Overview

An Edgar Award Finalist for Best Fact Crime ""A thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account of a brilliant con man and his all-too vulnerable prey"" (The Boston Globe)--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 Jones'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 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 ""the most complete picture to date of this tragic saga, and of the man who engineered it...The result is a disturbing portrait of evil--and a compassionate memorial to those taken in by Jones's malign charisma"" (San Francisco Chronicle).

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9781508279365

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Reviews

Offers what might be the most complete picture to date of this tragic saga and of the man who engineered it...The result is a disturbing portrait of evil - and a compassionate memorial to those taken in by Jones' malign charisma. -- San Francisco Chronicle Magisterial...Guinn's exhaustive research, shrewd analysis, and engaging prose illuminate a monstrous yet tragic figure-and the motives of those who lost their souls to him. -- Publishers Weekly A vivid, fascinating revisitation of a time and series of episodes fast receding into history even as their forgotten survivors still walk among us. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) How does a man go from being a beloved preacher of socialism and racial equality in small town 1950s Indiana, to presiding over a 900-person murder-suicide deep in the jungles of Guyana? Jim Jones is the only person who can truly answer that, and he's dead, but investigative journalist Jeff Guinn comes pretty close. Guinn's The Road to Jonestown is a crisply written, brilliantly researched chronicle of a troubled, ultimately monstrous figure and the flock he led astray. -- Literary Hub A thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account of a brilliant con man and his all-too vulnerable prey...Noir thriller morphs into horror story. -- Boston Globe The Road to Jonestown answers many of the questions that have persisted for almost 40 years, foremost: How did this happen? -- Amazon.com

A vivid, fascinating revisitation of a time and series of episodes fast receding into history even as their forgotten survivors still walk among us. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Offers what might be the most complete picture to date of this tragic saga and of the man who engineered it...The result is a disturbing portrait of evil - and a compassionate memorial to those taken in by Jones' malign charisma. -- San Francisco Chronicle Magisterial...Guinn's exhaustive research, shrewd analysis, and engaging prose illuminate a monstrous yet tragic figure-and the motives of those who lost their souls to him. -- Publishers Weekly How does a man go from being a beloved preacher of socialism and racial equality in small town 1950s Indiana, to presiding over a 900-person murder-suicide deep in the jungles of Guyana? Jim Jones is the only person who can truly answer that, and he's dead, but investigative journalist Jeff Guinn comes pretty close. Guinn's The Road to Jonestown is a crisply written, brilliantly researched chronicle of a troubled, ultimately monstrous figure and the flock he led astray. -- Literary Hub A thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account of a brilliant con man and his all-too vulnerable prey...Noir thriller morphs into horror story. -- Boston Globe The Road to Jonestown answers many of the questions that have persisted for almost 40 years, foremost: How did this happen? -- Amazon.com

Magisterial...Guinn's exhaustive research, shrewd analysis, and engaging prose illuminate a monstrous yet tragic figure-and the motives of those who lost their souls to him. -- Publishers Weekly A vivid, fascinating revisitation of a time and series of episodes fast receding into history even as their forgotten survivors still walk among us. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) How does a man go from being a beloved preacher of socialism and racial equality in small town 1950s Indiana, to presiding over a 900-person murder-suicide deep in the jungles of Guyana? Jim Jones is the only person who can truly answer that, and he's dead, but investigative journalist Jeff Guinn comes pretty close. Guinn's The Road to Jonestown is a crisply written, brilliantly researched chronicle of a troubled, ultimately monstrous figure and the flock he led astray. -- Literary Hub A thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account of a brilliant con man and his all-too vulnerable prey...Noir thriller morphs into horror story. -- Boston Globe Offers what might be the most complete picture to date of this tragic saga and of the man who engineered it...The result is a disturbing portrait of evil - and a compassionate memorial to those taken in by Jones' malign charisma. -- San Francisco Chronicle The Road to Jonestown answers many of the questions that have persisted for almost 40 years, foremost: How did this happen? -- Amazon.com

Author Information

Jeff Guinn is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Go Down Together, The Last Gunfight, Manson, The Road to Jonestown, War on the Border, and Waco. He lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. George Newbern has appeared in Father of the Bride, Father of the Bride II, Scandal, Friends, Nip/Tuck, CSI, and many films and television shows. He is also known for providing the voice of Superman in Justice League and for narrating audiobooks.

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