The articles below offer the perspectives of historians, journalists and scholars of new religious movements and provide critical thinking on what has been learned since the tragedy of 18 November 1978.
Drinking the Kool-Aid: A Collection of Articles
The Special Sections of the jonestown report: A Compilation
Dip your toe in the water of Jonestown, by Kimberly A. Adkins (2010)
The Peoples Temple’s Ideology in a Comparative Perspective by Peter Åkerbäck (2007)
A Proposal to Restore Jonestown, by Roger Arjoon (2004)
Remembering Frank Bell, by Marianne Bachers (2016)
In Search of a Promised Land: Peoples Temple and the Legacy of The Great Migration, by Nico Bell (2024)
† Articles by Michael Bellefountaine
Jonestown echoed in past times in Guyana: An 1840s mass suicide remembered, by Paul Bolcik (2010)
Escaping American Individualism: Peoples Temple, by Georgia Box (2021)
From Norway to Guyana: A Writer’s Journey, by Pernille Borud (2012)
† Jeff Brailey’s Articles and Manuscript
Suicide for socialism?, by Maurice Brinton (1979; republished January 2023)
Until The Name of the Father Do Us Part: A Lacano-Althusserian Analysis of the Jonesism of Peoples Temple, by Marcus B. (2021)
Alienated Commitment: A New Understanding of November 18, 1978, by Kolby Cameron (2018)
The Cult of Two: Understanding Jonestown, by Loren-Paul Caplin (2015)
Sex, Gender and Female Empowerment: Recovering a Positive Perspective on Jonestown, by Caroline Capute (2012)
Countdown to Armageddon: The Reverend Jim Jones and Indiana, by Dan Carpenter (2018)
Jonestown’s Writer, by David Chiu (2018)
Articles by Connor Ashley Clayton
Picturing Jonestown: Visual Media and the Social Constriction of Pictures, by Douglas E. Cowan (2008)
Articles and Remembrances by Brad Crowell
Thinking Critically about Jonestown, by Kamilah Cummings (2014)
The Hidden Role of Malignant Narcissists in History, by Bazil Cunningham (2023)
The Extremes Are Sometimes Closer: Peoples Temple, the Tea Party, and Anti-Governmentalism Then and Now, by Dereck Daschke (2010)
The Effects of Segregation and Racism in 20th Century America On the Growth of Peoples Temple, by Kellen Datta (2014)
The Struggle Over a “Cult,” by Dave de Give (2009)
Jonestown: A case study in examining disparities of differing types of history in the construction of atrocity, by Hannah de Mars (2021)
Which group or individual outside Peoples Temple had the most significant impact on Jim Jones’ decision to order the Jonestown Massacre?, by Whit Denton (2018)
The Culture of Jim Jones: An Analysis of Reactions to the Jonestown Tragedy, by James de Planta (2018)
Articles and Reviews by Jason Dikes
Sigmund Freud’s Approach to Intergroup Relations Applied to Peoples Temple, by Shailee Dyssell-Pillay (2015)
† eBay’s Handling of Jonestown CD Reveals Inconsistent Policing Policies, by Brad Elliott (2004)
† The last guest in Jonestown: An account of a non-follower 11 days before the massacre, by Peter Elsass (2018)
Articles by Matthew Thomas Farrell
Laura Johnston Kohl and the Politics of Peoples Temple, by Joseph L. Flatley (2017)
The “Other” Jim Jones: Rabbi David Hill, House of Israel, and Black American Religion in the Age of Peoples Temple, by Nishani Frazier (2012)
The Politics That Destroyed Jonestown, by Marvin Funk (2008)
Teaching “Jonestown”, by Eugene V. Gallagher (2010)
Articles by Phyllis Abel Gardner, Ph.D.
Was Peoples Temple Religious?: Jonestown and Durkheim’s Religious Typology, by R. Gillingham (2010)
The Town of Jones, by John Gimlette (2015)
Articles and Spanish Translations by Luis Ángel González Rocha & Others
Understanding Cult Membership: Beyond “Drinking the Kool-Aid”, by Melissa M. Greiser (2020)
Jim Jones on Appropriating Black Panther Party Rhetoric for Power, by Tierney Grisolano (2019)
Masses of Mass Suicide, by Erica Guthrie (2017)
Articles by Michael Haag, Ph.D.
Transformed! by Kim Harvey (2006)
The Jonestown Massacre and Its Effect on Media Coverage of Future National Tragedies, by Carter Haskins (2019)
“Comforting the Afflicted and Afflicting the Comfortable”: Teaching Jonestown to a New Generation of Students, by Ted Henken (2010)
“Hell that springs from the grave of memory”: Sacrifice, Whiteness, and Extinction in Wilson Harris’ Jonestown, by Jonathan Highfield (2008)
Articles and Podcasts by Shannon Howard
A Piece of Driftwood and the High Seas: Speculations on the Mind of a Madman, by E. Alex Howe (2012)
Articles by Massimo Introvigne
Survey Indicates Lack of Student Knowledge of Jonestown, Peoples Temple, by David J. Jackson (2023)
Secondary Disaster Victims: The Emotional Effects of Recovering and Identifying Human Remains, by Col. David R. Jones, MC, CFS, USAF (1985; republished 2022)
To what extent was Jim Jones’ cult of personality the most significant cause of the Jonestown massacre?, by Alex Jung (2023)
Is There Such a Thing as People Hoarding?, by Carl Kelsch (2013)
Exploring ambivalence in Peoples Temple (2011)Creating Community Despite the Demagogue: A Case Study of Peoples Temple, by Katherine Klapperich (2022)
Articles by Kristian Klippenstein
Articles by Christopher Knight-Griffin
Articles by Heidi König-Porstner
Jonestown as Continuum, by Eusi Kwayana (2017)
The Violent Outcomes of Ideological Extremism: What Have We Learned Since Jonestown?, by Janja Lalich, Ph.D. (2008)
Coerced Suicide: The Jonestown Deaths, Suicide Bombings, and Beyond, by Adam Lankford, Ph.D. (2012)
The Death of Christopher O’Neal, by Elizabeth Larson (2016)
The Playbook On Deception: The Lesson Of Jonestown, by Angelique J. Lawrence (2018)
The Downfall of Jim Jones, by Larry Lee Litke (1980)
The Strange Case of Franklin Jones, by Scott Lowe (1996)
Articles by Mary McCormick Maaga
What Happened After Jonestown?, by Erika Mailman (2018)
Evil Dead: The Problematic Story of the Jonestown Corpses, by Ted Malcolmson (2019)
I Saw Dead People, by Mark Massar (2018)
Selected Articles and Editorials by Fielding M. McGehee III
Meditating on the Fate of the Earth and Its Species: Wilson Harris’ Jonestown, by Gentian Miller (2018)
Articles and investigations by Aliah Mohmand
† Articles by Dr. Khaleel Mohammed
Preliminary Notes on a Possible Antecedent: Andrew Jackson Davis, by Adam Morris (2018)
Jim Jones & Pariah Warlord Leadership – Primer for Alternate Perspectives, by John Scott Nelson (2018)
Thirty Years Later: Thoughts About Prevention of Future Jonestowns, by Peter A. Olsson, M.D. (2008)
Articles by Patrick O’Reilly, Ph.D.
Making Sense of the Nonsensical: An Analysis of Jonestown, by Neal Osherow (2023; republished in 2023)
Revolutionary Suicide: A Rhetorical Examination of Jim Jones’ “Death Tape”, by Maggie Pehanick (2010)
Peoples Temple to Be Re-Established, by Rev. Cupid Osburn (2017)
Black People & the Illusion of Equality in Peoples Temple, by Kiana Parker (2024)
Hook, line and Kool-Aid, by John Pierce (2012)
Jonestown: An International Story of Diplomacy, Détente, and Neglect, 1973–1978, by Alexander Poster (2022)
“If you don’t love children, you don’t understand socialism”: The Children of Peoples Temple, by Alexandra Leah Prince (2024)
People’s Temple and Jonestown: A Corrective Comparison and Critique, James T. Richardson (1979; republished in 2023)
Jonestown Twenty-Five Years Later: Why All the Secrecy? by James T. Richardson (2003)Black Messiahs, by Aaron Robertson (2024)
† Jonestown: A Caribbean/Guyanese Perspective, a Speech by Walter Rodney (2016)
‘How Did This Happen, and How Did I Not See It Coming?’, by Justin Rohrlich (2015)
Amateur Radio and the People’s Temple Net, by Johann William Rush, CQ Amateur Radio Magazine (1979) [Reprinted with permission from CQ Amateur Radio magazine, August 1979. Copyright CQ Communications, Inc.]
Dispensing With The “Conspiracy Theory” Label, by Bryan Sacks (2009)
Researching the Jonestown Family Trees, by Emily Yaden Schneider (2021)
The Fine Line between Jim Jones and Colin Powell, by Cheryl Ann Seminara, Ph.D. (2012)
35 years after Jonestown – two survivors speak out, by Audhild Skoglund (2014)
The Jonestown Death Tape: A Membership Categorisation Analysis, by Della-Rachel Smith (2014)
Articles by Archie Smith, Jr., Ph.D.
“We’re Not Babysitters!” Communist ‘Subversion’ in Jonestown and America’s Disillusionment with Détente, by Soh Chuah Meng Esmond (2018)
Don’t Drink The Kool-Aid, by Todd Strandberg (2015)
A Hope in the Seen: Leo Ryan’s Victory at Jonestown Resounds Today, by Mark Stricherz (2017)
† Articles by Karen Stroup, Ph.D.
“Never Heard A Man Speak Like This Before”: Reverend Jim Jones And Peoples Temple, by Emerson Maureen Stuckart (2014)
In the Hands of Jim Jones: Jonestown and Culpability, by Michael Sutherland (2020)
Drinking in Images, by ieva swanson (2013)
Articles by James Lance Taylor
Comrades in Mass Murder: The Secret Alliance Between Suicide Cult Leader Jim Jones and North Korea, by Nate Thayer (2018)
Reframing the frame: Peoples Temple and the Power of Words, by Alla Tovares (2008)
Donald Trump: a political cult leader?, by Célia Vamiller (2023)
Defined by the Father: A discourse analytical case study of the last speech of Jim Jones, by Anssi Viljanen (2013)
The Modus Operandi of Modern Religious Movements, by Rebecca-Jayne Virgen (2012)
Peoples Temple, by Dr. John Walliss
Articles and Research by Cole Waterman
Visiting Jonestown, Peoples Temple, by Chris Weber (2019; republished December 2024)
† Jonestown 1978: A Forensic Pathologist’s Retrospective Observations, by Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D. (2008)
As Seen On TV: The Science Of Brainwashing, Big And Small, by Chris Weller (2016)
Articles by Catherine Wessinger
Articles and Commentary by Rikke Wettendorff
Articles by James Williams, Central Committee, Rural People’s Party
The Jews of Jonestown: Jewish members of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple cult, by Alex Winston (2024)
From monkey salesman to charismatic preacher, by Dr. Richard Wiseman (2014)
All in the Family, by Jeremy Young (2010)
† Articles by Dr. Philip G. Zimbardo
The Inspiration of the Jonestown Express, by Isaac Zukin (2014)
