“‘Keep them poor and keep them tired, and they’ll never leave.’ How well he understood his people.”
Jeff Guinn’s “The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple” is a remarkable work of nonfiction. It’s absolutely fascinating and Guinn’s research is top-notch.
Prior to “The Road to Jonestown,” I only knew the basics of Jonestown- a cult following that resulted in a mass murder/suicide of nearly 1,000 people. With Guinn’s detailed research, we learn more about who Jim Jones was, starting with his childhood, leading up to the final act. It’s macabre, knowing how everything turns out, but the journey of how they got there is captivating.
Rather than writing everyone off as just crazy or gullible, Guinn explains why these people followed Jones- he sold a utopia to those who needed it the most.
The narrative is compelling and well-rounded. I read Guinn’s “Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson” after finishing this book and it’s just as well researched. I can’t wait to read the rest of his work- up next is his title on Bonnie and Clyde.
For anyone interested in true crime or just well-researched nonfiction, I can’t recommend “The Road to Jonestown” enough. It was one of my favorite reads in 2017.
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