Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple [Hardcover]

The seasoned student of Peoples Temple may already be familiar with some of the primary source material in this new book by Rebecca Moore. However, more than just retelling the story of Peoples Temple through the primary sources, Dr. Moore offers something not seen before in a book about the Temple - an invitation to look at the sources the way a scholar would. This means that the book is both an introduction to Peoples Temple as an object of study and an introduction to the scholarly field of religious studies. This is primarily by way of example, but in the introduction "Framing the Subject", Dr. Moore addresses the conditions for the production of a large part of the body of knowledge of Peoples Temple: that much of the press coverage and the first books about the Tem-ple were based on information of defectors (because the vast majority of the community had per-ished in Jonestown) and thus were quite biased. Dr. Moore also underlines the importance of being critical of our own language because the language we use to describe the object of study guides what we look at and therefore shapes what we learn. The introduction in other words provides the reader with tools to evaluate information about Peoples Temple and to be critical of the way we construct Peoples Temple in our research - tools that Dr. Moore herself applies throughout the book.

The book is comprised of an introduction (as described above), and nine chapters. Chapter 1 pro-vides a short biography of Jim Jones, chapter 2 and 3 outlines the history of the organization, in-cluding the change in focus from religion to political goals, and the early history of Jonestown. Chapter 4 analyzes the opposition against the Temple: defectors, the Concerned Relatives, the me-dia and different government agencies. Chapter 5 analyzes the conditions in Jonestown. Chapter 6 looks at Congressman Ryan's visit to Jonestown and the tragic events of 18 November 1978. Chap-ter 7 outlines the handling of the bodies and the process by which the people who died at Jonestown were dehumanized. Chapter 8 examines how Jonestown has re-entered American culture and out-lines four canons for this re-entry: the popular canon, the scholarly canon, the canon of conspiracy theory and the artistic canon. Chapter 9 examines how survivors - loyalists and defectors - have put their lives together after the tragedy.

Dr. Moore draws on a wealth of sources, including primary source material recovered from Jones-town and released under the Freedom of Information Act, first hand knowledge from her own ex-perience as a family member of two women in the Temple, first person accounts, news coverage and popular and scholarly resources, but instead of burying the reader in information, Dr. Moore carefully connects the dots and presents the story of Peoples Temple with all its ambiguity and con-tradictions without letting the reader get lost at any point.

If your ambition is to understand Peoples Temple and Jonestown - not judging, not condemning - then "Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple" is the book for you.

In the study of New Religious Movements there is perhaps more of a need than in theology for a social-scientific study of its sources but, even there, it can all too easily result in a detachment not only from confessional bias of the researcher but also a detachment from the liberation, joy, suffering and inhumanity NRMS can bring to varying degrees, in short, the study of NRMs as a subject can cease to consider the human subjects at their core except in abstraction. This is where Moore comes in.

Here the author is also the subject. I will let Moore speak herself from the opening paragraph of the book: " I have been studying Peoples Temple and Jonestown for more than thirty years. My interest is both personal and professional. My personal interest began when my older sister, Carolyn Layton, joined Peoples Temple in 1968, and continued when my younger sister, Annie Moore, joined in 1972. And of course, when they died in Jonestown on 18 November 1978, I experienced the same grief, shock, and horror felt by people worldwide, since their deaths were completely unexpected by me or by my family (ix)."

Moore continues that the research for which this book is the culmination of her search to make sense of the tragedy of Jonestown. While I think David Chidchester's Salvation and Suicide: An Interpretation of Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown still has the upper hand on the theological and sociological context of Peoples Temple doctrine Moore has produced a compelling introduction to key facets of Jonestown. In particular Moore's treatment has the feel of a biography beginning with Jone's early foray into religion through to the social gospel phase where Peoples Temple became such a feature of local San Francisco politics through to the deaths and post-tragedy history.

The author of this book was not a member of Peoples Temple, but two of her sisters were and both died that fateful day in Guyana. Understandably, Ms. Moore has spent the past three decades trying to come to terms with that and figure out just what, exactly, happened. This book is her latest exploration into that dark topic.

Despite the personal connection, she is able to treat the topic neutrally and with a level head that is quite refreshing from much of the other material available on Peoples Temple, which is either unabashedly hostile or fawning hero-worship. It is, of course, a difficult balance: although there is much to deride Jones for, aspects of his ministry are indeed worthy of praise, and the book shows both the good and the bad.

This book seems more of a general introduction to the strange world of Jim Jones. I don't doubt that she could write a thousand-page magnum opus on the subject, but UJ&PT is more of an edited highlight of facts and interesting trivia that seems designed to pique the reader's interest on the topic and encourage further research. Indeed, each chapter ends with a "suggested reading" entry for just that purpose.

I learned quite a bit from this book, and I think that even experts on the subject will glean a few new nuggets of information to help fill in the puzzle that is Peoples Temple.

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