The Road to Jonestown, Jeff Guinn’s 544-page biography of Jim Jones, was published in April 2017 by Simon & Schuster, and has been widely acclaimed as the most thorough and nuanced history of Peoples Temple since the release of Tim Reiterman’s Raven in 1981. At year’s end, Amazon named The Road to Jonestown as a Best Book of the Year in both the History and Biography categories.
A contributor to the jonestown report for several years while he worked on the book, Guinn’s reflections upon completion of the book are here.
Reviews of the book from past contributors to the jonestown report reviews include:
• New Materials Worth Reading in New Jones Biography, by Annie Dawid
• Guinn Follows Many Routes on Road to Jonestown, by Jason Dikes
Reviews during the first months after publication include those in:
A Texas author travels to Jonestown’s heart of darkness for his new book
by Chris Warner, Dallas News, March 31, 2017 (also here)Jeff Guinn takes readers on a tragic trip with Jim Jones in ‘The Road to Jonestown’
by David Martindale, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 1, 2017“The Road to Jonestown,” by Jeff Guinn
by Kevin Canfield, San Francisco Chronicle, April 5, 2017Book festival features fascinating look at Jonestown tragedy
by Gilbert Garcia, San Antonio Express-News, April 6, 2017Dark, deadly saga of Jonestown set in a decade hungry for utopia
by Dan Cryer, Boston Globe, April 7, 2017How Jim Jones led massacre victims to ‘drink the Kool-Aid’
by Matt Damsker, USA Today, April 10, 2017Jonestown Massacre Biographer on the Question: How Successful Would Jim Jones’ Cult Be Today?
by Greg Hanlon, People Magazine, April 11, 2017This Is a Scarily Relevant Book About the Jonestown Massacre
by Lauren Larson, GQ, April 13, 2017‘The Road to Jonestown’ tells horrifying tale of mass suicide
by Kevin J. Hamilton, Seattle Times, April 16, 2017Book examines local roots of cult leader Jim Jones
by Mickey Shuey, Palladium-Item, Richmond, Indiana, April 16, 2017New book offers fuller picture of Jim Jones, Peoples Temple tragedy
by John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune, April 16, 2017Jonestown Massacre vividly chronicled in ambitious new book about Peoples Temple
by Douglas Perry, Oregon Live, April 17, 2017Jeff Guinn’s Jim Jones biography is revealing, powerful look of the cult leader
by Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic, April 20, 2017Texas writer explores how Jonestown tragedy happened
by Glenn Dromgoole, The Eagle, Byran, TX, April 23, 2017Jim Jones: Peoples Person
by Peter Lawrence Kane, SF Weekly, April 26, 2017WV Book Team: Author details story of the Jonestown Massacre
by Erin Brewster, WV Book Team, Charleston (WV) Gazette-Mail, April 26, 2017BOOK REVIEW: “The Road to Jonestown” by Jeff Guinn
by Bill O’Brien, Red Dirt Report, May 14, 2017Assignment: Ukiah- Jim Jones’s Socialist Utopia: All equal (impoverished or dead)
by Tommy Wayne Kramer, Ukiah Daily Journal, May 21, 2017
(This piece also includes a review of Tim Stoen’s Love Them to Death.)The Child Within the Monster
by Daniel J. Flynn, City Journal, “A quarterly magazine of urban affairs,” June 30, 2017Road to Jonestown: Twists and Turns
by Joseph Richardson, Fort Worth (Texas) Weekly, July 19, 2017REVIEWS: ‘The Road to Jonestown,’ by Jeff Guinn
by Ginny Greene, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, July 21, 2017Nearly 40 years later, we are still learning about the horrors of the Jonestown massacre
by Vanessa Brown, news.com.au, August 20, 2017‘The Road to Jonestown’ follows the dark tragedy of Peoples Temple founder
Carole Ann Clark, Great Falls Public Library, Great Falls Tribune, August 22, 2017Abilene book festival honoree ranges wide with subjects
by Scott Kirk, Abilene Reporter-News, September 14, 2017The Road to Jonestown
by Kristian Klippenstein, Reading Religion, May 15, 2018
Guinn was also interviewed on numerous media outlets, including the following:
The myths of Jonestown: “Jim Jones was who Charlie Manson wanted to be,” says author of new book on 1978 tragedy
by Bob Calhoun, Salon, April 8, 2017http://www.npr.org/2017/04/11/523348069/nearly-40-years-later-jonestown-offers-a-lesson-in-demagoguery
with Terry Gross, Fresh Air, NPR, April 11, 2017The Author of a New Biography of Jim Jones Knows What a Powerful Demagogue Sounds Like
by Aaron Mesh, Willamette (Oregon) Week, April 18, 2017Nearly 40 years on, ‘The Road to Jonestown’ examines charismatic cult leader
by Mike Yawn, The Houston Chronicle, May 1, 2017A demagogue, a massacre and the ‘Road to Jonestown’
by Marcheta Fornoff, Minnesota Public Radio, August 1, 2017Book review: Road To Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, by Jeff Guinn
by James Belfield, stuff.com (New Zealand), September 3, 2017