Marked for Death: My War with Jim Jones the Devil of Jonestown

by Timothy Stoen

"I have Tim Stoen...in my psyche tonight... I'm a man filled with rage... I could kill him. I could really kill him. Literally kill him... I got the man that'll get him. All I got to do is say the word, 'Go.'... Tim Stoen...hasn't made a move in the United States, there hasn't been somebody on his bottom side." --Jim Jones, April 1, 1978. "We're in a war... [W]e have an absolute--absolute--informer who stepped forward, told us of the plans--of Stoen." --Jim Jones, April 2, 1978. This book is a memoir by Timothy Oliver Stoen of his becoming involved with a devil, being marked for death by that devil, being at war with that devil, and surviving that devil. Preparation for the journey began in San Francisco on August 17, 1969, when Stoen let anger over systemic racism become a ruling passion. It happened as he left Black Panther headquarters to drive away in his Porsche. He became a social-justice radical, adopting Equality as his ideology. The actual journey began in Redwood Valley, California, on January 1, 1970, when Stoen self-recruited into a utopian movement called Peoples Temple to pursue, based on human will alone, a Biblical "And all that believed...had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need." The movement's leader was James Warren Jones. The journey took a dramatic turn on November 18, 1977, when Stoen testified in court and went to war against Jones for custody of Stoen's son, John Victor. Both Jones and the child were then in Jonestown, Guyana--a tropical rainforest in South America where Jones had forged a community of 1,000 US citizens. During that one-year war for John Victor, Stoen made two trips to the then “wired” country of Guyana, and in California he braced, every time the doorbell rang, for a pistol or shotgun blast to the chest. He had no doubt he was "marked" for extinction. Stoen believes the only reason he was not killed is that he had become so aggressive and conspicuous in fighting for the child that Jones feared Stoen's death would, as an international "incident," cause the US to pressure the Guyana government to invade his Jonestown fortress. Stoen also had no illusions at what was ultimately at stake. On October 3, 1978, he filed a declaration in California Superior Court against Jim Jones "I believe he is willing to murder all 1,100 people under his dictatorial control in Jonestown, Guyana." That prediction came terrifyingly true on November 18, 1978, when Jim Jones, in the name of "love," became an Orwellian devil and went for the kill. Within hours he killed 907 of his people by cyanide. Within a matter of minutes, he orchestrated the deaths, by gunfire, of five other innocents, including United States Congressman Leo Joseph Ryan--an act by Jim Jones of FBI-defined international terrorism. Among those Jones killed by the poison was six-year-old John Victor Stoen. "The CIA would have had to acknowledge," says Stanford psychology professor Philip Zimbardo, "that Jones succeeded where their MK-Ultra program failed in the ultimate control of the human mind." Structurally, this book traces the “development” of Jim Jones, as Stoen experienced it from 1967 through 1978, through thirteen stages. It narrates encounters having significance for Stoen at the time. On November 18, 1978, the day he died, Jim Jones exhorted "Somebody--can they talk to--and I've talked to San Francisco--see that Stoen does not get by with this infamy--with this infamy. He has done the thing he wanted to have us destroyed.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

354 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 2, 2016

About the author

Timothy Oliver Stoen (born January 16, 1938) is best known for his central role as a member of the Peoples Temple, and as an opponent of the group during a multi-year custody battle over his six-year-old son, John.

Reviews

[Shawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This the sixth book I've read on the subject of Peoples Temple and Jonestown. Stoen obviously suffered greatly because of his association with Jim Jones. Previously, I had seen him and the other members of the Concerned Relatives as heroes by applying pressure in every way possible in order to get Jones to capitulate and return their family members. I never realized how much they suffered after the mass suicide and were counted as villains rather than victims.

Watching more recent interviews with survivors there is blasé quality to the interviewers questions. They clearly haven't bothered to understand the depth or breath of the suffering caused by Jones and his actions. I can only imagine the hysteria of the media at the time.

While I certainly appreciated having the perspective and content of this book, I have to admit it was not the most readable of the books on the subject. Stoen frequently references entries from his lawyer's journal, abbreviations and all. He goes into great detail on the voter fraud accusations he endured in the years after the tragedy, (spurious voter fraud allegations alas, are not the most riveting of subjects.) It tends to be rather dry and often dispassionate.

It's well-cited and I trust that the writer was sincere and honest in his retelling of events.

I would probably recommend it only to those who are looking to read every account of Jonestown out there, a more compelling read for the average reader who just wants a well-rounded understanding of the Peoples Temple would be Jeff Guinn's book or Julia Scheeres'.

[Steve Kohn · Rating 2 out of 5]

After hearing Jeff Guinn on the radio program Fresh Air, I read his book, THE ROAD TO JONESTOWN. That led me to Deborah Layton's SEDUCTIVE POISON.

These two books were excellent. Guinn looked at the entirety of Jim Jones, starting with his grandparents. Layton told of her experiences with Jones, helping us see the devil from up close.

Next was LOVE THEM TO DEATH, by Timothy Stoen.

I found Stoen's book to have too many problems to recommend. Let me condense them.

Smart man (attorney, after all), and attractive to attractive women (wife Grace, also Giselle Fernandez), but lacking common sense.
-- unrealistically idealistic
-- went to doctor for vasectomy BEFORE having any children of his own "to respect the carrying capacity of the planet"
-- believed Jones's faith healings, at least some of them, were real, even after seeing they were staged
-- not long after marrying Grace, agreed to (proposed?) open marriage ... then refused to believe she could be carrying Jones's child
-- agreed, for reasons still unclear to me, to sign document stating beloved son John was fathered by Jim Jones; then later, absent scientific evidence, decides he is in fact the boy's biological father
-- met with psychics and astrologers to learn what the future would bring regarding son John ... not once, many times
-- stayed with Peoples Temple and Jones for this reason (page 126): "If I were to do so now [defect], I would betray a solemn promise to guarantee Jones's full involvement in John's life." Does this make sense to anybody? "Betray a solemn promise" to a vicious madman? Wanting to "guarantee Jones's full involvement" in his son's life?
-- most of all, had son John sent to Guyana, beyond protection and indeed to his doom

Book badly written. Editor failed him.
-- stilted language
-- never gripping, as Guinn's and Layton's books are
-- "gratuitously" when meant "graciously" (page 186)
-- very detailed lab results of sperm test, when all that was needed was something like, "Lab results, dated MO/DD/YR, showed I was medically capable of fathering a child"
-- too many verbatim diary entries that should have been fleshed out or summarized

Book too much about Tim Stoen, not enough about Jim Jones or Jonestown.
-- a tortured man's attempt to make sense of, maybe defend, the mistakes in judgment he made
-- but does show how important lawsuits Stoen filed against Jones were
-- never once mentions Larry Layton, only person imprisoned (18 years) for crimes at Jonestown

If we've read Guinn and Layton, then Stoen's book is only for those obsessed with Jonestown. Which I may be, as the book I'm reading now is RAVEN, by Tim Reiterman, and think it's the book to read if we read only one. (See my 5-star review of RAVEN, as well as my 5-star review of A THOUSAND LIVES, by Julia Scheeres, the last book on Jonestown I think I need to read.)

[Will Van · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tim had a great first hand and very personal story to tell about the Jim Jones episode. However, his writing is really bad. It is hard to follow and seems to ramble from one event to the next. He probably could have done better if he used a ghost writer or something.

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tragic story of the loss of Tim's little son at Jonestown at the hands of Jim Jones. A little wordy when it comes to the court cases.