During the spring of 1978, several members of Peoples Temple living in Jonestown collaborated in producing a book-length manuscript entitled Target: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple. Although it began as an early history of the movement and – just as importantly – of Jim Jones, the work soon turned into a narrative account of the “conspiracy” which Temple members believed themselves to be the targets of.
Although Richard Tropp was likely the chief author of the manuscript, more than one Jonestown resident contributed to the text. In an accompanying document, “Instructions and Explanation Notes for Readers of this Manuscript,” three editors-in-chief are listed: Harriet Tropp, Carolyn Layton, and Jim Jones. We cannot know for certain who exactly wrote which parts of the text, but the document reveals the ways in which the leadership group in Jonestown worked to evidence and construct the conspiracy against them.
Within the manuscript, hand-written editorial notes are replete throughout the margins – in some cases, crossing out entire sentences, and in others, proposing simple changes of verbiage. In most cases, the intention to remove part of a paragraph is equally as revealing as the text which has been left behind. Seeking to refute the charges made against them by the Concerned Relatives and construct their own account of the conflict – as well as identifying its origins in the military-industrial-intelligence axis of the United States – the document remains a mixture of conspiracy theory, hero-worship, and character assassination.
A deeper analysis of the manuscript and its related documents can be found here.
Target: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple
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The Tropp Manuscript: An Analysis
– Connor Ashley Clayton