This is a diary for people who are interested in learning more about Jim Jones, Jonestown, and the Peoples Temple as we mark the 30th anniversary of that tragedy. I am not a scholar, but this past year I have studied this topic on my own, and would like to pass along some recommendations.
Videos: The PBS documentary, "Jonestown, The Life and Death of Peoples Temple", released last year, is outstanding. Watching this made me realize how little I really knew about the Peoples Temple, even though I was a young adult in 1978 and have vivid memories of the tragedy. I watched the CNN special the other night with Soledad O’Brien, and it was very disappointing, providing very little context for Jonestown. The CNN special was basically interviews with a few survivors, culminating with CNN taking one of them back to Jonestown, with predictable results. The special was mainly a vehicle for Soledad to appear compassionate. I believe NBC also has a special that will run in the next few days.
Books: The first book I read about Jonestown after watching the PBS doc was Seductive Poison by Deborah Layton, published about ten years ago and still in print. Debbie joined the Peoples Temple as a teenager, through the influence of her brother, Larry Layton, and was given increasing responsibilities, becoming one of the mostly female group that made up Jim Jones’s inner circle and kept the Peoples Temple running. Debbie’s mother, a Jewish refugee from Hitler’s Germany, also joined Peoples Temple and died in Jonestown. Her brother was the gunman who killed several people on the runway in Port Kaituma and who was only released from prison a few years ago. Debbie knew the inner workings of the Peoples Temple and Jonestown, and is a talented writer. If you only have time to read one book about Peoples Temple, this should be the one.
An older book, out of print but available used, is Six Years With God by Jeannie Mills, published in 1978. She and her husband were members of the Peoples Temple from 1970 to 1976. This book is a detailed and interesting account of their experiences. Sadly, they were both murdered in 1980, probably by their son, who had also been in the Peoples Temple with them.
The paperback, Dear People, Remembering Jonestown, "Selections from the Peoples Temple Collection at the California Historical Society" is an excellent selection of original source material....letters, documents, photos published in 2005. This book will help you put a face on the people who died at Jonestown.
Website: The primary website for Jonestown information is run by San Diego State Univ at Jonestown.sdsu.edu. The site manager, Rebecca Moore, is in the Religious Studies dept. there, and lost two sisters and a nephew at Jonestown. Her sister Carolyn was Jim Jones’ mistress and had a son with him. Her other sister, Annie, was Jim Jones’ private nurse. Rebecca was never a member of Peoples Temple, but obviously has a personal interest in the topic.
Some of the main things I have learned from my study of Jonestown:
- The Peoples Temple was not a church or a religion. Yes, Jim Jones, was an ordained Disciples of Christ minister and got his start in evangelical Christianity, but his primary interests were political. There was no church or chapel at Jonestown. Socialism was what they studied and attempted to practice. Jim Jones did not believe in God...other than suggesting that he might be God.
- Jim Jones created a racially integrated organization that emphasized helping people and social justice, which drew many idealistic people to him. He was praised by politicians in the San Francisco area, including Mayor Moscone, Harvey Milk, Willie Brown, etc. They and many others ignorned the warning signs of his increasing paranoia and tendencies toward violence.
- Jonestown is often described as a mass suicide, but many people there were forced to drink the cyanide or given lethal injections, and all the children were murdered. It should be described as a mass suicide and mass homicide.
- In periods of social instability, such as the 60’s and 70’s, some people are drawn to new organizations that end up being extremely destructive. Our current understanding of cults comes mainly out of Jonestown and other groups such as the Children of God who were at their peak in the 1970’s.
The main questions I still have after studying Jonestown is about Jim Jones himself. Did he ever believe in the racial integration and socialism he preached, or was it just a means to attract and dominate others? Was it mental illness or just plain evil that drove him to kill all his followers? Was he an innocent person who went bad, or someone who was rotten from the beginning? Why were so many people unable to break away from him after his sadistic and domineering tendencies became obvious?
Jonestown can’t be understood outside the context of the Cold War, race relations, the sexual revolution, and other social forces. It is a part of US history. While I normally am not that interested in the extremes of human behavior, Jonestown is like a train wreck that I can’t stop looking at. Maybe it is not understandable, but I keep wanting to try, esp. since I lived through that era and felt the same social forces as I came of age in the 70’s.
I’m interested in any thoughtful responses.