Hearing the Voices of Jonestown - Putting a Human Face on an American Tragedy (Paperback)

When over 900 followers of the Peoples Temple religious group committed suicide in 1978, they left a legacy of suspicion and fear. Most accounts of this mass suicide describe the members as brainwashed dupes and overlook the Christian and socialist ideals that originally inspired Peoples Temple members. Hearing the Voices of Jonestown restores the individual voices that have been erased so that we can better understand what was created - and destroyed - at Jonestown, and why. Piecing together information from interviews with former group members, archival research, and diaries and letters of those who died there, Maaga describes the women leaders as educated political activists who were passionately committed to achieving social justice through communal life. The book analyzes the historical and sociological factors that, Maaga finds, contributed to the mass suicide, such as growing criticism from the larger community and the influx of an upper-class, educated leadership that eventually became more concerned with the symbolic effects of the organization than with the daily lives of its members. Hearing the Voices of Jonestown puts human faces on the events at Jonestown, confronting theoretical religious questions, such as how worthy utopian ideals come to meet such tragic and misguided ends.

General

Imprint:	Syracuse University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Religion and Politics
Release date:	February 2020
Authors:	Mary McCormick Maaga
Dimensions:	229 x 152mm (L x W)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	216
ISBN-13:	978-0-8156-1122-6
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > American history > General Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General > General Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > Satanism & demonology Books > History > American history > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > Alternative belief systems > Occult studies > Satanism & demonology Books > Religion & Spirituality > General > General
LSN:	0-8156-1122-6
Barcode:	9780815611226

Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate? Let us know about it.

Does this product have an incorrect or missing image? Send us a new image.

Is this product missing categories? Add more categories.

Review This Product

No reviews yet - be the first to create one!