The Road to Jonestown – A Detailed and Disturbing Account of Fanaticism at its Worst

The tragedy of Jonestown ministry still haunts the American collective psyche. In November 1978, in the Guyanese Jungles, Rev. Jim Jones dictated his 900 plus followers (including at least 300 children) to drink the cyanide-laced drinks and commit suicide (Jones took a bullet to his dead and followed them). Five others, including an American Congressman and three journalists, were shot dead at the Guyanese airstrip by Jones’ disciples. It’s one of the largest mass killings outside of warfare and terrorist attacks. How did the pristine idealism of Jones’ Peoples Temple led to mass murder? How did the charismatic, gregarious preacher turned into a paranoid demagogue? What propelled these cult members, who hailed from different walks of life, to heed their warped leaders’ command? Jeff Guinn’s compelling and richly detailed The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple (published April 2017) takes us through the mind-boggling sequence of events that eventually led to the irreparable tragedy. Through the unforeseen rise and fall of Peoples Temple, Guinn taps into the tumultuous era (early 1960s to mid 1970s) in American sociopolitical history. This dark saga is also a universal cautionary tale as the common public still remains a vulnerable prey for psychopathic demagogues who clamarously promise utopias and superficial escape from the burdens of modern life.

Jeff Guinn’s non-fiction books often try to dig deep into true stories that are almost mythologized by hazy public perception. Go Down Together (2009) promised untold story of outlaw couple Bonnie & Clyde. The Last Gunfight (2011) offered the myth-busting chronicle of O.K.Corral gunfight, an incident upon which countless Western genre movies were made. With the 2013 book ‘Manson’, Guinn delved into the life of notorious cult leader & fiendish murderer Charles Mansion. The Road to Jonestown, which shares the same turbulent era of Manson, distinctly portrays the unraveling of a once-innocent community, wholly dedicated to economic and racial justice. Guinn opens the book with the chilling discovery of corpses at Jonestown by the Guyanese soldiers. Then it jumps back in time to tell the story of Jones’ family, before Jim Jones’ birth.

Jeff Guinn

Born to an unaffectionate and overdrawing mother, Lynetta and a sickly, disenchanted father, Jim Jones (born 13 May, 1931) had a miserable childhood. Fascinated by his mother’s delusions of grandeur (Lynetta proclaimed that her son is destined for 'greatness'), Jones grew up as an ambitious and weird kid. He attended all the churches in their small Indiana community, held funerals for road-kills, and during World War II when kids dreamed of becoming American GIs, he studied and admired Adolf Hitler. He showcased genuine empathy and easily connected with individuals, yet also honed his manipulative skills to get what he wanted. Tenacity and flattery are really not the worst traits in a human being. And despite his dysfunctional family, Jones didn’t commit any crime as he was on the cusp of adulthood. Jones was simply super-charged and hyper about religion, God, and socialism.

 

Guinn brings in all the facts and digs up all the new perspective about Jones as a child (from numerous interviews with the townspeople). Each stage of Jones’ life, constructed through different sources, gradually exhibits how his rallying cry against racial injustice and impoverishment transformed to unbridled narcissism and paranoia. As a young man, Jones a white guy, preached to black people (in a community known for high Ku Klux Klan membership) and opened his first storefront church in Indianapolis in 1954. Jones saw himself as a socialist messiah, but to lure the common folks, he reverted to (staged) faith-healings and other assortment of trickeries (used chicken offal to make it look like cancer tumors which he supposedly pulled out of people). But Jones’ honest advocacy and actions against social injustice gained him more loyal followers, even though the tricky healing sessions helped to fill the temples’ coffers.

Jim Jones and his 'rainbow' family

At Indianapolis, Jones helped Church (temple) members even with utilities and housing. His dedicated wife Marceline ran temple nursing homes and drug detox centers. Furthermore, Jones spear-headed the integration in his city when civil rights protests were at the peak. He and wife Marceline also practiced what they preached: they adopted African-American and Korean children (called themselves ‘rainbow family’), a gesture previously unheard of in white suburban community. By the early 1960s, Jones congregation outgrew his simple storefront Church. He relocated to Ukiah, a small community in northern California and rechristened his church as ‘Peoples Temple’ (without an apostrophe because it is said to symbolize ownership). Jones also chose the location to avoid the alleged nuclear apocalypse, at the height of Cold War (after reading an Esquire magazine article about 'possible safe places for nuclear fallout'). Jones’ enthusiastic and fiery preaching led to large influx of black residents and white liberal youths. After Jones’ temple quickly and strongly integrated itself into the local community, they moved on to larger cities (Los Angeles) and hoped to fulfill its socialist fantasies.

Around this time, Jones the master manipulator overtook his inner feelings of empathy and selflessness. Boosted by drugs, he became erratic, petty, sexually deviant, and consistently gave into barbarism. Physical punishments and psychological humiliation were increasingly practiced to control and quell the thoughts of his ever-growing congregation. The preacher’s insistence on socialist cause made many followers to overlook his apparent flaws and blatant fundraising practices. Moreover, Jones’ idealism was a respite for many of its members, reeling in the fragmented American society of the era. Nevertheless, the optimism and perseverance quickly turned to paranoia and fear. Jones and his congregation started to increasingly close themselves off from the remaining world. He became obsessed with the idea of nuclear apocalypse and political conspiracies so as to start a self-sustaining agrarian community. After few failed trips around South America, Jones zeroed-in on Guyana a former British colony which gained its independence in 1966. An advance team was sent to clear and built the utopian community to house thousands of followers in the jungle. Facing increasing pressure from authorities and reporters (the family members of Jonestown sect became concerned about the safety of their loved ones), Jones flew to Guyana with nearly 900 followers. Tougher reporting followed, and Jones’ paranoia touched new levels. He feared a plot concocted by CIA, American and Guyanese government. It all resulted in a truly terrifying and unforgettable endgame.

Dead bodies are strewn around the Jonestown Commune in Jonestown, Guyana

The Road to Jonestown is a tale of self-deification, depravity, and cold-blooded murder. The last chunk of the book is very hard to read, especially when Guinn drops us into the mass suicide scenario, re-telling facts and recreating the atmosphere through (surviving) witnesses’ confessions. The mind-image of mothers standing in line with their infants to drink the cyanide-laced ‘Flavor-aid’, who somehow believed in their preachers’ ultimate message of socialist defiance, deeply haunted me. “They worshiped Jim Jones, believed that they were making a grand revolutionary statement, and looked forward to a new consciousness on some higher plane,” writes the author. Guinn portrays Jones as the man of many talents. His admirable achievements to elevate the down-trodden weren’t understated or misrepresented. At the same time, Guinn deftly lays out the demagoguery that eventually betrayed and killed his followers. He warns us about cloistered, utopia-promising communities which are rather riddled with violence, greed, and hate.

Guinn foretells the method of modern false prophets in one fascinating passage: “Those as gifted as Jones use actual rather than imagined injustices as their initial lure – the racism and economic disparity in America that Jones cited were, and still are, real – then exaggerate the threat until followers lose any sense of perspective.” The recent Netflix documentary (Wild Wild Country) on ‘Rajneesh Cult’ and Jeff Guinn’s The Road to Jonestown is a must see & read experiences to learn of the lives and dreams crunched to service the dreadful demagogues. The book’s ultimate hard-hitting aspect is not simply a well-written passage, but the inclusion of an old, bitterly ironic photograph of the corpses in a Jonestown building, adorned with a placard ‘Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it.’ 

Jonestown, PBS documentary