![\"08-08d-lane\"](\"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/08-08d-lane.jpg\")
<\/a>Preemptive CYA Disclaimer: Autobiographies are always a tough breed to assess. While there\u2019s the temptation to take the tale as an inside-edition \u201csetting the story straight,\u201d there\u2019s also the flip side we need to remember, that what we are reading is quite likely self-serving propaganda. Such is the case with Citizen Lane<\/em>.<\/p>\nThere are a number of claims in this book which made pings on my skeptical sonar. I will politely call them dubious<\/em>. I am not, however, calling them false<\/em>. I would never accuse a lawyer of lying<\/em> unless I had concrete evidence of it, and in this case many of the claims are all but unverifiable. I am a skeptic at heart, and I am merely saying that I would like something more concrete than Lane\u2019s word that, for instance, Paul McCartney signed an fan\u2019s autograph \u201cPaul McCartney, friend of Mark Lane\u201d or that Lane had a private one-on-one dinner with W.E.B. Du Bois. These may well have happened \u2013 the autograph and the letter inviting Lane to dine are theoretically still out there \u2013 but until I see some pictures and an accompanying voucher from a handwriting expert, I will remain unconvinced.<\/p>\n This skeptical umbrella also covers many of his claims concerning Lane\u2019s role in the Jonestown tragedy.<\/p>\n With that in mind, this \u201creview\u201d is presented as a recap of the relevant chapter of Lane\u2019s autobiography, with no sanctioning of its authenticity or cries of foul to any potential mistruths. I will let readers more knowledgeable of the \u201cfacts\u201d draw their own conclusions.<\/p>\n Citizen Lane:<\/strong> The relevant section is Chapter 18, pages 299-314, plus nine endnotes spanning pages 362-365. Lane begins by making it clear that he had only met Jim Jones twice \u2013 in September and November of 1978 \u2013 and he \u201chad never heard of Jones or Jonestown until shortly before then.\u201d His introduction came via his roommate, screenwriter Don Freed, who was friends with Peoples Temple attorney Charles Garry. At Garry\u2019s invitation, Freed had visited Jonestown on a scouting trip for a possible documentary. Shortly after that, Lane got a cold call from a Peoples Temple representative inviting him down to Guyana to lecture on Martin Luther King, Jr. That visit, on September 15, 1978, is painted with a mixed palate: Lane seemed impressed with Jonestown but not its leader, whom he describes as \u201cquite aged, far beyond his years, and appeared to be sedated or on some kind of medication. He had about him an air of desperation and defeat.\u201d<\/p>\n After writing a tangent about Peoples Temple apostate and rabble-rouser Tim Stoen and his effort to get Congressman Leo Ryan to investigate Jonestown, Lane tells of another cold call from the Temple imploring him to accompany the delegation. \u201cShe said Jones trusted me, and she hoped that if any dispute took place, I might be able to play a calming role.\u201d<\/p>\n The fateful trip itself is barely described, with the most attention being given to the nearly-lethal attack on Ryan by a Temple member and Lane\u2019s seemingly single-handed effort to successfully thwart it. Ryan decided it best to make a tactical withdrawal at that point, albeit only \u201cif I would stay to complete his work if he agreed to depart.\u201d Lane took the assignment, but just after the rest of the delegation departed, he and Garry were herded into a shed and placed under watch while armed guards ran about and Jones began making announcements over the loudspeaker explaining \u201cthat it was best that they all die.\u201d<\/p>\n As the gravity of the situation sank in, Lane convinced Garry that \u201csince we were lawyers, our only chance for survival was to make a very persuasive closing argument.\u201d Lane talked to their guards, imploring them to let him and Garry leave so they \u201cwould tell the truth to the world about what happened that day.\u201d The guards agreed and let the two captives run off to the surrounding jungle. They promptly got lost, until Lane struck upon the idea of selecting a random location as a starting point and then heading off in different directions until they find the road, marking the trail back to the starting point with shreds of underwear. This eventually worked, and they arrived at Port Kaituma the next morning.<\/p>\n Lane concludes the tale with this commentary: \u201cWhile the American government stated that a mass suicide had taken place and that the deceased had voluntarily consumed poisoned Kool-Aid, the Guyanese medical examiner concluded that many had been injected with cyanide and that the assertions by the officials of the United States that a mass suicide had taken place were not sustainable, since it was clear that there had been a mass murder.\u201d<\/p>\n History Redux:<\/strong> Lane had already told his Jonestown story in book-length form with the 1980 publication of The Strongest Poison<\/em><\/a>. Understandably, the chapter in Citizen Lane <\/em>is an extremely condensed version of most of The Strongest Poison<\/em>, though he does offer up the teaser in Citizen Lane <\/em>that, \u201cOf course, I am aware of many bizarre and complex factors that preceded the murders, and I will share them with you.\u201d This statement is accompanied by an endnote that is essentially a plug for The Strongest Poison<\/em>. Despite that bold statement that seemingly hints at new revelations about the tragedy, little if anything \u201cnew\u201d is offered in the subsequent pages.<\/p>\n The two books are pretty much in sync in terms of the tale they tell. Indeed, I only found one extremely minor and one moderate contradiction across the two accounts.<\/p>\n Extremely Minor:<\/em> In The Strongest Poison<\/em>, the scissors he used to cut up his underwear to mark the attorneys\u2019 jungle trail were a novelty he had bought several years previous to his trip; he had stashed them in his travel bag and promptly forgotten about them until he discovered them quite by accident in the jungle. In Citizen Lane<\/em>, he had bought them (along with the underwear) immediately preceding his trip to Guyana, and he specifically spelunked through his bag to find them. Still, this strikes me as extremely minor, and I\u2019ll give him a pass on it.<\/p>\n Moderate:<\/em> In The Strongest Poison<\/em>, Lane repeatedly asserts that the American embassy\u2019s chief counsel to Guyana, Richard McCoy, was constantly passing along sensitive information to Jonestown about outside inquiries, such as the names of commune members that visitors specifically wished to interview. In Citizen Lane<\/em>, the responsibility for this lapse in judgment is transferred to Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Dwyer. No explanation for this shift is given. Dwyer, of course, is an interesting figure in the tragedy\u2019s milieu: long suspected to be a CIA agent \u2013 Lane specifically \u201couts\u201d him as one \u2013 he frequently shows up on short lists of culprits penned by conspiracy-minded types. Undoubtedly, Lane\u2019s comment will be grist for the conspiracy mills attempting to tie Jonestown to the CIA.<\/p>\n M.I.A.:<\/em> As previously stated , Citizen Lane <\/em>is a condensed version of The Strongest Poison<\/em>, and much was left out for space considerations. It\u2019s rather interesting what<\/em> was left out. First and foremost, there is no mention whatsoever of Temple apostate Terri Buford or of Vita, the daughter she and Lane had. Likewise, Lane omits mentioning that he was hired by Peoples Temple to (at the very least) file some FOIA requests and offer advice on damage control counteroffensives.<\/p>\n The rest:<\/strong> In its totality, Citizen Lane <\/em>is actually an interesting read. While I wouldn\u2019t call it the \u201criveting…page turner…\u201d that Martin Sheen declares in his introduction, it held my attention. Given my opening caveat of \u201cassume this is true if<\/em>…,\u201d he has certainly led an interesting life. Indeed, someone cynically pointed out that you can actually make a drinking game out of this book: take a shot every time he name-drops someone famous he\u2019s rubbed elbows with. (I myself don\u2019t recommend playing, as participants would likely get cirrhosis of the liver a few chapters in.)<\/p>\n I had hoped to learn more about him in terms of his views on the Kennedy assassination \u2013 specifically if he had changed his mind or recanted any of his theories \u2013 and since he hasn\u2019t and doesn\u2019t, I found it a bit disappointing.<\/p>\n And with that being said… This book actually has a LOL WUT moment.<\/p>\n Chapter 10 is a retelling of Lane\u2019s creation and touring of his JFK conspiracy theory manifesto, Rush to Judgment<\/em>. Pages 167-171 contain a bizarre, convoluted story where Lane claims to get an anonymous call from an assassin assigned to kill him \u2013 specifically by hitting him with a truck so it looked like an accident \u2013 but the assassin does not want to do the deed out of patriotism and is therefore warning Lane of the plot. The would-be hitman gives a lot of foreshadowing knowledge of Lane\u2019s upcoming itinerary, including schedule appearances and exact hotel suites \u2013 intel that supposedly had not been worked out yet. Although never stated specifically, there is a less-than-subtle implication that the killer got his orders from some unnamed agency because Lane was getting too close to The Truth™. Obviously, the attempt never happened, and Lane lived on.<\/p>\n There are many reasons I don\u2019t buy this, but let\u2019s just go with the most obvious: I don\u2019t think Rush to Judgment<\/em> is anywhere near<\/em> The Truth, so there\u2019s no need to resort to an option that would otherwise certainly raise a lot of doubts and turn Lane into a martyr.<\/p>\n Others may disagree, of course, and if so, they are much closer to this book\u2019s target audience than I ever will be.<\/p>\n (Other reviews of <\/em>Citizen Lane appeared in The Hook<\/a> and The Chicken Hawk<\/a>.)<\/p>\n (Matthew Thomas Farrell is a regular contributor to <\/em>the jonestown report. His other article in this edition is <\/em>Peoples Temple as Plot Device<\/em><\/a>. His earlier writings for this site are collected <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>He can be contacted at <\/em>saint@extremezone.com<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Preemptive CYA Disclaimer: Autobiographies are always a tough breed to assess. While there\u2019s the temptation to take the tale as an inside-edition \u201csetting the story straight,\u201d there\u2019s also the flip side we need to remember, that what we are reading is quite likely self-serving propaganda. Such is the case with Citizen Lane. There are a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":34357,"menu_order":22,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-34252","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34252"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134259,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34252\/revisions\/134259"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/a>The LOL WUT Moment:<\/strong> A few years ago there was an Internet phenomenon\/meme known as \u201cLOL WUT.\u201d It was a slightly altered graphic of a giant, grinning piece of fruit that had the caption \u201cLOL WUT\u201d underneath. The picture, so preposterous that it simultaneously produced laughter and head-scratching befuddlement, frequently made its appearance in Internet forums, invariably in response to someone posting a comment in all seriousness that was ridiculously silly. For instance, if during a discussion on the BP oil spill, someone inveighs with the claim that \u201cthe spill was actually a complex cover-up to hide the discovery of Atlantis!\u201d would almost certainly be greeted with a LOL WUT. Generally, when LOL WUT shows up in a discussion thread, it\u2019s a good indication that the forum has either run its course\/jumped the shark\/nuked the fridge, or at the very least the person making claims should be put on ignore<\/em>. With me so far? Good.<\/p>\n