Customer Reviews

Awake in a Nightmare: Jonestown, the Only Eyewitness Account

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Ethan Feinsod provides an excellent background of information regarding the tragic events that occurred on November 18, 1978 in Jonestown, Guyana from the eyewitness accounts of survivors, Odell Rhodes, and Stanley Clayton. The other handful of survivors included Grover Cleveland Davis, Hyacinth Thrash, Timothy Carter, Michael Carter, and Michael Prokes. That's it. They were the only ones to survive the carnage in the jungle. For Odell, his past is relevant in understanding his actions. He served in the United States Army in Korea and Vietnam. He had lost his brother during the Vietnam War and was only in Vietnam by accident. He returned home to Detroit and became a heroin addict. The People's Temple offered him to be cleaned up and he went to California for a better life. This book helps understand how the People's Temple was beneficial for members like Odell Rhodes and others. He writes about the good and the bad that occurred in Jonestown as well. For him, he took his chance when he went to find a stethoscope for the JOnestown doctor. He would survive by his own skills and wit and his instinct. I am surprised that more copies of the book haven't been available. This book is an easy read and it's worth reading if you want a balanced view of the events that culminating in the self-destruction of a communal community.

To me, just by telling the story as he unravled it, Ethan Feinsod provides many visceral insights into the life and times in late twentieth century America. Insights into religion, psychology, sociology, human aspirations, charisma and its perils. After finishing the book, it took me a week or two to recover.