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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Suicide Cult The Inside Story of the People's Temple Sec,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Suicide Cult: Inside Story of the People's Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana (Paperback)
This book was one of a kind regarding the many books I have read covering the Jonestown massacres. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I was unable to put it down. I felt as if I were there the authors did such a vivid job covering those horrible days leading to the final holocaust over in Guyana. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who would like a fact based view of those final days over there.
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Incomplete story,
By GangstaLawya (TimBuckToo) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Suicide Cult: Inside Story of the People's Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana (Paperback)
Why do all of the documentaries, television and book, leave out all the critical information? For example, why is Jones painted as a Christian reverend when in fact he was a socialist and atheist? That's why they called it the People's Temple. Why do they ignore the CIA connection? The only person I know who addressed this was Bill Curtis from American Justice. Why do they ignore the fact Jones himself revealed he was going to take off with all of the money and go to Castro's Cuba? He had no intention of dying (is he dead today?). Curtis also is the only one to address this. Why do they ignore the origin of Jones' own thinking? For example, when Father Divine told him "Jones, You are god," Jones went hog wild. Why do most of the documentaries ignore the fact that Jones used to jump up and down on the Holy Bible and kept reports in his file cabinets on the resulting effect on his congregation - files which were confiscated by the CIA after the tragedy occurred, as reported by Bill Curtis' documentary. For information on Jim Jones, I recommend the Bill Curtis documentary on American Justice and the tape by Walter R. Martin. What is interesting about the forced suicide (oxymoron) is the statements Jones made. For example, Jones talked about death with dignity. And similar to the tricks governments play on people, he said armed men were coming and that they had to act fast. It reminds you of 911. What is also interesting is the common theme of Gnosticism and Socialism as one package: Eric Voegelin explains that socialism IS Gnostic in his famous book "Science, Politics and Gnosticism." So, it is not a coincidence that communist leaders are usually merciless dictators because, like Father Divine said, they think they are a god. Think of the tens of millions of lives taken in the name of socialism: Pol Pot, Jim Jones, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, the Ukrainian forced famines, and so on. Today, we call socialism "liberalism." It reminds me of the woman who approached Bill Clinton and said, (get ready to barf) "Lead us." It reminds me of Tom Hanks crying at Obama's election. It reminds me of Charlize Theron (beautiful babe that she is) crying in the presence of Nelson Mandela (a well known member of the communist group that African National Congress). It reminds me of the millions of people who responded to the empty rhetoric of "change" espoused by Obama. So, why is the Jonestown story always left incomplete in everybody's' report? It is because he espoused the same philosophy that is espoused today by the liberal establishment. For example, the tapes of the massacre is filled with famous slogans you hear today: death with dignity, gender equality, racial equality, and so on. All he really cared about was joining as many people as possible under his control. His racial rhetoric, like modern liberal slogans today, only operates to win your affections in order to gain more votes and hence more power. Jones also preached same sex unions (Jones was caught by a police officer soliciting a purported male prostitute in a movie theater bathroom). Jones wanted everyone to learn Russian so that they could move to communist Russia. This book leaves out all of the information I noted here and for that reason I cannot give it more than three stars.
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Intriguing First Account about Jonestown!,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
I have read a lot of books on Jonestown. Unlike the former members and survivors, this book is a little more objective about the People's Temple and Jim Jones. My only problem with it is that the book came only a month after the November 18, 1978 event which clamed 913 lives (267 were children) in Jonestown, 5 at the Port Kaituma airstrip, and 4 at the Lamaha Gardens headquarters in Georgetown, Guyana. The whole catastrophe in the result of all these lives being lost is definitely under Jim Jones' leadership. Of course, many of the Jonestown residents were forced to work like slaves and were punished when they complained or misbehaved. Only Congressman Leo Ryan took up the cause while other politicians including Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk looked away. After all, Jones helped them in getting elected with his followers who actively campaigned for Jones' choices of candidates. If you had Jones on your side in San Francisco, you probably would win the election. Unfortunately, Moscone and Milk were killed shortly after November 18, 1978 by Dan White, a troubled colleague. Anyway, Jones and his influence in politics aided him in getting away with so many crimes. Jones had a lot of good ideas but he also desired absolute power and control over his flock. There is one story in this book about him as a child where a neighbor noticed his power over other children as he ordered them to march. He commented that boy could end up like Hitler. He wasn't far off. Jones' ordered the deaths of his own people as his ultimate test of loyalty to him. At the end, they didn't have a choice because you either drank the poison or you were injected with it and had only 5 minutes to live. Nobody dead or alive ever really recovered from the Jonestown holocaust. Even a week after the disaster, the bodies were dehumanized by the press and the elements. There were few or any open casket funerals because of the elements. Entire families were wiped out in this disaster. While it was a human disaster, it is still devastating that a man could have so much control, so much power, and so much abuse without anybody trying to stop it.
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