{"id":70447,"date":"2017-10-05T15:54:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T22:54:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=70447"},"modified":"2026-03-01T10:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T18:30:49","slug":"road-to-jonestown-published","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=70447","title":{"rendered":"Road to Jonestown<\/i> Published"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Road to Jonestown<\/a><\/em>, Jeff Guinn\u2019s 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\u2019s Raven<\/em> in 1981. At year’s end, Amazon named The Road to Jonestown<\/em> as a Best Book of the Year in both the History and Biography categories.<\/p>\n

A contributor to\u00a0the jonestown report<\/em>\u00a0for several years while he worked on the book, Guinn\u2019s reflections upon completion of the book are here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reviews of the book from past contributors to the jonestown report<\/em> reviews include:<\/p>\n

\u2022 New Materials Worth Reading in New Jones Biography<\/a>, by Annie Dawid
\n\u2022 Guinn Follows Many Routes on Road to Jonestown<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>by Jason Dikes<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reviews during the first months after publication include those in:<\/p>\n

A Texas author travels to Jonestown\u2019s heart of darkness for his new book<\/a>
\nby Chris Warner, Dallas News<\/em>, March 31, 2017 (also here<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Jeff Guinn takes readers on a tragic trip with Jim Jones in \u2018The Road to Jonestown\u2019<\/a>
\nby David Martindale, Fort Worth Star-Telegram<\/em>, April 1, 2017<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Road to Jonestown,\u201d by Jeff Guinn<\/a>
\nby Kevin Canfield, San Francisco Chronicle<\/em>, April 5, 2017<\/p>\n

Book festival features fascinating look at Jonestown tragedy<\/a>
\nby Gilbert Garcia, San Antonio Express-News<\/em>, April 6, 2017<\/p>\n

Dark, deadly saga of Jonestown set in a decade hungry for utopia<\/a>
\nby Dan Cryer, Boston Globe<\/em>, April 7, 2017<\/p>\n

How Jim Jones led massacre victims to ‘drink the Kool-Aid’<\/a>
\nby Matt Damsker, USA Today<\/em>, April 10, 2017<\/p>\n

Jonestown Massacre Biographer on the Question: How Successful Would Jim Jones\u2019 Cult Be\u00a0Today?<\/a>
\nby Greg Hanlon, People Magazine<\/em>, April 11, 2017<\/p>\n

This Is a Scarily Relevant Book About the Jonestown Massacre<\/a>
\nby Lauren Larson, GQ<\/em>, April 13, 2017<\/p>\n

\u2018The Road to Jonestown\u2019 tells horrifying tale of mass suicide<\/a>
\nby Kevin J. Hamilton, Seattle Times<\/em>, April 16, 2017<\/p>\n

Book examines local roots of cult leader Jim Jones<\/a>
\nby Mickey Shuey, Palladium-Item<\/em>, Richmond, Indiana, April 16, 2017<\/p>\n

New book offers fuller picture of Jim Jones, Peoples Temple tragedy<\/a>
\nby John Wilkens, San Diego Union-Tribune<\/em>, April 16, 2017<\/p>\n

Jonestown Massacre vividly chronicled in ambitious new book about Peoples Temple<\/a>
\nby Douglas Perry, Oregon Live<\/em>, April 17, 2017<\/p>\n

Jeff Guinn’s Jim Jones biography is revealing, powerful look of the cult leader<\/a>
\nby Robert Anglen, Arizona Republic<\/em>, April 20, 2017<\/p>\n

Texas writer explores how Jonestown tragedy happened<\/a>
\nby Glenn Dromgoole, The Eagl<\/em>e, Byran, TX, April 23, 2017<\/p>\n

Jim Jones: Peoples Person<\/a>
\nby Peter Lawrence Kane, SF Weekly<\/em>, April 26, 2017<\/p>\n

WV Book Team: Author details story of the Jonestown Massacre<\/a>
\nby Erin Brewster, WV Book Team, Charleston<\/em> (WV) Gazette-Mail<\/em>, April 26, 2017<\/p>\n

BOOK REVIEW: “The Road to Jonestown” by Jeff Guinn<\/a>
\nby Bill O\u2019Brien, Red Dirt Report<\/em>, May 14, 2017<\/p>\n

Assignment: Ukiah- Jim Jones\u2019s Socialist Utopia: All equal (impoverished or dead)<\/a>
\nby Tommy Wayne Kramer, Ukiah Daily Journal<\/em>, May 21, 2017
\n(This piece also includes a review of Tim Stoen\u2019s Love Them to Death<\/em>.)<\/p>\n

The Child Within the Monster<\/a>
\nby Daniel J. Flynn, City Journal<\/em>, \u201cA quarterly magazine of urban affairs,\u201d June 30, 2017<\/p>\n

Road to Jonestown: Twists and Turns<\/a>
\nby Joseph Richardson, Fort Worth<\/em> (Texas) Weekly<\/em>, July 19, 2017<\/p>\n

REVIEWS: ‘The Road to Jonestown,’ by Jeff Guinn<\/a>
\nby Ginny Greene, Minneapolis Star-Tribune<\/em>, July 21, 2017<\/p>\n

Nearly 40 years later, we are still learning about the horrors of the Jonestown massacre<\/a>
\nby Vanessa Brown, news.com.au<\/i>, August 20, 2017<\/p>\n

‘The Road to Jonestown’ follows the dark tragedy of Peoples Temple founder<\/a>
\nCarole Ann Clark, Great Falls Public Library, Great Falls Tribune<\/em>, August 22, 2017<\/p>\n

Abilene book festival honoree ranges wide with subjects<\/a>
\nby Scott Kirk, Abilene Reporter-News<\/em>, September 14, 2017<\/p>\n

The Road to Jonestown<\/a>
\nby Kristian Klippenstein, Reading Religion<\/em>, May 15, 2018<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Guinn was also interviewed on numerous media outlets, including the following:<\/p>\n

The myths of Jonestown: \u201cJim Jones was who Charlie Manson wanted to be,\u201d says author of new book on 1978 tragedy<\/a>
\nby Bob Calhoun, Salon<\/em>, April 8, 2017<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.npr.org\/2017\/04\/11\/523348069\/nearly-40-years-later-jonestown-offers-a-lesson-in-demagoguery<\/a>
\nwith Terry Gross, Fresh Air<\/em>, NPR, April 11, 2017<\/p>\n

The Author of a New Biography of Jim Jones Knows What a Powerful Demagogue Sounds Like<\/a>
\nby Aaron Mesh, Willamette<\/em> (Oregon) Week<\/em>, April 18, 2017<\/p>\n

Nearly 40 years on, ‘The Road to Jonestown’ examines charismatic cult leader<\/a>
\nby Mike Yawn, The Houston Chronicle<\/em>, May 1, 2017<\/p>\n

A demagogue, a massacre and the ‘Road to Jonestown’<\/a>
\nby Marcheta Fornoff, Minnesota Public Radio, August 1, 2017<\/p>\n

Book review: Road To Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, by Jeff Guinn<\/a>
\nby James Belfield, stuff.com (New Zealand), September 3, 2017<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Road to Jonestown, Jeff Guinn\u2019s 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\u2019s Raven in 1981. At year’s end, Amazon named The Road to Jonestown as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":70254,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-70447","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70447","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70447"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134450,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70447\/revisions\/134450"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/70254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}