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Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People
The basis for the upcoming HBO miniseries and the "definitive account of the Jonestown massacre" ( Rolling Stone ) -- now available for the first time in paperback.
Tim Reiterman’s Raven provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978.
This PEN Award–winning work explores the ideals-gone-wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America. Reiterman’s reportage clarifies enduring misperceptions of the character and motives of Jim Jones, the reasons why people followed him, and the important truth that many of those who perished at Jonestown were victims of mass murder rather than suicide. This widely sought work is restored to print after many years with a new preface by the author, as well as the more than sixty-five rare photographs from the original volume.
Tim Reiterman’s Raven provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978.
This PEN Award–winning work explores the ideals-gone-wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America. Reiterman’s reportage clarifies enduring misperceptions of the character and motives of Jim Jones, the reasons why people followed him, and the important truth that many of those who perished at Jonestown were victims of mass murder rather than suicide. This widely sought work is restored to print after many years with a new preface by the author, as well as the more than sixty-five rare photographs from the original volume.
626 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1982
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December 27, 2020
5 "unfathomable, horrifying, despondent" stars !!
2017 Silver Award (Tie) (2nd Favorite Read)
I sit here and am uncertain on how to proceed. I feel numb, terrified, bewildered and yes shell-shocked. Since the end of March I carefully read this book with dark fascination and within the last week experienced nightmares, day terrors and profound disillusionment. My mood was dropping, my sleep suffered and at times I experienced heart palpitations. This morning my partner asked me to "please stop reading this book" as he noticed these changes in me as well. I talked incessantly to him about what I was reading and searching for meaning and understanding around these historical events.
I decided I must finish this book today as this demon had to be expelled. I look over what I have written and am a bit ashamed for what happened in this book is not my history, my fate, my demise. This is the story of the deaths of 912 or so people at the hands of the most despicable of monsters the Rev. Jim Jones. Many of these people had difficult enough lives before meeting this dark savior but afterwards experienced a kind of hell that is unimaginable to most of us. Many of these people suffered this torment for many years before submitting to, of all things, killer kool-aid.
I, initially was going to write a brief piece on how the malignant narcissist is much more dangerous to society than a brilliant sociopath and then realized I was distancing myself from the horrendous suffering that took place to my fellow human beings. These events occurred before my birth up until I reached third grade where I vaguely recall hearing on the news about these atrocities. Luckily, for me, my parents and family shielded me from this and yet the story permeated society for a number of years and friends used to joke about poisoned fruit juices not really understanding what transpired.
I went into this book wanting comprehension of the personality make-up of Jim Jones and how events could transpire to a type of massacre. Alas, this did not occur, instead I am more perplexed and frightened of the world at large.
TIm Reiterman is a journalist that was in Guyana at the time of the mass suicide and in fact was shot and hurt by some of Jones' henchmen. He had been following this religious group for a number of years. His experience in Guyana is harrowing and yet he lived not only to tell the tale but to tell the story in a coherent, balanced and yes, believe it or not, an immensely respectful way. His writing is clear, logical, exhaustive. He starts with Jim's developmental and family history and moves forward to starting an important religious and social movement, to his incarnation as a self-made messiah to a tyrannical dictator to finally a deluded annihalator. We start in Indiana, move to California and ultimately end up in Guyana. I was at the edge of my seat for the entire time and although often wanting to escape I knew I had to stay for the ride out of respect for the many hundreds of victims. Jim Jones is one of the most complex and sadistic men I have ever read about. He humiliated, raped and ultimately murdered many hundreds of women, men and children. A bisexual monster so evil that a human mind could not have created him in the most twisted of fictions.
Mr. Reiterman writes:
But despite any culpability of government bureaucrats, investigators or politicians, blame for the Jonestown tragedy must ultimately come to rest in the deranged person of Jim Jones. His ends-justifies-the-means philosophy, paranoia, megalomania and charismatic personality must weigh much more heavily in the balance than any oversight, ineptitude, weakness or political exploitation by those outside the church. It was not the Temple's enemies that brought down the Temple, but Jones's destructive personality. The prophecy of doom had become an end in itself.
This will be among the very best books I read this year but unlike the others where I will have much desire to revisit them....this story will hopefully lay dormant deep within my psyche.
You lovely and poor people of Jonestown I sincerely hope that wherever you are after death that you have everlasting peace.
2017 Silver Award (Tie) (2nd Favorite Read)
I sit here and am uncertain on how to proceed. I feel numb, terrified, bewildered and yes shell-shocked. Since the end of March I carefully read this book with dark fascination and within the last week experienced nightmares, day terrors and profound disillusionment. My mood was dropping, my sleep suffered and at times I experienced heart palpitations. This morning my partner asked me to "please stop reading this book" as he noticed these changes in me as well. I talked incessantly to him about what I was reading and searching for meaning and understanding around these historical events.
I decided I must finish this book today as this demon had to be expelled. I look over what I have written and am a bit ashamed for what happened in this book is not my history, my fate, my demise. This is the story of the deaths of 912 or so people at the hands of the most despicable of monsters the Rev. Jim Jones. Many of these people had difficult enough lives before meeting this dark savior but afterwards experienced a kind of hell that is unimaginable to most of us. Many of these people suffered this torment for many years before submitting to, of all things, killer kool-aid.
I, initially was going to write a brief piece on how the malignant narcissist is much more dangerous to society than a brilliant sociopath and then realized I was distancing myself from the horrendous suffering that took place to my fellow human beings. These events occurred before my birth up until I reached third grade where I vaguely recall hearing on the news about these atrocities. Luckily, for me, my parents and family shielded me from this and yet the story permeated society for a number of years and friends used to joke about poisoned fruit juices not really understanding what transpired.
I went into this book wanting comprehension of the personality make-up of Jim Jones and how events could transpire to a type of massacre. Alas, this did not occur, instead I am more perplexed and frightened of the world at large.
TIm Reiterman is a journalist that was in Guyana at the time of the mass suicide and in fact was shot and hurt by some of Jones' henchmen. He had been following this religious group for a number of years. His experience in Guyana is harrowing and yet he lived not only to tell the tale but to tell the story in a coherent, balanced and yes, believe it or not, an immensely respectful way. His writing is clear, logical, exhaustive. He starts with Jim's developmental and family history and moves forward to starting an important religious and social movement, to his incarnation as a self-made messiah to a tyrannical dictator to finally a deluded annihalator. We start in Indiana, move to California and ultimately end up in Guyana. I was at the edge of my seat for the entire time and although often wanting to escape I knew I had to stay for the ride out of respect for the many hundreds of victims. Jim Jones is one of the most complex and sadistic men I have ever read about. He humiliated, raped and ultimately murdered many hundreds of women, men and children. A bisexual monster so evil that a human mind could not have created him in the most twisted of fictions.
Mr. Reiterman writes:
But despite any culpability of government bureaucrats, investigators or politicians, blame for the Jonestown tragedy must ultimately come to rest in the deranged person of Jim Jones. His ends-justifies-the-means philosophy, paranoia, megalomania and charismatic personality must weigh much more heavily in the balance than any oversight, ineptitude, weakness or political exploitation by those outside the church. It was not the Temple's enemies that brought down the Temple, but Jones's destructive personality. The prophecy of doom had become an end in itself.
This will be among the very best books I read this year but unlike the others where I will have much desire to revisit them....this story will hopefully lay dormant deep within my psyche.
You lovely and poor people of Jonestown I sincerely hope that wherever you are after death that you have everlasting peace.
January 12, 2010
“To me, if we never got further than this, it would be heaven.”
Reverend Jim Jones sat on his throne at the pavilion before a thousand or so displaced people – people he had lured away from their homes and families to live in a dense, predator-infested Guyanese jungle which he had told them was “Paradise.” The swath torn out of the thick brush and trees was done by the members of Jones' People's Temple movement, primarily a group of people not accustomed to such labours. In fact, they had moved from Indiana and California in search of a better life, of some peace and racial tolerance.
But by 1978, they were harassed, harangued, and almost entirely beaten down by their leader, whom some saw as God himself. Jim Jones could, after all, “cure” cancers of all sorts, physical disabilities that had baffled the medical community, and cause the blind to see once again. Jones was a hard man to know, and his behaviours often seemed incongruous for one who was so godlike – but he was the charismatic leader of so many who had felt unloved, unlucky... who could feel comfortable in openly questioning the will of God?
It was the lack of candid exposure which had helped boost Jones to his highest levels. Without the validation of other people's fears being expressed, lone souls held their tongues, thus perpetuating the cycle. Too, a free exchange of ideas was encouraged only during specific times during Church meetings: during so-called catharsis sessions. Members – the loyal “inner circle” of Jones' aides, assistants, and family included – were required to step up and publicly criticize specific persons, often to the point of gross exaggeration or even outright fabrication. Criminal activities were announced, suspicious behaviours revealed, and sexual proclivities discussed. Of course, the one being verbally eviscerated was often unable to disprove the allegations, and was therefore cajoled into acceptance, else risk the wrath of Father Jones and his people.
For its brilliant and peaceable socialistic exterior, with free homes for member senior citizens and schooling for the Temple children, the People's Temple amounted into organized bullying. Jim Jones effectively became a god to his people because of his master deception, and manipulation.
Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People delves far beyond any of the television docudramas, or the films, or the rushed-to-publication books regarding the People's Temple in the day. Author Tim Reiterman was not only a journalist deeply involved in the People's Temple story – he was shot and wounded along with several others when visiting congressman Leo Ryan (along with four others, all unarmed, primarily members of the press) was assassinated by Jonestown residents. Reiterman saw first hand many of the things that the majority of visitors to Jonestown did not live to reveal. He was one of the handful of people who got away on that last day, when Jones ordered the deaths of so many unprotected innocents.
The book, at over 600 pages, begins with the circumstances of Jones' birth and childhood, looking at his familial relations between his outspoken mother Lynetta and his war-weakened father, James Thurber Jones. Jones' introduction to the Pentecostal Church, along with his juvenile attempts to take charge of his peers through religious ceremony and indoctrination, through to his college years and introduction to lifelong wife Marceline – Reiterman provides his sources to back up all of his biographical information, right through to Jones birth in 1931. He also acknowledges any personal interpretation proffered from audio or visual records of Jones and the People's Temple (in particular, one surviving film document portraying a typical People's Temple gathering, complete with roiling “sermon” and healing session, is related to the reader as the images struck the author).
Raven is comprehensive, and provides much background information on some of the Church members themselves, both prominent and lesser-known. The People's Temple truly was a Church of all colours and ages, which included people from derelicts to doctors. So, how did a gathering of so many fall under the persuasion of what seemed to be an obvious madman? Reiterman, through virtue of his research and story-telling abilities, reveals this surprising element throughout the pages of his book without needing to explicitly provide a moral, or one-line answer. For a wondering world, the biography of the People's Temple is the answer.
The single most important aspect of Raven is that Reiterman never loses sight of his subjects' humanity. The people involved never become simply the infamous “913 bodies,” but a living group of individuals who had their personalities entirely removed and replaced with commands and dictation. People are introduced – by name and by background – and are treated with the dignity and respect which had been stripped from them during their too-short lives. Upon reading the final chapters of the book, though the reader understands what the final ending will be due to history itself, the tension created elicits a visceral reaction from the audience. A tragedy on such a tremendous scale suddenly becomes somewhat more tangible to one who had never experienced such a thing, and the horror becomes vivid and alive.
In this, the 2008 reissue of the 1981 book of the same name, the Epilogue reads a little awkwardly. Reiterman provides the reader with a number of updates on some of the surviving key players in the Jonestown tragedy which was (presumably) current as of the time of its original release, but one cannot help but be burdened somewhat by the fact that the information does not “feel” duly updated for a release some twenty-seven years later.
Though thick and dense with information, Raven does not drag nor burden a reader with superfluous information. It flows logically, and retains as much of a clear and open picture of Jim Jones and the People's Temple as possible, especially in light of the injuries sustained by the author, and the murder of his acquaintances by a handful of Temple fanatics. Most other books on the subject are predictable and weak by comparison.
Reverend Jim Jones sat on his throne at the pavilion before a thousand or so displaced people – people he had lured away from their homes and families to live in a dense, predator-infested Guyanese jungle which he had told them was “Paradise.” The swath torn out of the thick brush and trees was done by the members of Jones' People's Temple movement, primarily a group of people not accustomed to such labours. In fact, they had moved from Indiana and California in search of a better life, of some peace and racial tolerance.
But by 1978, they were harassed, harangued, and almost entirely beaten down by their leader, whom some saw as God himself. Jim Jones could, after all, “cure” cancers of all sorts, physical disabilities that had baffled the medical community, and cause the blind to see once again. Jones was a hard man to know, and his behaviours often seemed incongruous for one who was so godlike – but he was the charismatic leader of so many who had felt unloved, unlucky... who could feel comfortable in openly questioning the will of God?
It was the lack of candid exposure which had helped boost Jones to his highest levels. Without the validation of other people's fears being expressed, lone souls held their tongues, thus perpetuating the cycle. Too, a free exchange of ideas was encouraged only during specific times during Church meetings: during so-called catharsis sessions. Members – the loyal “inner circle” of Jones' aides, assistants, and family included – were required to step up and publicly criticize specific persons, often to the point of gross exaggeration or even outright fabrication. Criminal activities were announced, suspicious behaviours revealed, and sexual proclivities discussed. Of course, the one being verbally eviscerated was often unable to disprove the allegations, and was therefore cajoled into acceptance, else risk the wrath of Father Jones and his people.
For its brilliant and peaceable socialistic exterior, with free homes for member senior citizens and schooling for the Temple children, the People's Temple amounted into organized bullying. Jim Jones effectively became a god to his people because of his master deception, and manipulation.
Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People delves far beyond any of the television docudramas, or the films, or the rushed-to-publication books regarding the People's Temple in the day. Author Tim Reiterman was not only a journalist deeply involved in the People's Temple story – he was shot and wounded along with several others when visiting congressman Leo Ryan (along with four others, all unarmed, primarily members of the press) was assassinated by Jonestown residents. Reiterman saw first hand many of the things that the majority of visitors to Jonestown did not live to reveal. He was one of the handful of people who got away on that last day, when Jones ordered the deaths of so many unprotected innocents.
The book, at over 600 pages, begins with the circumstances of Jones' birth and childhood, looking at his familial relations between his outspoken mother Lynetta and his war-weakened father, James Thurber Jones. Jones' introduction to the Pentecostal Church, along with his juvenile attempts to take charge of his peers through religious ceremony and indoctrination, through to his college years and introduction to lifelong wife Marceline – Reiterman provides his sources to back up all of his biographical information, right through to Jones birth in 1931. He also acknowledges any personal interpretation proffered from audio or visual records of Jones and the People's Temple (in particular, one surviving film document portraying a typical People's Temple gathering, complete with roiling “sermon” and healing session, is related to the reader as the images struck the author).
Raven is comprehensive, and provides much background information on some of the Church members themselves, both prominent and lesser-known. The People's Temple truly was a Church of all colours and ages, which included people from derelicts to doctors. So, how did a gathering of so many fall under the persuasion of what seemed to be an obvious madman? Reiterman, through virtue of his research and story-telling abilities, reveals this surprising element throughout the pages of his book without needing to explicitly provide a moral, or one-line answer. For a wondering world, the biography of the People's Temple is the answer.
The single most important aspect of Raven is that Reiterman never loses sight of his subjects' humanity. The people involved never become simply the infamous “913 bodies,” but a living group of individuals who had their personalities entirely removed and replaced with commands and dictation. People are introduced – by name and by background – and are treated with the dignity and respect which had been stripped from them during their too-short lives. Upon reading the final chapters of the book, though the reader understands what the final ending will be due to history itself, the tension created elicits a visceral reaction from the audience. A tragedy on such a tremendous scale suddenly becomes somewhat more tangible to one who had never experienced such a thing, and the horror becomes vivid and alive.
In this, the 2008 reissue of the 1981 book of the same name, the Epilogue reads a little awkwardly. Reiterman provides the reader with a number of updates on some of the surviving key players in the Jonestown tragedy which was (presumably) current as of the time of its original release, but one cannot help but be burdened somewhat by the fact that the information does not “feel” duly updated for a release some twenty-seven years later.
Though thick and dense with information, Raven does not drag nor burden a reader with superfluous information. It flows logically, and retains as much of a clear and open picture of Jim Jones and the People's Temple as possible, especially in light of the injuries sustained by the author, and the murder of his acquaintances by a handful of Temple fanatics. Most other books on the subject are predictable and weak by comparison.
July 2, 2021
For the bulk of its 600-plus pages, Tim Reiterman's Raven presents a somewhat spotty version of the Peoples Temple story that smacks of several degrees of hindsight and endorses a handful of "born bad" fallacies, inviting unflattering comparisons to Jeff Guinn's superior (and much more coherent) The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. What salvages the book is the first-hand account of the murders of Congressman Leo Ryan and four others that precipitated the subsequent massacre at Jonestown. This and another chapter describing a Temple member's slaying of her children are among the most harrowing I've ever read, making an otherwise scattershot book worthwhile.
December 28, 2017
I came across the story many years ago but in fact it's the first time I've read a book on this tragedy. One can treat it as a warning on how easy it's to manipulate people who can't find their place on this planet and thus are terribly vulnerable. A very detailed research into the mind of a real monster and ordinary people's tragedy ...
December 30, 2009
In case you weren't aware, Jim Jones was one crazy televangelist motherf****, who led over 900 members of his People's Temple Church to commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide laced Flavor-Aid (yes, that's right, it was generic Kool-Aid)in the late 70's. Yes, this happened a long, long time ago, but yet it still gives me chills when I think about the mindfuck that Jones was perpetuating and that lots of people actually bought into it. Jones, according to the book, was apparently the Rico Suave of his time, complete with leisure suits and mirrored sunglasses, and a master at manipulating people to get what he wanted. Once Jones had convinced enough susceptible people that he was God reincarnated, there was no stopping his realization of a utopian socialist paradise in the Guyanese jungle. Jim was a sick fuck, and the book explains that in pretty mind-numbing detail, including an early childhood obsession with death and religion that carried over into adulthood.
July 29, 2020
I've read probably close to a dozen books on Jonestown, and this was the best (and by far the most thorough).
Tim Reiterman, one of the reporters shot during the ambush at the Guyana airstrip that triggered the Jonestown tragedy, is an excellent writer who told the story of the Peoples Temple through multiple points of view and personal histories. It's not just a book about Jim Jones and his depravities, though there were plenty of those, starting in Jones' childhood.
Since Reiterman did such a phenomenal job humanizing the victims (too many other accounts have dismissed them as a "brainwashed cult" and survivors' stories tend to be very defensive--understandably), it was a very difficult book to read. It brought me to tears several times, and often I'd feel depressed after reading it. When I reached the final chapters, I couldn't put it down, but otherwise, I found I needed to take breaks from it. The world of Jonestown was a dark one indeed.
There are still so many questions left unanswered. Marceline Jones emerges as a tragic, heroic figure, but why didn't she use her influence to stop the tragedy before it started? After her disillusionment with Jones, his infidelities, and their separation, how could her "love" for him still trump the death of the children she loved? Why didn't Stephen Jones tell authorities what was happening at Jonestown, in the hopes of stopping it? And did Jones really believe in socialism and communalism at all, or was it just the answer to achieving ultimate control over a large group of people? Why didn't more people oppose the killing of the children on the day of the "suicide," since so many were disillusioned with Jones and unhappy?
Perhaps one of the saddest aspects of this tragedy is that Jonestown WAS working...until Jones moved there full time and ruined it. One wonders what would have happened if the community members had banded together and ousted him once it became obvious his paranoia and mental illness were out of control.
If you're interested in Jonestown and the Peoples Temple, this is the definitive book on the subject.
Tim Reiterman, one of the reporters shot during the ambush at the Guyana airstrip that triggered the Jonestown tragedy, is an excellent writer who told the story of the Peoples Temple through multiple points of view and personal histories. It's not just a book about Jim Jones and his depravities, though there were plenty of those, starting in Jones' childhood.
Since Reiterman did such a phenomenal job humanizing the victims (too many other accounts have dismissed them as a "brainwashed cult" and survivors' stories tend to be very defensive--understandably), it was a very difficult book to read. It brought me to tears several times, and often I'd feel depressed after reading it. When I reached the final chapters, I couldn't put it down, but otherwise, I found I needed to take breaks from it. The world of Jonestown was a dark one indeed.
There are still so many questions left unanswered. Marceline Jones emerges as a tragic, heroic figure, but why didn't she use her influence to stop the tragedy before it started? After her disillusionment with Jones, his infidelities, and their separation, how could her "love" for him still trump the death of the children she loved? Why didn't Stephen Jones tell authorities what was happening at Jonestown, in the hopes of stopping it? And did Jones really believe in socialism and communalism at all, or was it just the answer to achieving ultimate control over a large group of people? Why didn't more people oppose the killing of the children on the day of the "suicide," since so many were disillusioned with Jones and unhappy?
Perhaps one of the saddest aspects of this tragedy is that Jonestown WAS working...until Jones moved there full time and ruined it. One wonders what would have happened if the community members had banded together and ousted him once it became obvious his paranoia and mental illness were out of control.
If you're interested in Jonestown and the Peoples Temple, this is the definitive book on the subject.
September 5, 2017
I've never used the word 'Tome' to describe a book but it's an apt description for Raven. It's 600 pages but the physical size of the book is huge! When the zombie apocalypse arrives i'll be using this as a weapon.
At times this was a brilliant and unbelievable read. Exceptionally researched and well written, it was epic. Every other page i was asking out loud 'How and Why!!'. I could never imagine dedicating my life to one man but luckily I've never met anyone as manipulative as Jim Jones.
This book was a victim of it's own ending. Pretty much throughout i was thinking 'Need to get to the end!' because that's the part everyone wants to read. Yes, the foundations of the Peoples Temple is important and interesting as is the exodus to Guyana but honestly it was the ending i was most fascinated with, which doesn't disappoint.
So given the above praise why only 3 stars? It's because of how much detail the author goes into. It's OK for the first 350-400 pages but after that i was periodically losing interest during a few of the chapters. I didn't need to know every insignificant detail about the pre-mass suicide events.
At times this was a brilliant and unbelievable read. Exceptionally researched and well written, it was epic. Every other page i was asking out loud 'How and Why!!'. I could never imagine dedicating my life to one man but luckily I've never met anyone as manipulative as Jim Jones.
This book was a victim of it's own ending. Pretty much throughout i was thinking 'Need to get to the end!' because that's the part everyone wants to read. Yes, the foundations of the Peoples Temple is important and interesting as is the exodus to Guyana but honestly it was the ending i was most fascinated with, which doesn't disappoint.
So given the above praise why only 3 stars? It's because of how much detail the author goes into. It's OK for the first 350-400 pages but after that i was periodically losing interest during a few of the chapters. I didn't need to know every insignificant detail about the pre-mass suicide events.
January 16, 2009
Tim Reiterman was one of the journalists who accompanied Congressman Leo Ryan to Jonestown in November of 1978. His book not only examines what happened there, but goes back to the childhood of Jim Jones and the beginnings of the movement known as the Peoples Temple so as to "capture the lure of the Temple, to convey the thinking and personalities of not just disgruntled defectors but also of the heartbroken loyalists with something positive to preserve and remember -- and to unmask the real Jim Jones. And I wanted to humanize them all to get at the truth, to make the ending comprehensible" (5). To achieve this goal, he and his co-author John Jacobs did 800+ interviews, reviewed tens of thousands of pages of documents, tape recordings, video, and film. The result is a phenomenal book.
What really interested me the most, I think, was Reiterman's examination, starting with Jones' boyhood, of how exactly Jones learned to get others to do exactly what he wanted them to do. The people who came to the Peoples Temple and who became followers of Jones early on weren't coerced or forced into it -- they all had various reasons for being there and for embracing Jones' message. However, it was what happened once they were inside that matters, as little by little Jones began to isolate them from the rest of the world so that they came to depend solely on him and the movement. Reiterman shows clearly how this occurred, and how Jones, along with his top tier of chosen people, manipulated things from inside.
He also shows how when there were attacks on the movement (from the media, "defectors", etc.), Jones' paranoia only made things worse, causing him to do and say things that only heightened their attackers' interests in the Peoples Temple. It was this type of paranoia that led Jones to Guyana and Jonestown and ultimately to the horrifying events of November 1978.
The narrative is at times chilling, but very clear, based mostly on first-hand evidence and testimony. I very highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in Jonestown, the Peoples Temple movement or in how otherwise intelligent people might find themselves in this sort of predicament.
Excellent reading; long, but well worth every second.
What really interested me the most, I think, was Reiterman's examination, starting with Jones' boyhood, of how exactly Jones learned to get others to do exactly what he wanted them to do. The people who came to the Peoples Temple and who became followers of Jones early on weren't coerced or forced into it -- they all had various reasons for being there and for embracing Jones' message. However, it was what happened once they were inside that matters, as little by little Jones began to isolate them from the rest of the world so that they came to depend solely on him and the movement. Reiterman shows clearly how this occurred, and how Jones, along with his top tier of chosen people, manipulated things from inside.
He also shows how when there were attacks on the movement (from the media, "defectors", etc.), Jones' paranoia only made things worse, causing him to do and say things that only heightened their attackers' interests in the Peoples Temple. It was this type of paranoia that led Jones to Guyana and Jonestown and ultimately to the horrifying events of November 1978.
The narrative is at times chilling, but very clear, based mostly on first-hand evidence and testimony. I very highly recommend this book to anyone even remotely interested in Jonestown, the Peoples Temple movement or in how otherwise intelligent people might find themselves in this sort of predicament.
Excellent reading; long, but well worth every second.
January 17, 2013
Tim Reiterman was a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner who was in Jonestown, Guyana on November 18, 1978 when the infamous massacre occurred. This book gives a very detailed chronology of the People's Temple, starting with Jim Jones childhood and finishing with the reporter's evacuation after the tragic events.
For the most part the account is dry and surprisingly boring considering all the prurient happenings around the People's Temple. I found that I really had to force myself to slog through it. That changes when Mr. Reiterman goes into what happened to him and the other members of his fact finding party in Jonestown on November 17th and 18th, 1978. At that point the book almost reads like an action novel. Reiterman is shot and injured, his cameraman friend is murdered. Others are hurt and left laying on the primitive Guyana runway. Reiterman and some of the other survivors had to spend the night hiding in a disco.
I'm sure that this book is the most comprehensive one written on the People's Temple. It left me feeling well informed about all things surrounding Jim Jones and Jonestown. It also left me feeling really bummed out.
For the most part the account is dry and surprisingly boring considering all the prurient happenings around the People's Temple. I found that I really had to force myself to slog through it. That changes when Mr. Reiterman goes into what happened to him and the other members of his fact finding party in Jonestown on November 17th and 18th, 1978. At that point the book almost reads like an action novel. Reiterman is shot and injured, his cameraman friend is murdered. Others are hurt and left laying on the primitive Guyana runway. Reiterman and some of the other survivors had to spend the night hiding in a disco.
I'm sure that this book is the most comprehensive one written on the People's Temple. It left me feeling well informed about all things surrounding Jim Jones and Jonestown. It also left me feeling really bummed out.
November 27, 2018
Reading this book over the Thanksgiving weekend made me eternally thankful for never having met Jim Jones.
Reiterman does excellent research and is an engaging writer. Jeff Guinn's Road to Jonestown still gets my vote for most fascinating Jonestown book, but Reiterman includes a lot of details I don't remember in Guinn's book. I also liked that Reiterman (despite his own involvement in investigative reporting on Jones and being wounded at the airstrip) doesn't keep needlessly inserting himself in the narrative. It's a personal pet peeve of mine when nonfiction writers with no connection to a story keep making it all about them, but Reiterman only mentions himself when absolutely necessary, despite his heavy involvement in some of the events.
The exception is that final reporting trip to Jonestown and that awful massacre on the airstrip. For those chapters, Reiterman does switch into a personal narrative (and for good reason.) I've read many accounts of the murders, but Reiterman's first-person version is easily the most harrowing.
Reiterman does excellent research and is an engaging writer. Jeff Guinn's Road to Jonestown still gets my vote for most fascinating Jonestown book, but Reiterman includes a lot of details I don't remember in Guinn's book. I also liked that Reiterman (despite his own involvement in investigative reporting on Jones and being wounded at the airstrip) doesn't keep needlessly inserting himself in the narrative. It's a personal pet peeve of mine when nonfiction writers with no connection to a story keep making it all about them, but Reiterman only mentions himself when absolutely necessary, despite his heavy involvement in some of the events.
The exception is that final reporting trip to Jonestown and that awful massacre on the airstrip. For those chapters, Reiterman does switch into a personal narrative (and for good reason.) I've read many accounts of the murders, but Reiterman's first-person version is easily the most harrowing.
November 8, 2012
Yes this book is long, but it is oh-so-worth the investment. I've always had a tremendous interest in cult leadership, and Jim Jones is probably the sickest and one of the most evil of them all. Reading this book, you really come to understand how one man, who clearly resides somewhere well outside of his right mind and is strung out on drugs (Hitler, anyone?) can get hundreds and hundreds of people to follow him not only to a remote island, but to willingly sacrifice their lives and the lives of their children (some in the most gruesome ways) all in the name of his belief system. Chilling yes, heart breaking definitely, but a great literary achievement by a man who lived through it all.
July 6, 2019
I think is probably the best book written about Jim Jones and his People's Temple. I reread it on average once a year because the narrative is so tight, the scenes and people so well-drawn, the criticism fair and well-balanced, and probably because I keep thinking that maybe one day it will help me understand why this happened.
May 6, 2020
Reiterman, a journalist with the San Francisco Examiner, was injured during the Port Kaituma airstrip ambush. Four years after the Jonestown mass-murder/suicide, he published this detailed account of the childhood, rise, and demise of Jim Jones. As with all cults, the Peoples Temple followers intrigue me most. Fascinating and truly devastating.
December 31, 2020
This is a massive biography of Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. (Yes, "Peoples Temple" is correct. No apostrophe, no definite article.) Reiterman was one of the reporters who went with Congressman Leo Ryan to visit Jonestown, which was the precipitating incident for the mass murder-suicide that, tragically, made Jonestown famous. So Reiterman actually MET Jim Jones and was nearly killed by his followers, which gives the biography a certain authority.
Reiterman has also done his homework through interviews and FOIA and digging in newspaper archives, so really presents the best and most rounded picture possible of a secretive paranoid megalomaniac.
I find Jim Jones fascinating in a trainwreck sort of way, because his ideals seem to have been genuine---he DID work for racial equality, although PT itself reinscribed the same old racial hierarchy, and he did passionately believe in socialism (which for me counts in the plus column when it's practical boots on the ground everybody-has-enough-food-and-a-place-to-sleep socialism)---and yet he is one of the most evil people of the 20th century. He twisted everything he touched---and was doing so basically from the beginning of his career as a preacher---until it turned into the horrifically egalitarian massacre at Jonestown. The people who committed the murders followed through and killed themselves. SOMEONE killed Jim Jones, which Reiterman speculates was not his actual plan. Jones talked about mass suicide a lot before he made it happen, and he always said that someone had to stay alive to explain, and who better than Jones himself? And there are some weird things about what he did at the end---sending a couple of guys off with briefcases full of money and guns, his murderous goons leaving the Cessna untouched although they shot out one of the engines of the larger plane (Jones had at least one person in his inner circle who could fly a Cessna), and although Jones died of a contact gunshot wound to the temple, the gun was found twenty feet away from his body, as if someone else made sure he carried through with the master plan.
That's one of the many unknowable things about Jonestown, including exactly how many people died and who they were. The US government and the legal system did a terrible job with the aftermath: "The authors had intended to include a complete list of the Jonestown dead but discovered that no such roster had been compiled. A list supplied by the court-appointed Peoples Temple receiver in February 1982 contained only 883 names---those 660 people whose bodies were positively identified and 223 who were presumed to have died at Jonestown. Receiver Robert Fabian said there was no way to account for the other 30 bodies found at Jonestown but suggested that many were children who had been born there. The authors decided against using the list, however, because it contained many omissions, some inaccurate entries, and other errors in the case of adult membership" (592).
The massacre at Jonestown is horrific and tragic all on its own, but it's also a sad fact that it eclipses the good that Peoples Temple did. The evil in Jim Jones ultimately overwhelmed the good.
This is a good, solidly written biography. Reiterman does his best to explain the unexplainable.
Reiterman has also done his homework through interviews and FOIA and digging in newspaper archives, so really presents the best and most rounded picture possible of a secretive paranoid megalomaniac.
I find Jim Jones fascinating in a trainwreck sort of way, because his ideals seem to have been genuine---he DID work for racial equality, although PT itself reinscribed the same old racial hierarchy, and he did passionately believe in socialism (which for me counts in the plus column when it's practical boots on the ground everybody-has-enough-food-and-a-place-to-sleep socialism)---and yet he is one of the most evil people of the 20th century. He twisted everything he touched---and was doing so basically from the beginning of his career as a preacher---until it turned into the horrifically egalitarian massacre at Jonestown. The people who committed the murders followed through and killed themselves. SOMEONE killed Jim Jones, which Reiterman speculates was not his actual plan. Jones talked about mass suicide a lot before he made it happen, and he always said that someone had to stay alive to explain, and who better than Jones himself? And there are some weird things about what he did at the end---sending a couple of guys off with briefcases full of money and guns, his murderous goons leaving the Cessna untouched although they shot out one of the engines of the larger plane (Jones had at least one person in his inner circle who could fly a Cessna), and although Jones died of a contact gunshot wound to the temple, the gun was found twenty feet away from his body, as if someone else made sure he carried through with the master plan.
That's one of the many unknowable things about Jonestown, including exactly how many people died and who they were. The US government and the legal system did a terrible job with the aftermath: "The authors had intended to include a complete list of the Jonestown dead but discovered that no such roster had been compiled. A list supplied by the court-appointed Peoples Temple receiver in February 1982 contained only 883 names---those 660 people whose bodies were positively identified and 223 who were presumed to have died at Jonestown. Receiver Robert Fabian said there was no way to account for the other 30 bodies found at Jonestown but suggested that many were children who had been born there. The authors decided against using the list, however, because it contained many omissions, some inaccurate entries, and other errors in the case of adult membership" (592).
The massacre at Jonestown is horrific and tragic all on its own, but it's also a sad fact that it eclipses the good that Peoples Temple did. The evil in Jim Jones ultimately overwhelmed the good.
This is a good, solidly written biography. Reiterman does his best to explain the unexplainable.
September 19, 2015
I recently watched Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple on Netflix and found myself wanting to know more about Jim Jones and the cult he established. This book, written by surviving newsman Tim Reiterman, is the culmination of years of research of documents, tapes, and interviews with survivors of Jim Jones. It is incredibly thorough and can serve as a reference to all researchers of cults or the PT.
For all of the good points of the book, it is bogged down by a shifting timeline. So many chapters, particularly in the middle of the book, start in the early seventies and then prepare the reader for the exodus to Guyana. The reader is transported back to the early seventies in the next chapter, like a typewriter continuously resetting. This shift is strange, because the book goes from a chronological account through Jones' biography and rapid ascent in the church to this typewriter like restart for the mid-section chapters. At the end of the book, the writing goes back to a chronological approach.
This mammoth book is impressive and shows the journalistic integrity of Reiterman. In his early San Francisco Examiner pieces on the PT, he strived to remain unbiased in his reporting. It is evident throughout this book that he wanted to present the facts as they happened rather than writing from his own slant on his traumatic experience. I left the book wishing that I knew more about Reiterman and his emotions after he returned to the US.
For all of the good points of the book, it is bogged down by a shifting timeline. So many chapters, particularly in the middle of the book, start in the early seventies and then prepare the reader for the exodus to Guyana. The reader is transported back to the early seventies in the next chapter, like a typewriter continuously resetting. This shift is strange, because the book goes from a chronological account through Jones' biography and rapid ascent in the church to this typewriter like restart for the mid-section chapters. At the end of the book, the writing goes back to a chronological approach.
This mammoth book is impressive and shows the journalistic integrity of Reiterman. In his early San Francisco Examiner pieces on the PT, he strived to remain unbiased in his reporting. It is evident throughout this book that he wanted to present the facts as they happened rather than writing from his own slant on his traumatic experience. I left the book wishing that I knew more about Reiterman and his emotions after he returned to the US.
May 17, 2022
Even without the fascinating subject matter, this book is a staggering work of journalism, digging into the life and church of a sick and secretive man with the help of terrified witnesses. As one of the victims wounded on the Port Kaituma airstrip, Reiterman also brings his own perspectives to the work as well -- perspectives that are unusually fair for someone almost murdered by the subject of his writing.
It's easy -- as any reader or viewer can discover in many of the other works "covering" the Jonestown tragedy -- to go one of two ways: either full-bore into the lurid violence of it or timidly into how Jones was a tragic idealist driven to do terrible things by paranoia and drugs. Reiterman takes neither path, reminding us that Jim Jones was deranged from a very early age, and he wasn't driven over the edge by fighting the establishment for socialism -- he was all but fulfilling a set of conditions with a single horrifying conclusion.
Of course, the many failures of government and law enforcement to stop Jim Jones were not as inevitable as his own murderous destruction.
It's easy -- as any reader or viewer can discover in many of the other works "covering" the Jonestown tragedy -- to go one of two ways: either full-bore into the lurid violence of it or timidly into how Jones was a tragic idealist driven to do terrible things by paranoia and drugs. Reiterman takes neither path, reminding us that Jim Jones was deranged from a very early age, and he wasn't driven over the edge by fighting the establishment for socialism -- he was all but fulfilling a set of conditions with a single horrifying conclusion.
Of course, the many failures of government and law enforcement to stop Jim Jones were not as inevitable as his own murderous destruction.
June 23, 2017
This is a very in depth book on Jim Jones and the People's Temple. A story so incredible it's hard to believe it actually happened. A very good read.
November 1, 2018
Very very dense and hard to get through. But it made me have a better understanding of the whole situation - I wasn't born when this happened - and the only thing I knew about was the Kool-Aid poison. I feel way more educated about this and very sad for all those people that were involved.
August 20, 2009
The tragedy in Jonestown (remember... the Kool-Aid Suicide Gang?) in 1978 is a story about a lot of things, and though Tim Reiterman did a great job telling the story in his book Raven, I felt there were things he was leaving out. How did the government not catch on to Jones' brainwashing and illegal activity? The beatings? The stealing? Not paying taxes? How is it possible that the families of more than 900 people weren't objecting to the sudden, FUCKING BIZARRE behavior of their loved ones? Some of them did, but none of them who had members deeply entrenched in the Temple were able to pull them away. I'd like to think that if I was talking about suicide, miraculous (and obviously fake) healings, and claiming this random guy from Indiana was my Savior, my mother would fucking snap me out of it. If I thought she had joined a suicidal cult, I would drug her and bring her to Antarctica, lock her in my bathroom, or do whatever was necessary to keep her away. That's right, mamma. That's how much I love you. Lots of people dropped the ball, and Reiterman does not say who, exactly.
I picked Raven up in the first place because Helter Skelter is one of my favorite books of all time, and I figured this story would be equally thrilling. In some ways, it's creepier. Manson brainwashed some aimless teenagers to murder for him. Jim Jones convinced almost a thousand children and educated, settled adults that he was their savior and they needed to kill themselves in the name of socialism. (The two crazies had very similar childhoods, though. Both were pretty much abandoned losers who were looking for attention.)
So please. I beg of you. If I display the following behavior, please sit down with me and let's have a conversation. Smack me if you must. Let's be safe and expect the worst.
* I start studying Russian. Words on my vocab list: socialism, guerilla warfare, Hail Chairman Mao.
* I start shopping for warm-weather clothing and express interest in vacationing in South America.
* I start sleeping with an image of Jim Jones over my heart to protect myself from death.
* I adopt fourteen children and let them live in my studio apartment.
* I work for 21 hours a day and turn all my money over to a church. ("It's cool -- the end justifies the means.")
* I lose 40 pounds and my skin turns grey.
* I start referring to a human being as my savior.
* When you ask me what I did last Friday night, I say "Suicidal Ritual Drill".
* I've been deathly afraid of airplanes my entire life but I suddenly get my pilots license so I can start shipping cargo to South America for the guy I'm sleeping with.
* And oh yea, the guy I'm sleeping with is a "preacher" 40 years older than me, and he has a wife, ten mistresses, and fucks guys just to make them think they're gay.
* I move into a Co-op and will not receive your phone calls.
* Every time I see you, I am recording our conversation with an old tape recorder from the 70's.
* I burn a cross into my forehead. Oh, wait. That was the Manson Family. But look out for shit like this, as well.
I picked Raven up in the first place because Helter Skelter is one of my favorite books of all time, and I figured this story would be equally thrilling. In some ways, it's creepier. Manson brainwashed some aimless teenagers to murder for him. Jim Jones convinced almost a thousand children and educated, settled adults that he was their savior and they needed to kill themselves in the name of socialism. (The two crazies had very similar childhoods, though. Both were pretty much abandoned losers who were looking for attention.)
So please. I beg of you. If I display the following behavior, please sit down with me and let's have a conversation. Smack me if you must. Let's be safe and expect the worst.
* I start studying Russian. Words on my vocab list: socialism, guerilla warfare, Hail Chairman Mao.
* I start shopping for warm-weather clothing and express interest in vacationing in South America.
* I start sleeping with an image of Jim Jones over my heart to protect myself from death.
* I adopt fourteen children and let them live in my studio apartment.
* I work for 21 hours a day and turn all my money over to a church. ("It's cool -- the end justifies the means.")
* I lose 40 pounds and my skin turns grey.
* I start referring to a human being as my savior.
* When you ask me what I did last Friday night, I say "Suicidal Ritual Drill".
* I've been deathly afraid of airplanes my entire life but I suddenly get my pilots license so I can start shipping cargo to South America for the guy I'm sleeping with.
* And oh yea, the guy I'm sleeping with is a "preacher" 40 years older than me, and he has a wife, ten mistresses, and fucks guys just to make them think they're gay.
* I move into a Co-op and will not receive your phone calls.
* Every time I see you, I am recording our conversation with an old tape recorder from the 70's.
* I burn a cross into my forehead. Oh, wait. That was the Manson Family. But look out for shit like this, as well.
December 31, 2012
A gripping read about the story of Jim Jones and the People's Temple, this book is probably THE book you want to read if you want to know what happened in Guyana in 1978 and all the events that lead to the mass suicide. I would recommend it to anybody interested in cults, psychology and the general failure of socialism, top-down governance of people and the western/Christian ideology. The book is well written and well researched by somebody who was closely involved with the cult and it presents the story from multiple angles ( both inside and outside of the People's Temple ). Loyalists, survivors, defectors, politicians, reporters and all manner of people involved are covered. The only downside i could find to the book is that i would have liked to know more about what happened in the aftermath of the suicide ( the epilogue is short and it does not cover in detail the stories of survivors and the people affiliated with the temple ). Other than that, it's a great read. Anybody who harbors ( or knows people who harbor ) any type of strong ideology ( be it political, religious etc. ) should pick up a copy of this book and see what authority, deprival, social proof and the charisma of a man who pronounced himself God can do to the human mind.
March 12, 2019
I have tremendous respect for Tim Reiterman and his co-writer, John Jacobs, after reading this. I've seen others describe the book as dense and, indeed, it is immensely detailed and, in my judgement, it covers just about every relevant nuance of the Peoples' Temple/Jonestown story. Given that the story of Peoples' Temple spans more than two decades- and this book was published in 1982, 4 years after the mass murder/suicide- "Raven" is all the more an extraordinary feat. Add to that the fact that Tim Reiterman, who accompanied Representative Leo Ryan's congressional delegation on that fateful trip to Jonestown, was injured and could have been killed by Jones's henchmen, it is impressive that Reiterman is able to give us such a dispassionate, clear-eyed and analytical account of a tragedy that raises so many as-of-yet unanswerable questions about the nature of humanity itself. I was a journalism major in college, so that is perhaps a part of why I so admire Reiterman's writing style, his attention to detail and his integrity as a journalist taking extraordinary lengths to report the truth and nothing but the truth. I have not yet read other books on the Jonestown tragedy, but I am glad I started with this impressive one.
March 9, 2018
By far the most interesting part of this book comes at the end, when the author, Tim Reiterman, recounts his harrowing experience visiting Jonestown with Congressman Leo Ryan. During that visit, Ryan and others attempted to help defectors from the People's Temple cult flee Jonestown, but People's Temple followers attacked them, shooting and killing several. Reiterman was among the survivors who fled into the jungle.
The rest of the book is a compelling narrative outlining Jim Jones's rise to power and his eventual descent into drug-fueled madness. A classic psychopath, Jones was incredibly charismatic, managing to build a cult of more than a thousand and found a pseudo-Utopian community in Guyana. You probably already know the broad strokes of the story of the Jonestown Massacre, but Reiterman clearly aims with this book to provide something near to a comprehensive history of it.
The writing seldom rises above the utilitarian and, in his desire not to leave out anything, Reiterman takes the reader down a few blind alleys, but the story is always fascinating and Reiterman is a surefooted journalist who knows how to tell it.
The rest of the book is a compelling narrative outlining Jim Jones's rise to power and his eventual descent into drug-fueled madness. A classic psychopath, Jones was incredibly charismatic, managing to build a cult of more than a thousand and found a pseudo-Utopian community in Guyana. You probably already know the broad strokes of the story of the Jonestown Massacre, but Reiterman clearly aims with this book to provide something near to a comprehensive history of it.
The writing seldom rises above the utilitarian and, in his desire not to leave out anything, Reiterman takes the reader down a few blind alleys, but the story is always fascinating and Reiterman is a surefooted journalist who knows how to tell it.
December 10, 2008
thoughtful and careful - written by a journalist, not necessarily a storyteller; but it made me think about what precursors are necessary for an absolute belief, no matter how absurd, to swallow a normal person.
what precedes someone becoming a member of a cult, or falling into Mormon "obedience", or allowing domestic violence to succeed? is there a special vulnerability? a need, maybe to seek outside completion of an internal void? maybe just a thirst for community or acceptance?
repeatedly-- sweet, caring people are sucked into these situations - they want to believe in the Good that could be. eventually isolated and humiliated to the point where their own intellects can't be trusted. job done.
what precedes someone becoming a member of a cult, or falling into Mormon "obedience", or allowing domestic violence to succeed? is there a special vulnerability? a need, maybe to seek outside completion of an internal void? maybe just a thirst for community or acceptance?
repeatedly-- sweet, caring people are sucked into these situations - they want to believe in the Good that could be. eventually isolated and humiliated to the point where their own intellects can't be trusted. job done.
Currently reading
June 17, 2013Interesting interview with Reiterman and Deborah Layton, author of Seductive Poison A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the People's Temple on KQED. Reminded me of a very important book I read several years ago by John Hall Gone from the Promised Land Jonestown in American Cultural History, an excellent book.
May 15, 2019
I remember learning about this when it happened-The massacre happened the day before my 10th birthday and I will never forget it. The sadness that fell over the country was immense. I hope these kind of tragedies cease to exist someday. This book was full of specifics and details beginning from Jim Jones childhood to the deadly end. Excellent book for anyone who wants to know what really happened to the Peoples Temple. In addition, I loathe Jim Jones.
September 29, 2017
Probably a bit more 'exhaustive' (boring) than it needed to be, but overall it gave me a good understanding of the People's Temple. Fun fact, it was actually poisoned Flavor-aid they drank, not Kool Aid.
February 10, 2017
I read a lot of true crime and this is the most frightening book I have ever read. There were so many opportunities to stop him that were missed Horrifying.
May 25, 2018
Excellent, thoroughly comprehensive account of Jim Jones and his cult. This book is often chilling and terrifying. Jim Jones was a total psychopath and, if one is inclined to believe in such concepts, truly evil. The book really makes you think about why and how people are psychologically brainwashed. I highly recommend this book.
June 12, 2020
Excellent and by far the most detail account of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple. Very heavy read, took three years on and off to finish (while reading other books in between). Must-read if you’re interested in Jonestown.
September 19, 2021
This hulk of a book gives a reader a wealth of information about Jim Jones and The Peoples Temple. Ever since seeing the film Guyana Tragedy as a teenager, the story of Jim Jones has interested me. This book fills many voids in his life story, especially his early years in Indiana. At times the details seemed a bit too plentiful as I found myself powering through parts with the knowledge that more of the story I wanted to know lay ahead in the pages to come. This book will take readers to dark places, but hold their interest at the same time.
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