The Road to Jonestown

 Book 72 of my 2024 Reading Challenge

read from September 9 - 25

The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

by Jeff Guinn

My Opinion

4 stars

This book is a high 3/low 4 star read but I rounded up because for a 500+ page non-fiction book, it was very accessible and readable.  When I saw before reading that the author has written nonfiction books about other subjects, I felt better because I really didn't know anything going in other than "don't drink the Kool-Aid" and having an author that approached this from a research standpoint helped lay the groundwork for a reader like me.  Now that I've read this, I may read other books from authors that study Jim Jones as their sole focal point.

As mentioned above, I didn't really know anything about Jim Jones.  After reading, I can't believe the church lasted as many years in as many places as it did.  The ending is absolutely horrific but it does appear that no matter the motivation, there were people genuinely helped by their programs.

Also as mentioned, I've obviously heard and probably even said "don't drink the Kool-Aid" (although technically they drank the cheaper version of Flavor-Aid).  I didn't even consider how hurtful that would be for survivors/relatives.  To be honest, before reading this I would've struggled to put a timeframe on this and it feels so long ago that I had to get over the surprise that the author interviewed people who were there.

Math/time blindness...I was born in 1979 which was 30 years ago yet also anything that happened in the 60's was 100 years ago.  And the massacre happened in 1978 which was much later than I would've guessed.

The book also mentioned a Jonestown Institute website that I may look at for further information.  I would be interested in reading more from people who were involved (either as a member or working against as an outsider) but I have no interest in hearing any of his sermons.

So all in all, this book did exactly what a nonfiction book should do.  It was clear about the subject going in, it gave enough information to satisfy a new reader, and it also gave further resources if a reader would like to take a deeper dive.