazing one off the best audio books ive ever listened too
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3 people found this helpful
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- Jonathan S.W. Bell
- 19-11-17
Brilliantly read, outstandingly researched
This book has got to be the new staple for those interested in the infamous cult.
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3 people found this helpful
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- J. Drew
- 24-03-20
What happens when we follow charismatic and warped leaders
This book has left a very profound effect on myself. I suppose I began to read it to try and make sense of why over 900 people would make a journey from San Francisco to Guyana in South America to form their own Shangri-La or utopia in a place called Jonestown, named after the charismatic demagogue of a leader called Jim Jones. And when they got to the promised land to escape the threat of American government forces and Jim Jones visions of a nuclear Armageddon, after a couple of years would then embark on a mass suicide which included mothers killing their own children with cyanide (something that robs the oxygen in the blood and leads to a horrific death of wanting to breathe and having the life sucked out of you). What is equally remarkable is how much of the socialist Jim Jones was who wanted people to live in equality whether they were black or white and was driven to help, care and preach to all. However, he was also a complex man who along with his vision and well thought out goals was also full of contradictions and hypocrisy. He carried out the healings and pretended to cure people of cancer in an almost theatre like show of false hoods, misdirection and lies. The author tells a story without sensationalism which begins in his childhood and that he has some examples of how he was driven but also rather odd behaviours and a rather sad background before becoming a pastor. I was never less than riveted to how people followed and fell in love with such a man like Jones - including his wife who seemed kind and good but also stood by him even as he took lovers and by the end was lost in cocktails of drugs. And when the final days occur and are told, it is an utterly gripping account that has haunted me ever since it’s read. A remarkable story that I felt was well told although perhaps I still do not know why so many people chose to commit suicide and kill their own children (although many were obviously murdered also as some choose not to commit suicide and had to be forced). I found it an interesting parable to some of the stories going on at this moment in time where people follow charismatic demigods or other types of lunatic, believe in their dreams and wish to find some promise land which will probably end up in some futile horror show. Perhaps history doesn’t repeat itself but people do. An excellent book that I will recommend highly and works on many levels.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jacinta Townley
- 29-05-21
Solid
Solid story telling and writing. I think I would have given a higher rating if the telling of a woman being raped towards the end hadn't been treated so lightly, i.e. no mention of rape though it clearly was and the summation never returning to it in evaluating Jim Jones. Tired of rape being treated so nonchalantly by writers.
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1 person found this helpful
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- AmazonSusan Egan
- 27-01-19
The Road to Jonestown too long
This book came highly recommended by anyone interested in finding out more about Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. The story tells everything you ever want to know about Jim Jones, especially his early years. It fills in all the gaps about his life and how it brought him to his final decision in Jonestown, Guyana. It gives details about his life and his rise to political power in the US before he took his followers to Guyana, where he hoped to avoid Freud charges and to continue the growth of Jonestown. The book is very long, even in audible format, making it difficult to listen to all the details. The story was ok but again it was not as informative about the Peoples Temple movement as it was about Jim Jones himself. By saying Jim Jones was also a victim of this situation, makes the writer of this book, appear to have felt pity for someone who brought about the deaths of many.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anoushka P.A. Anderson
- 21-04-18
Interesting
By the end of this audio book I was glad I had persevered and listened to it all. However, it does seem to drag in parts with detailed accounts of the upbringing and background of Jim Jones and some others. It is worth sticking with it, but I did feel disappointed that the chapters on events in Jonestown were left to the last 8 or so chapters and I would have enjoyed more details about how once they arrived at Jonestown the 918 who died had slowly been lead to their deaths. I was also disappointed that they skipped over the old lady who slept through the events that night presumed dead, as I have read other information about how she woke up to find the bodies. More information on her would have been an interesting addition.
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- AnnieJuly
- 26-09-17
Interesting...wee bit long
This was highly interesting. Extremely well narrated in an undistracting manner (forgive my voice "racism" but I often find American narrators cloying or whiny but this narrator had good diction). Well researched. I did find it a tad long because it delved into minutiae every step of way but I ended up sticking with it. A good means of learning about this fascinating man and awful tragedy.
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