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suzannetronier's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating and thorough story of a man raised to believe he was god who then behaved as if he were one-a terrible, vengeful god who could turn on the charm when he wanted to and one who mastered the art of the con. Above all, he wanted to be worshiped and admired, and not unlike our current president, he would say anything to achieve that. He toyed with the idea of mass suicide as a statement for several years grooming followers to both accept it and to trust him with their lives. The time he chose to enact it was right when he felt the world closing in on him in the form of bad press and lawsuits. His blaze of glory involved taking 900 people with him, 300 of them infants and children. Perhaps the greatest example ever of the advice to beware false prophets.
aspoonfulofhoni's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder
tmc331's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
meggersrad's review against another edition
2.0
I’m not sure why but I had to renew the check-out on this 2 times before I forced myself through it. I’m not sure what I wanted to find out in reading this, considering we all know how it ends. But the amount of interviews and names to keep straight is pure insanity. Was thrilled when this was over- and no big surprise: Jim Jones was brilliant at pulling people in, and the demise was just as awful as we already knew.
izbrews's review against another edition
4.0
Jeff Guinn paints a clear picture of the slow descent of Peoples Temple, from a little church in Indiana focused on socialist change and racial integration in the 50s, feeding the hungry and helping people with addiction, to a destructive mess of paranoia, control, abuse, and death. I can't imagine many people would pick up this book without a prior interest in Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, but they should. This book is a cautionary tale for anyone who gets lost in the righteousness of their convictions so much that it justifies certain actions, where regular ethical behaviour doesn't apply, encouraging followers to do things to further the cause by any means necessary, but thinks this kind of thing could never happen to them.
lionessramping's review against another edition
3.0
Knew only the outline of Jim Jones, now I know more. Every single little detail more. But with a smidge of skimming through the middle politics and development, this is a fascinating book and look at a time in history, a charismatic leader and his cult culture.
erimybearimy's review against another edition
5.0
Utterly riveting. Well-written, journalistic-- not sensational. The author occasionally repeats some key facts, apparently not realizing that readers won't be able to put this down and therefore won't need reminding of facts we just read an hour or two ago!