juliana_aldous's review against another edition
5.0
Stories from Jonestown is a unique oral history. I’m used to Studs Terkel type books where the interviews stand alone. The author isn’t a part of the story and the focus is solely on an individual’s story. This book was different in that you also witness the process of research that was completed for a play that was created and staged by the author and collaborators. The book was almost a by-product of that research and set of interviews.
As a writer and editor—I appreciated this take. The author uses research through the California Historical Society and through meeting of survivors and makes a good survey of the information that is out there about this American tragedy. I think this book will serve future generations of scholars as a good place to start. Information about what is maintained by the Historical society—photos, tapes, and items. There is also a cataloguing of sorts of the information left behind—the Temple’s own historian interviewed members before the end about their lives and what drew them to the Temple—and this was included.
One focus of the book is the reluctance of former African-American members and their families to talk. Read this book for their story. I found the interview with Reverend Arnold Townsend who talked about the history of progressivism in Fillmore where the Temple was located especially insightful and sad. He laments the loss of the 900 souls who wanted change and are now no longer around when they would be of a mentoring age. “I’m not a conspiracist,” he said. “But, man, Jonestown ripped out the heart of the most progressive community in America.”
I’ve read other books on Jonestown and in addition to this book I also highly recommend A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown.
As a writer and editor—I appreciated this take. The author uses research through the California Historical Society and through meeting of survivors and makes a good survey of the information that is out there about this American tragedy. I think this book will serve future generations of scholars as a good place to start. Information about what is maintained by the Historical society—photos, tapes, and items. There is also a cataloguing of sorts of the information left behind—the Temple’s own historian interviewed members before the end about their lives and what drew them to the Temple—and this was included.
One focus of the book is the reluctance of former African-American members and their families to talk. Read this book for their story. I found the interview with Reverend Arnold Townsend who talked about the history of progressivism in Fillmore where the Temple was located especially insightful and sad. He laments the loss of the 900 souls who wanted change and are now no longer around when they would be of a mentoring age. “I’m not a conspiracist,” he said. “But, man, Jonestown ripped out the heart of the most progressive community in America.”
I’ve read other books on Jonestown and in addition to this book I also highly recommend A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown.
curiouskatreads's review against another edition
4.0
This book chronicles the multi-year journey of playwright Leigh Fondakowski and her team as they interview and collect the survivor stories and artifacts of Jonestown to write a play about the Peoples Temple movement. Like most people, I started my reading with a limited understanding of the story, believing it to be about all those people who committed mass suicide with their whackadoodle leader, Jim Jones, in jungles of Guyana. What I wasn't expecting was the emotional impact of hearing the viewpoints and backstories of actual past members of Peoples Temple and the survivors of the infamous events of November 18, 1978. It was easier to just think it would be a story about gullible people who were duped by a crazy man and "drank the Kool-Aid" willingly than to see them as intelligent, thoughtful, idealistic people with hopes and dreams for a better world that were victimized not only by Jim Jones, but by their own beliefs. I no longer believe that the majority of these people committed "revolutionary suicide" as Jim Jones tried to indoctrinate them to do, but rather found themselves trapped in an inescapable nightmare, far from the utopia they were promised, that ultimately resulted in their murders. I could sympathize with the survivors who found it easier to stay silent about their experience over the decades than risk the judgement and misunderstanding of a world that wrote them off as villians and murderers, without knowing their actual stories. It doesn't exonerate the survivors entirely, but it certainly humanizes them, as one is left with the feeling that their experience could be any one of ours under the right circumstances. Really a fascinating, heartbreaking and uplifting journey, and one that has the potential to teach empathy if the reader will allow it.
★★★★ Stars
★★★★ Stars
countingstarsbycandlelight's review against another edition
4.0
So this was a really difficult book to read. Not only is it a difficult subject, but you are reading interviews with People's Temple members and survivors of Jonestown. I started this book about six months ago and got halfway through. I just couldn't finish because I knew what was coming. I picked up the book last night and finished the second half of the book. I can't recommend it more highly. Digging deep into this book is scary and rewarding. I think everyone needs to know exactly what happened at Jonestown, it was only forty years ago! Please give it a read, even if you think you can't. Also, I will never, ever, say the phrase " they drank the kool aid" again. ever.
-k
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readers_block's review against another edition
3.0
2.5ish/5
Meh.
I've read a lot about Jonestown, but I thought this one would bring new details to the table since it was written in the form of an oral history. Instead it just managed to make the whole subject..kind of boring? The only real thing I discovered from this is just how much of the population of Jonestown/The People's Temple were disenfranchised Black people, which I found stunning in terms of the lack of mention in other accounts. It helped me to understand a lot of the perspective of people who joined the temple.
That said, I love an oral history but I found that this one really failed to hold my attention. Something about the way it was structured I guess.
Meh.
I've read a lot about Jonestown, but I thought this one would bring new details to the table since it was written in the form of an oral history. Instead it just managed to make the whole subject..kind of boring? The only real thing I discovered from this is just how much of the population of Jonestown/The People's Temple were disenfranchised Black people, which I found stunning in terms of the lack of mention in other accounts. It helped me to understand a lot of the perspective of people who joined the temple.
That said, I love an oral history but I found that this one really failed to hold my attention. Something about the way it was structured I guess.
trutiffany's review against another edition
4.0
Leigh Fondakowski does a brilliant job of sharing the interviews concerning Jonestown, bringing a remarkable humanity to a story that has been dehumanized in so many ways.
alexislynae's review against another edition
5.0
This novel was so much more than I anticipated when I added it to my to-read list all those years ago, and I am grateful for that. I feel that I have benefitted enormously from reading the words of individuals actually involved with the Peoples Temple. Before I read this novel, I had a very narrow understanding of what happened in Guyana on November 18, 1978. I did not grasp the scale of the tragedy, and I did not spend time considering the intricacies of what happened. I did not consider the fact that there are still members of the Peoples Temple alive. I did not know that the Peoples Temple was a radically-progressive organization that doubtless would have garnered my support had I been in California during the years leading up to their exodus. I cannot overstate how much this novel has impacted my mindset concerning Jonestown, and it has already shaped how I discuss and react to discussions about it. The array of people that Leigh Fondakowski and her collaborators speak with is incredible: two sons of Jim Jones, parents of children who died in Jonestown, members of the Peoples Temple who were in Jonestown that day and members who were in Georgetown or San Francisco. . . This is one that will sit with me for a while.
sophieislington's review against another edition
1.0
1 star not because the book was bad but because it hurt my heart to read it.
anastaciaknits's review against another edition
Very dry. The book is presented as a series of interviews, which made t very hard to get into the book.
amberinoface's review against another edition
4.0
Hard recommend this for anyone interested in the aftermath of Jonestown.