Mary Maaga, Ph.D. Religion and Society from Drew University, became interested in what happened at Jonestown because of her personal connection with a family whose daughters were in the leadership of Peoples Temple. She wanted to know how young women from a family dedicated to Christian outreach and mission could get entangled in a religious organization that would eventually end the lives of over 900 people.
What she discovered in her research is a complex story of love, loyalty, faith, and broken promises, that ended in tragedy.
Dr. Maaga is currently at work on a novel about a fictional best friend of Jesus. For more about The Alabaster Orphan, please see her website at www.thealabasterorphan.com
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From Publishers Weekly
Almost 20 years ago--November 18, 1978--news media across the U.S. brought into the nation's living rooms pictures of mass suicides committed by members of Jim Jones's People's Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. Maaga, a United Methodist pastor, became interested in the events at Jonestown when she learned that the daughters of her mentors, Reverend John and Barbara Moore, had been members of the Temple and had died in Guyana. While Maaga began her research wanting to know how two daughters from such a committed Christian family could have become involved in the People's Temple. Maaga discovered that the media perception of Jones group as a cult of "crazies" who foolishly gave up everything in exchange for a dangerous and irrational new religion was not justified. She found instead a community whose earliest activities were marked by a desire for social justice, racial harmony and sexual equality. Maaga traces the beginnings of the People's Temple to 1954 when, as a student pastor at a Methodist Church in Indianapolis, Jim Jones became disenchanted with the segregated Christianity he experienced and began a social ministry. By the time the group moved to California, it was providing food, housing, quality medical care and fellowship to low-income blacks and whites. Maaga chronicles the decline of the People's Temple and Jones's psychological disintegration, which was brought on by drug abuse, and the desires of the members to see themselves as courageous martyrs. In the end, Maaga writes, the People's Temple was a contradictory movement based on deception, fabricated healings and the tyranny of charismatic authority fueled by a sincere desire to emulate Jesus and care for society's neediest members. Maaga's penetrating portrait of the Jonestown event will leave readers asking "How different am I from those who died at Jonestown?"
Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Required reading, but not the final word.,
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This review is from: Hearing the Voices of Jonestown (Religion & Politics Series) (Hardcover)
The author makes a fairly cogent point about the fact that most interpretations of Jonestown do not allow for the agency of the women involved with Jones and their power within the circle of power that organized and ran the organization in all three of its phases. That said, there is much that is left out, and I was disappointed because there is so much more research out there that is not even listed in her bibliography. Her history is lacking, too, in that she refers to the Unification church as the first media reference to concerns about cults and brainwashing, when in fact, the root of cult concerns goes back to Charles Manson and the media interpretation of what happened there -- particularly in references to his female followers. A major gap, in my humble opinion, that speaks to a lack of historical awareness on the part of the author.Still, it's a very interesting book, and one that had me turning the pages fast enough that I was able to read the entire thing in one uninterrupted day. I learned much that was valuable in the sense of what the socialism of Jonestown stood for and why it was important, which leads me to some other areas of research. That's always exciting. I would say it should be required reading for any serious scholar of Jonestown, but certainly not the final word.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Remembering Jonestown as more than a mad experiment gone wrong!,
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This review is from: Hearing the Voices of Jonestown (Religion & Politics Series) (Hardcover)
Like the other reviewer, I read this book in one day or a couple of hours. First of all, it's not for everybody because the book is designed for scholarly reading but for those who want to know more about Jonestown, then this book offers another view in the elite power group of mostly women leadership in the Jonestown and People's Temple. I thought this book was a refreshing and positive look at Jonestown by a compassionate author. I was interested in learning about the women who were Jones' inner circle. While the author does depart from the usual rhetoric of anti-Jonestown like other authors, she does offer a sense of understanding deeper but doesn't apologize for the murder/suicide that occurred on November 18, 1978. Sadly, while the world thought that 900 Americans went crazy in the jungle and killed themselves is simply a myth and not true. In fact, there was obvious resistance, struggles, jealousies within the community in Jonestown. The question is why didn't they choose an alternative way out of the mess? Why simply could they have walked away? There was a lot of brainwashing, persuasion, convincing, etc. about the nightmares in the United States. The fear of a nuclear holocaust was present until the 1980s. Annie Moore wrote "We died because you did not let us live" as her final words in her suicide letter found in Jonestown. Sadly, I believe that Jones and his inner circle could have stopped the suicide if they chose too but we'll never know. The author does mention the 270 children who first died in Jonestown on November 18, 1978 followed by the elderly. The People's Temple has been misunderstood becaues they did do a lot of humanitarian projects in San Francisco such as care for the elderly, the sick, the drug addicts, alcoholics, outcasts of society. The People's Temple had dedicated followers like Grace Stoen who was empowered to do something positive for the community. Of course, Jones has a lot of blame to be dumped on him for obvious reasons simply because he was their leader and thought of all the potential ways to prevent resistance, escapes, etc. For all the good that the People's Temple did, it was equally met by a horrendous outcome that happened on November 18, 1978. Yes, this book helps explain Jones and his relationships with the women in the temple but there is more and there will always be more to People's Temple, Jonestown, and Jim Jones.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A scholary look at the people of Jonestown,
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This review is from: Hearing the Voices of Jonestown (Religion & Politics Series) (Hardcover)
I am a professor of psychology. Dr. Maaga's book is an exceptional look into psychological and sociological factors that played a role in the Jonestown tragedy. It delves into the lives of people involved in this event in ways never elaborated in the media. The book discusses both the heartfelt desire of those in the People's Temple to reach out to vulnerable human beings as well as the darker side of charismatic, authoritarian influence. This is a superb study in human psychology. I recommend it highly!
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