Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T05:02:38.382Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Peoples Temple and Jonestown in the Twenty-First Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2022

Rebecca Moore
Affiliation:
San Diego State University

Summary

The new religious movement of Peoples Temple, begun in the 1950s, came to a dramatic end with the mass murders and suicides that occurred in Jonestown, Guyana, in 1978. This analysis presents the historical context for understanding the Temple by focusing on the ways that migrations from Indiana to California and finally to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana shaped the life and thought of Temple members. It closely examines the religious beliefs, political philosophies, and economic commitments held by the group, and it shifts the traditional focus on the leader and founder, Jim Jones, to the individuals who made up the heart and soul of the movement. It also investigates the paradoxical role that race and racism played throughout the life of the Temple. The Element concludes by considering the ways in which Peoples Temple and the tragedy at Jonestown have entered the popular imagination and captured international attention.
Get access
Type
Element
Information
Online ISBN: 9781009032025
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 11 August 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple, hereafter Alternative Considerations. Special Collections and University Archives. San Diego State University. https://jonestown.sdsu.eduGoogle Scholar
Blakey, D. L. (1978). “Statement of Deborah Layton Blakey.” May. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=109651Google Scholar
“Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Investigation.” (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13688Google Scholar
Carter, J. (1978). RYMUR 89–4286-EE1-C-34a-b. “Letter to Dad.” Alternative Considerations, RYMUR. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/EE1-A-F.pdfGoogle Scholar
Concerned Relatives. (1978). “Accusation of Human Rights Violations by Rev. James Warren Jones against Our Children and Relatives at the Peoples Temple Jungle Encampment in Guyana, South America.” April. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13081Google Scholar
“The Eight Revolutionaries.” (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=14075Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q042. (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=29084Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q134. (1977). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27339Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q432. (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27459Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q612. (1974). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27492Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q616. (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=66802Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q636. (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27508Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q775. (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27582Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q887. (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27607Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q932. (1972). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27618Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q945. (1977). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=85637Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q955. (1972). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27626Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q958. (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=60665Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q974. (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27630Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1019. (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27305Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1021. (1972). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27307Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1022. (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27308Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1024. (1974). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27310Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1035. (1972). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27316Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1055-1. (1975). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27321Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1055-2. (1966). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27322Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1059-2. (1972). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27332Google Scholar
FBI Audiotape Q1059-3. (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27333Google Scholar
FBI RYMUR. (1978). RYMUR 89–4286-FF-11-a-50–81. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/FF-9-13.pdfGoogle Scholar
FBI RYMUR. (1979). RYMUR 89-4286-2096. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=87946Google Scholar
“Guestbook.” (n.d.). RYMUR 89–4286-C-6. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/C-6.pdfGoogle Scholar
“Guyana Land Lease.” (1976). RYMUR 89–4286-A-31-a-21a–A-31–1-21 c. February 25. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13131Google Scholar
Jones, J. (1959). Pastor Jones Meets Rev. M. J. Divine: Better Known As Father Divine. Indianapolis, IN: Brothers Printing Company. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/01-04-JJFatherDivine.pdfGoogle Scholar
Jones, J. (n.d.). “The Letter Killeth.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=14111Google Scholar
Jones, J. (1972?). “Redwood Valley Sermon.” Video. Collection of Laurie Efrein.Google Scholar
Jones, J. (1977). “An Untitled Collection of Reminiscences by Jim Jones.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13143Google Scholar
Jones, L. (n.d.). “The Writings of Lynetta Jones.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=62772Google Scholar
Jones, M. (n.d.a). “Undated Recollection by Marceline Jones.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=18692Google Scholar
Jones, M. (n.d.b). “The Words of Marceline Jones.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13155Google Scholar
Jones, M., & Jones, L.. (1975). “A Joint Statement of Marceline Jones and Lynetta Jones.” May 20. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=18690Google Scholar
“Jonestown Governmental Responsibility.” (n.d.). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/3c-JTGovtResp.pdfGoogle Scholar
“Jonestown Petition to Block Rep. Ryan.” (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13929Google Scholar
The Living Word. (1972). 1, no. 1. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=14090Google Scholar
“Peoples Temple Ad.” (1955). Indianapolis Recorder. December 10. Alternative Considerations. www.flickr.com/photos/peoplestemple/40424746703/in/album-72157706000175671Google Scholar
“Peoples Temple Ad”. (1956a). Indianapolis Recorder. May 19. Alternative Considerations. www.flickr.com/photos/peoplestemple/47337437222/in/album-72157706000175671Google Scholar
“Peoples Temple Ad”. (1956b). Indianapolis Recorder. June 2. Alternative Considerations. www.flickr.com/photos/peoplestemple/47337437072/in/album-72157706000175671Google Scholar
“Peoples Temple Ad”. (1956c). Indianapolis News, June 9. Alternative Considerations. www.flickr.com/photos/peoplestemple/47390272231/in/album-72157706000175671Google Scholar
“Peoples Temple Meetings with the Soviet Embassy in Georgetown, Guyana, 1978.” (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=112381Google Scholar
“The Peoples Temple Songbook.” (n.d.). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=18793Google Scholar
“Petition to Move to the Soviet Union.” (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13121Google Scholar
Press Release. (1976). “Social Ministry for Social Justice.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/02-news09-26-76.pdfGoogle Scholar
Prokes, M. (1979). “Michael Prokes’ Suicide Note.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/MichaelProkesSuicideNote.pdfGoogle Scholar
“Proposed By-Laws for Wings of Deliverance, Inc.” (n.d.). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/01-WODBylaws.pdfGoogle Scholar
“Resolution of Peoples Temple to Block Rep. Ryan from Entering Jonestown.” (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13932Google Scholar
“Resolution to Establish Agricultural Mission.” (1973). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13068Google Scholar
Roller, E. (1975). “Edith Roller Journals.” August. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35673Google Scholar
Roller, E. (1976a). “Edith Roller Journals.” February 1–15. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35675Google Scholar
Roller, E. (1976b). “Edith Roller Journals.” May. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35678Google Scholar
Roller, E. (1976c). “Edith Roller Journals.” October. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35683Google Scholar
Roller, E. (1976d). “Edith Roller Journals.” December. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35685Google Scholar
Roller, E. (2013). “Edith Roller Journals.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35667Google Scholar
“September Ag Reports.” (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/6SeptFarmRallyRpts.pdfGoogle Scholar
“Statement of 13 November 1978.” (1978). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13934Google Scholar
Stoen, T. O. (1972). “Tim Stoen Affidavit of February 6, 1972.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13836Google Scholar
“US Addresses for People Emigrating to Guyana.” (1977). Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/PTaddressesinUS.pdfGoogle Scholar

Secondary Sources

Albanese, C. L. (2007). A Republic of Mind and Spirit: A Cultural History of American Metaphysical Religion. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Appel, W. (1983). Cults in America: Programmed for Paradise. New York: Henry Holt.Google Scholar
Baird, L. (2004). “Notes on Jonestown Carpet, 2004.” the jonestown report 6 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32669Google Scholar
Barkun, M. (2013). A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Beck, D. (2005a). “The Healings of Jim Jones.” the jonestown report 7 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32369Google Scholar
Beck, D. (2005b). “A Peoples Temple Life.” the jonestown report 7 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32367Google Scholar
Beck, D. (2011). “Talking with Cults: Conversations with a Video Director.” the jonestown report 13 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=29273Google Scholar
Beck, D. (2012). “Expenditures by Peoples Temple in Guyana.” the jonestown report 14 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34223Google Scholar
Beck, D. (2013). “Administration.” Jonestown Research. Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35901Google Scholar
Black, E. (2012). “Farming Utopia: The Promised Lands of the Peace Mission and Peoples Temple.” the jonestown report 14 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34228Google Scholar
Black, E. (2014). “Utopian Justice, Righteousness, and Divine Socialism: The Politics of Father Jehovia, Father Divine, and Jim Jones and of the Cause They Headed.” jtr bulletin 16 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=61363Google Scholar
Black, E. (2015). “Atheistic Gods and Divine Leaders of the Religion of Social Justice: The Theology of Father Jehovia, Father Divine and Jim Jones.” the jonestown report 17 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=65056Google Scholar
Blakey, P. (2018). “Snapshots from a Jonestown Life.” the jonestown report 20 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=81310Google Scholar
“The Books of the Jonestown Library.” (2012). the jonestown report 14 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34227Google Scholar
Brandou, A. (2007). “Artist Depicts Jonestown Lessons in Childrens Animals.” the jonestown report 9 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=33148Google Scholar
Breslauer, G. (2021). “Cults of Our Hegemony: An Inventory of Left-Wing Cults.” the jonestown report 23 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=111267Google Scholar
Bromley, D. G. (2002). “Dramatic Denouements.” In Bromley, D. G. & Melton, J. G., eds., Cults, Religion, and Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1141.Google Scholar
Carew, J. (2014). “Jonestown Revisited.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=61391Google Scholar
Carter, T. (2008). “Thirty Years Later.” the jonestown report 10 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=31349Google Scholar
Cartmell, M. (2010). “A Mother-in-Law’s Blues.” the jonestown report 12 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=30232Google Scholar
Chidester, D. (1988). “Rituals of Exclusion and the Jonestown Dead.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 56(4), 681702.Google Scholar
Chidester, D. (2003). Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Chireau, Y. P. (2003). Black Magic: Religion and African American Conjuring Traditions. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Clifton, L. (2012). “1. at jonestown.” In Young, K. & Glaser, M. S., eds., The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965–2010. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, pp. 267–9.Google Scholar
Collins, J. (2018). “Jim Jones and the Postwar Healing Revival.” the jonestown report 20 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=81621Google Scholar
Crist, R. E. (1981). “Jungle Geopolitics in Guyana: How a Communist Utopia That Ended in Massacre Came to Be Sited.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology 40, 107–14.Google Scholar
“Cult Song Includes Temple Images.” (2011). the jonestown report 13 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=29275Google Scholar
Cusack, C. (2020). “Anne Hamilton-Byrne and the Family: Charisma, Criminality and Media in the Construction of an Australian ‘Cult’ Leader.” Nova Religio 24(1), 3154.Google Scholar
Cyprès, D. (2021). “Concept Album Considers Jonestown Tragedy through Tape Archive.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=112525Google Scholar
D’Aguiar, F. (1998). Bill of Rights. London: Chatto and Windus.Google Scholar
Enroth, R. (1979). The Lure of the Cults. Chappaqua, NY: Christian Herald Books.Google Scholar
Farrell, M. T. (2012). “Peoples Temple As Plot Device.” the jonestown report 14 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34251Google Scholar
Farrell, M. T. (2018). “Escaping the Event Horizon (A Rebuttal to John Judge’s The Black Hole of Guyana).” the jonestown report 20 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=80865Google Scholar
Feltmate, D. (2016). “Perspective: Rethinking New Religious Movements beyond a Social Problems Paradigm.” Nova Religio 20(2), 8296.Google Scholar
Feltmate, D. (2018). “Peoples Temple: A Lost Legacy for the Current Moment.” Nova Religio 22(2), 115–36.Google Scholar
Folk, Holly. (2018). “Divine Materiality: Peoples Temple and Messianic Theologies of Incarnation and Reincarnation.” Nova Religio 22(2), 1539.Google Scholar
Gillespie, C. (2011). Jonestown: A Vexation. Detroit, MI: Lotus Press.Google Scholar
Gordon, T. (2012). “Peoples Temple Agricultural Project on Canvas.” the jonestown report 14 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=34360Google Scholar
Griffith, R. M. (2001). “Body Salvation: New Thought, Father Divine, and the Feast of Material Pleasures.” Religion and American Culture 11(2), 119–53.Google Scholar
Guinn, Jeff. (2017). The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Hall, J. R. (1988). “Collective Welfare As Resource Mobilization in Peoples Temple: A Case Study of a Poor People’s Religious Social Movement.” Sociological Analysis 49 Supplement, 64S77S.Google Scholar
Hall, J. R. (1995). “Public Narratives and the Apocalyptic Sect: From Jonestown to Mt. Carmel.” In Wright, S. A., ed., Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict. Chicago: University of Chicago, pp. 205–35.Google Scholar
Hall, J. R. (2004). Gone from the Promised Land: Jonestown in American Cultural History. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.Google Scholar
Hall, J. R., with Schuyler, P. D & Trinh, S. (2000). Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in North America, Europe and Japan. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Harpe, D. (2010). “My Experience with Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.” the jonestown report 12 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=30265Google Scholar
Harrell, D. E. Jr. (1975). All Things Are Possible: The Healing and Charismatic Revivals in Modern America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Harris, D., & Waterman, A. J.. (2004). “To Die for the Peoples Temple: Religion and Revolution after Black Power.” In Moore, R., Pinn, A. B. & Sawyer, M. R., eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 103–22.Google Scholar
Harris, W. (1996). Jonestown. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Harrison, M. F. (2004). “Jim Jones and Black Worship Traditions.” In Moore, R., Pinn, A. B. & Sawyer, M. R., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 123–38.Google Scholar
Hassan, S. (2019). The Cult of Trump. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Hatcher, C. (1989). “After Jonestown: Survivors of Peoples Temple.” In Moore, R. & McGehee, F. M. III, eds., The Need for a Second Look at Jonestown. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, pp. 127–46.Google Scholar
Hollis, T. M. (2004). “Peoples Temple and Housing Politics in San Francisco.” In Moore, R., Pinn, A. B. & Sawyer, M. R., eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 81102.Google Scholar
Hougan, J. (2003). “The Secret Life of Jim Jones: A Parapolitical Fugue.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=16572Google Scholar
Hutchinson, S. (2015). White Nights, Black Paradise. Los Angeles: Infidel Books.Google Scholar
Isaacson, B. (2015). “‘Mao Tse Tung Said’, by Alabama 3: Jim Jones, Irony, and Revolutionary Politics.” the jonestown report 17 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=64818Google Scholar
James, C. (2020). Interview with Preston Jones. Military Response to Jonestown. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCPAeyIhgFoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, M. R. (2019). Interview with Preston Jones. Military Response to Jonestown. www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9zKk3RhFGcGoogle Scholar
Johnson, P. D. (1979). “Dilemmas of Charismatic Leadership: The Case of the People’s Temple.” Sociological Analysis 40(4), 315–23.Google Scholar
Jones, S. (2005). “Marceline/Mom.” the jonestown report 7 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32388Google Scholar
Judge, J. (1985). “The Black Hole of Guyana: The Untold Story of the Jonestown Massacre.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=78282Google Scholar
Kenyatta, M. I. (2004) [1979]. “America Was Not Hard to Find.” In Moore, R., Pinn, A. B. & Sawyer, M. R., eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 158–65.Google Scholar
Kerns, P., with Wead, D. (1979). People’s Temple, People’s Tomb. Plainfield, NJ: Logos International.Google Scholar
Kilduff, M., & Javers, R. (1978). Suicide Cult: The Inside Story of the Peoples Temple Sect and the Massacre in Guyana. New York: Bantam.Google Scholar
Kilduff, M., & Tracy, P.. (1977). “Inside Peoples Temple.” New West Magazine (August), 30–8. Also at Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=14025Google Scholar
King, J. (2018). “Jonestown’s Victims Have a Lesson to Teach Us, So I Listened.” Mother Jones 16 (November). https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/11/jonestowns-victims-have-a-lesson-to-teach-us-so-i-listened-peoples-temple-anniversary-40/Google Scholar
Klippenstein, K. D. (2009). “Peoples Temple As Christian History: A Corrective Interpretation.” the jonestown report 11 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=30827Google Scholar
Klippenstein, K. D. (2015). “Jones on Jesus: Who Is the Messiah?International Cultic Studies Journal 6, 3447. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=99153Google Scholar
Klippenstein, K. D. (2018). “Spiritual Siblings: The Functions of New Religions in Peoples Temple Doctrine.” Nova Religio 22(2), 4064.Google Scholar
Knoll, J. L., IV. (2008). “The Jonestown Tragedy As Familicide-Suicide.” the jonestown report 10 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=31403Google Scholar
Kohl, L. J. (2005). “The People’s Temple: A Review.” the jonestown report 7 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32332Google Scholar
Kohl, L. J. (2010). Jonestown Survivor: An Insider’s Look. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.Google Scholar
Kohl, L. J., ed. (2017). “Guyana after Jonestown: A Special Section.” the jonestown report 19 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=70268Google Scholar
Krause, C. A. (1978). Guyana Massacre: The Eyewitness Account. New York: Berkley.Google Scholar
Krebs, M. V. (1978). Memo to Ashley Hewitt, December 3. In The Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown, Guyana Tragedy. Committee on Foreign Affairs, US House of Representatives, May 15, 1979. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, pp. 133–6.Google Scholar
Krinsky, C., ed. (2016). The Ashgate Research Companion to Moral Panics. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Kwayana, E., ed. (2016). A New Look at Jonestown: Dimensions from a Guyanese Perspective. Los Angeles: Carib House.Google Scholar
Lane, M. (1980). The Strongest Poison. New York: Hawthorn Books.Google Scholar
Lasaga, J. I. (1980). “Death in Jonestown: Techniques of Political Control by a Paranoid Leader.” Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 10(4), 210–13.Google Scholar
Layton, C. (1978). “Carolyn Layton’s Analysis of Future Prospects.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13115Google Scholar
Layton, D. (1998). Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple. New York: Anchor Books.Google Scholar
Levi, K. (1982a). “Jonestown and Religious Commitment in the 1970s.” In Levi, K., ed., Violence and Religious Commitment: Implications of Jim Jones’s People’s Temple Movement. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, pp. 320.Google Scholar
Levi, K., ed. (1982b). Violence and Religious Commitment: Implications of Jim Jones’s People’s Temple Movement. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, G. T. (1979). Gather with the Saints at the River: The Jonestown Holocaust of 1978: A Descriptive and Interpretive Essay on Its Ultimate Meaning from a Caribbean Viewpoint. Rio Piedras: University of Puerto Rico Institute of Caribbean Studies.Google Scholar
Lewis, J. R. (2005). “The Solar Temple ‘Transits’: Beyond the Millennialist Hypothesis.” In Lewis, J. R. & Peterson, J. A., eds., Controversial New Religions. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 295317.Google Scholar
Lincoln, C. E., & Mamiya, L. H.. (2003). The Black Church in the African American Experience. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Lincoln, C. E., & Mamiya, L. H. (2004). “Daddy Jones and Father Divine: The Cult As Political Religion.” In Moore, R., Pinn, A. B. & Sawyer, M. R., eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 2846.Google Scholar
Lorde, A. (2000). The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Maaga, M. M. (1998). Hearing the Voices of Jonestown. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.Google Scholar
Mabee, C. (2008). Promised Land: Father Divine’s Interracial Communities in Ulster County, New York. Fleischmanns, NY: Purple Mountain Press.Google Scholar
Maguire, J., & Dunn, M. L.. (1978). Hold Hands and Die: The Incredibly True Story of the People’s Temple and the Reverend Jim Jones. New York: Dale Books.Google Scholar
Matthews, L. K., & Danns, G. K.. (1980). “Communities and Development in Guyana: A Neglected Dimension in Nation Building.” Georgetown, Guyana: University of Guyana. Reprinted in 2016 as “The Jonestown Plantation.” In Eusi Kwayana, ed., A New Look at Jonestown: Dimensions from a Guyanese Perspective. Los Angeles: Carib House, pp. 82–95.Google Scholar
Matthews, W. (1978). Memo to [Ashley] Hewitt, December 4. In The Assassination of Representative Leo J. Ryan and the Jonestown, Guyana Tragedy. Committee on Foreign Affairs, US House of Representatives, May 15, 1979. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, pp. 139–42.Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M., III. (2002). “Was There Social Security Fraud in Jonestown: A Special Report.” the jonestown report 4 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32943Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M. (2013a). “What Are White Nights? How Many of Them Were There?” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35371Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M. (2013b). “Peoples Temple and Gordon Lindsay.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=13147Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M. (2013c). “Was Peoples Temple Responsible for the Deaths of Some of Its Former Members?” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35343Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M. (2018). “Teri Buford O’Shea: Surviving Betrayal.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=84682Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M. (2019). “Did Peoples Temple Commit Welfare Fraud Especially with the Foster Children under Its Care?” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35358Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M. (2021a). “Who Is Philip Blakey? Was He a Mercenary for the CIA in Angola?” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=112002Google Scholar
McGehee, F. M. (2021b). “‘Drinking the Kool-Aid’ As a Tool for Education: An Editorial.” the jonestown report 23 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=111356Google Scholar
Melton, J. G. (2003). “Pentecostal Family.” In Gordon Melton, J., ed., Encyclopedia of American Religions. 7th ed. Detroit, MI: Gale Division of Cengage Learning, pp. 8390.Google Scholar
Melton, J. G., & Bromley, D. G.. (2009). “Violence and New Religions: An Assessment of Problems, Progress, and Prospects in Understanding the NRM–Violence Connection.” In al-Rasheed, M & Shterin, M., eds., Dying for Faith: Religiously Motivated Violence in the Contemporary World. London: I. B. Tauris, pp. 2741.Google Scholar
Mills, J. (1979). Six Years with God: Life inside Reverend Jim Jones’s Peoples Temple. New York: A & W.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (1985). A Sympathetic History of Jonestown. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (1986). The Jonestown Letters: Correspondence of the Moore Family, 1970–1985. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2002). “Reconstructing Reality: Conspiracy Theories about Jonestown.” Journal of Popular Culture 36(2), 200–20.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2011). “Narratives of Persecution, Suffering, and Martyrdom: Violence in Peoples Temple and Jonestown.” In Lewis, J. R., ed., Violence and New Religious Movements. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 95111.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2013). “Rhetoric, Revolution, and Resistance in Jonestown, Guyana.” Journal of Religion and Violence 1(3), 303–21.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2017). “An Update on the Demographics of Jonestown.” the jonestown report 19 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=70495Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2018a). Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Westport, CT: Praeger.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2018b). “The Erasure and Reinscription of African Americans from the Jonestown Narrative.” Communal Societies 38(2), 161–84.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2018c). “Godwin’s Law and Jones’ Corollary: The Problem of Using Extremes to Make Predictions.” Nova Religio 22(3), 145–54.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2018d). Beyond Brainwashing: Perspectives on Cult Violence. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2018e). “Jonestown at 40: The Real Conspiracy Is More Disturbing Than the Theories.” Religion Dispatches. https://rewirenewsgroup.com/religion-dispatches/2018/11/16/jonestown-at-40-the-real-conspiracy-is-more-disturbing-than-the-theories. Also available at Alternative Considerations, https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=84726.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2018f). “The Forensic Investigation of Jonestown Conducted by Dr. Leslie Mootoo: A Critical Analysis.” the jonestown report 20 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=80811Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2021). “Apocalyptic Groups and Charisma of the Cadre.” In Zúqete, J. P., ed., The Routledge International Handbook of Charisma. New York: Routledge, pp. 277–87.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2022a). “From Resistance to Terror: The Open Secret of Jonestown.” In Urban, H. B. & Johnson, P. C., eds., The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Secrecy. New York: Routledge, pp. 175–86.Google Scholar
Moore, R. (2022b). “Peoples Temple and Jonestown Enclaves.” World Religions and Spirituality Project. https://wrldrels.org/2022/01/18/peoples-temple-and-jonestown-enclavesGoogle Scholar
Moore, R., Pinn, A. B., & Sawyer, M. R., eds. (2004). Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Morris, A. (2018). “Preliminary Notes on a Possible Antecedent: Andrew Jackson Davis.” the jonestown report 20 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=81671Google Scholar
Mrett, T. (2020). “The Communism of Jonestown: Marxist or Utopian?” the jonestown report 22 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=102313Google Scholar
Naipaul, S. (1980). Journey to Nowhere: A New World Tragedy. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Nelson, S. (2006). Jonestown: the Life and Death of Peoples Temple. New York: Firelight Media.Google Scholar
Nesci, D. A. (1999). The Lessons of Jonestown: An Ethnopsychoanalytical Study of Suicidal Communities. Rome: Universo Publishing.Google Scholar
Nesci, D. A. (2018). Revisiting Jonestown: An Interdisciplinary Study of Cults. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Newton, H. P. (1973). Revolutionary Suicide. New York: Writers and Readers.Google Scholar
Nugent, J. P. (1979). White Night. New York: Rawson, Wade.Google Scholar
Parker, P. (1985). JONESTOWN and Other Madness. Ithaca, NY: Firebrand Books.Google Scholar
Pinn, A. B. (2004). “Peoples Temple As Black Religion: Re-imagining the Contours of Black Religious Studies.” In Moore, R, Pinn, A. B & Sawyer, M. R, eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp.127.Google Scholar
Pinn, A. B., ed. (2001). By These Hands: A Documentary History of African American Humanism. New York: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Poster, A. (2019). “Jonestown: An International Story of Diplomacy, Détente, and Neglect, 1973–1978.” Diplomatic History 43(2), 305–31.Google Scholar
Reichert, J., & Richardson, J. T.. (2012). “Decline of a Moral Panic: A Social Psychological and Socio-legal Examination of the Current Status of Satanism.” Nova Religio 16(2), 4763.Google Scholar
Reiterman, T., with Jacobs, J. (1982). Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People. New York: E. P. Dutton.Google Scholar
Reston, J. Jr. (1981). Our Father Who Art in Hell. New York: Times Books.Google Scholar
Robbins, T. (1989). “The Second Wave of Jonestown Literature: A Review Essay.” In Moore, R. & McGehee, III F. M., eds., New Religious Movements, Mass Movements, and Peoples Temple: Scholarly Perspectives on a Tragedy. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, pp. 113–34.Google Scholar
Robbins, T., & Anthony, D.. (1995). “Sects and Violence: Factors in Enhancing the Volatility of Marginal Religious Movements.” In Wright, S. A., ed., Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, pp. 236–59.Google Scholar
Rodney, W. (1979). “Jonestown: A Caribbean/Guyanese Perspective.” Alternative Considerations. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67276Google Scholar
Rose, S. (1979). Jesus and Jim Jones. New York: Pilgrim Press.Google Scholar
Scheeres, J. (2011). A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
scott, d. a. (2010). “Reading the Language of Jonestown.” the jonestown report 12 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=30237Google Scholar
scott, d. a (2022). Marrow. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.Google Scholar
Shearer, H. (2018). “‘Verbal Orders Don’t Go: Write It!’: Building and Maintaining the Promised Land.” Nova Religio 22(2), 6592.Google Scholar
Shearer, H. (2020). “Marceline Jones.” Women in the World’s Religions and Spirituality Project. https://wrldrels.org/2020/09/08/marceline-jonesGoogle Scholar
Shojael, M. (2016). “An Image That Thinks.” the jonestown report 18 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=67822Google Scholar
Shojael, M. (2017). “A Vague Murmur of Art.” the jonestown report 19 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=71187Google Scholar
Singer, M. T. (2003). Cults in Our Midst. Rev. ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Smith, A. Jr. (1982). The Relational Self: Ethics and Therapy from a Black Church Perspective. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.Google Scholar
Smith, A. Jr. (2004). “An Interpretation of Peoples Temple and Jonestown: Implications for the Black Church.” In Moore, R., Pinn, A. B. & Sawyer, M. R., eds., Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 4754.Google Scholar
Smith, E. (2021). Back to the World: A Life after Jonestown. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University.Google Scholar
Stroup, K. (2007). “Could It Happen Again?” the jonestown report 9 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=33228Google Scholar
Taylor, M. (2015). “‘One Hand Can’t Clap’: Guyana and North Korea, 1974–1985.” Journal of Cold War Studies 17(1) 4163.Google Scholar
Thielmann, B., with D. Merrill. (1979). The Broken God. Elgin, IL: David C. Cook.Google Scholar
Thornbrough, E. L. (2000). Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century. Edited and with a final chapter by Ruegamer, L. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Thrash, H. (Catherine). (1995). The Onliest One Alive: Surviving Jonestown, Guyana. As told to Towne, Marian K.. Indianapolis, IN: Marian K. Towne.Google Scholar
Tretyakov, S. (2015). “Music of Q932 Speaks to Real Cult in American Life.” the jonestown report 17 (November). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=64799Google Scholar
Ulman, R. B., & Abse, W.. (1983). “The Group Psychology of Mass Madness: Jonestown.” Political Psychology 4(4), 637–61.Google Scholar
Wagner-Wilson, L. (2008). Slavery of Faith. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.Google Scholar
Weaver, C. D. (1987). The Healer-Prophet, William Marrion Branham: A Study of the Prophetic in American Pentecostalism. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press.Google Scholar
Weightman, J. M. (1984). Making Sense of the Jonestown Suicides: A Sociological History of Peoples Temple. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Wessinger, C. (2000). How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven’s Gate. New York: Seven Bridges Press.Google Scholar
Wessinger, C. (2008). “The Problem Is Totalism, Not ‘Cults’: Reflections on the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Deaths in Jonestown.” the jonestown report 10 (October). https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=31459Google Scholar
Wessinger, C., ed. (2011). The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Whittle, T. (2018a). “Unanswered Questions about Jonestown.” June 10. Scientologists Taking Action against Discrimination. www.standleague.org/newsroom/news/unanswered-questions-about-jonestown.htmlGoogle Scholar
Whittle, T. (2018b). “Unanswered Questions about Jonestown: Part Two.” July 16. Scientologists Taking Action against Discrimination. www.standleague.org/newsroom/blog/unanswered-questions-about-jonestown-part-two.htmlGoogle Scholar
Wooden, K. (1981). The Children of Jonestown. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Woollett, L. E. (2018). Beautiful Revolutionary. Brunswick, VIC: Scribe.Google Scholar

Save element to Kindle

To save this element to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Peoples Temple and Jonestown in the Twenty-First Century
  • Rebecca Moore, San Diego State University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009032025
Available formats
×

Save element to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Peoples Temple and Jonestown in the Twenty-First Century
  • Rebecca Moore, San Diego State University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009032025
Available formats
×

Save element to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Peoples Temple and Jonestown in the Twenty-First Century
  • Rebecca Moore, San Diego State University
  • Online ISBN: 9781009032025
Available formats
×