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Archival Data Profile
- Page Count 544
- Publication Year 2018
- Publisher Simon & Schuster
- ISBN-13 9781476763835
The Road to Jonestown
By Jeff Guinn
Archival Summary & Scope
Edgar Award Finalist and *New York Times* bestselling author Jeff Guinn delivers the definitive story of Jim Jones, the charismatic preacher behind the Jonestown Massacre—the largest murder-suicide in American history.Guinn meticulously traces Jones's chilling evolution from an idealistic Indianapolis minister, blending gospel and Marxism for a racially integrated congregation, to a manipulative cult leader. The narrative details Jones's ascent through California politics, his hidden life of affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing, and the fateful decision to move Peoples Temple to a remote Guyanese settlement.
Drawing on thousands of FBI files, new survivor interviews, and on-site research, Guinn unearths stunning details leading to November 1978, when over 900 people—including nearly 300 children—died after Jones ordered them to consume cyanide. This "thoroughly readable, thoroughly chilling account" (*The Boston Globe*) offers a "disturbing portrait of evil—and a compassionate memorial" (*San Francisco Chronicle*) to those swept up by Jones's malign charisma.
Archival Categorization Notes
This literature has been indexed under the primary pillar of True Crime. It was manually vetted for the Read For Truth database because it provides educational insights into Cults, assisting researchers in locating established secondary research within this specific taxonomy.
