Thousand Lives: the Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown, A

A Thousand Lives came highly recommended by someone whose taste I trust, so I'm sorry to report I felt "meh" about it. Jonestown is a fascinating (if horrifying) topic, and I learned some things I didn't know about the ministry (that it was 70% Black and that it was friends with San Francisco politicians Harvey Milk and George Moscone).

My disappointment lies in Scheeres not living up to her promised "My aim here is to help readers understand the reasons that people were drawn to Jim Jones and his church..." I thought that meant she would tell the story and let the reader draw her own conclusions.

The residents' applause, which lasted a full minute, reverberated off the metal roof. The NBC cameraman turned his lens from Ryan to pan over the ecstatic crowd for a few moments, then returned to the congressman, who waited for the noise to subside with an awkward smile. He attempted to speak several times, but was drowned out each time by applause, whistling, shouting, and drums. The ruse was working.

I'm put off by the last sentence. Don't we know the hype was a ruse and Jim Jones a madperson without Scheeres commenting on and underlining the worst details? It would have been a more powerful read if I had gone there myself, not been held by the hand and constantly asked "See? See?"

It's still an interesting topic, and Scheeres did a lot of research work putting it together, so it's worth a read, even if it's about 50 pages too long. It's not too long in pages, really. 250 pages isn't that much. It just drags. I think the problem is that Scheeres had only the FBI files and memories and a few documents from survivors. She didn't have or use enough sources to tell a longer or more compelling story.

Disclosure: I have family members who are part of a religious group that some people (not including me) consider a cult or cultlike.