Sign-In
Cart
Stories from Jonestown
Paperback
Religion General 21st Century United States HistorySouth American History
Currently unavailable to order
Please enter your email and a message will be sent to you when this product becomes available on our website.
ISBN13: 9780816678099
Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
Published: May 30 2023
Pages: 376
Weight: 1.49
Height: 0.90 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.50
Language: English
The saga of Jonestown didn't end on the day in November 1978 when more than nine hundred Americans died in a mass murder-suicide in the Guyanese jungle. While only a handful of people present at the agricultural project survived that day in Jonestown, more than eighty members of Peoples Temple, led by Jim Jones, were elsewhere in Guyana on that day, and thousands more members of the movement still lived in California. Emmy-nominated writer Leigh Fondakowski, who is best known for her work on the play and HBO film The Laramie Project, spent three years traveling the United States to interview these survivors, many of whom have never talked publicly about the tragedy. Using more than two hundred hours of interview material, Fondakowski creates intimate portraits of these survivors as they tell their unforgettable stories.
Collectively this is a record of ordinary people, stigmatized as cultists, who after the Jonestown massacre were left to deal with their grief, reassemble their lives, and try to make sense of how a movement born in a gospel of racial and social justice could have gone so horrifically wrong--taking with it the lives of their sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, and brothers and sisters. As these survivors look back, we learn what led them to join the Peoples Temple movement, what life in the church was like, and how the trauma of Jonestown's end still affects their lives decades later.
What emerges are portrayals both haunting and hopeful--of unimaginable sadness, guilt, and shame but also resilience and redemption. Weaving her own artistic journey of discovery throughout the book in a compelling historical context, Fondakowski delivers, with both empathy and clarity, one of the most gripping, moving, and humanizing accounts of Jonestown ever written.
Also in
21st Century United States History
Shakespeare in a Divided America: What His Plays Tell Us about Our Past and Future
Shapiro, James
Hardcover
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation
Kobes Du Mez, Kristin
Paperback
Up on Cove Mountain: Adventure, Tragedy, and a Quest for Meaning on the Appalachian Trail
Swift, Earl
Hardcover
The Counterrevolution: The Fall and Rise of Donald Trump and the Maga Movement
Hanson, Victor Davis
Hardcover
The Vampire's Cult: The Untold Story of Obsession, Control, and a Shocking Small-Town Murder
Hardin, Chet
Paperback
Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department
Davis, Aaron C.
Leonnig, Carol
Hardcover
United States of Oligarchy: How America's Wealthiest Ally with Dictators, Weaken the U.S., and Destroy Democracy
Michel, Casey
Hardcover
All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump
Scaramucci, Anthony
Hardcover
The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There
Zidar, Owen
Zwick, Eric
Hardcover
Yuppies: The Bankers, Lawyers, Joggers, and Gourmands Who Conquered New York
Gottlieb, Dylan
Hardcover
Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town
Hayden, Michael Edison
Hardcover
I Will Follow You Anywhere: The True Story of the 9/11 Responders Who Took on Congress
Feal, John
Hardcover
Damn Fine Soldiers: The Epic Story of Task Force 2-7 Infantry and the 21-Day Attack to Baghdad That Changed Modern Warfare
Rutter, Scott E.
Paul, Matthew
Paperback
A History of the United States in Five Crashes: Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation
Nations, Scott
Paperback
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End
Howe, Neil
Paperback
The White Pedestal: How White Nationalists Use Ancient Greece and Rome to Justify Hate
Dozier, Curtis
Hardcover
Whiplash: From the Battle for Obamacare to the War on Science
Morone, James a.
Blumenthal, David
Hardcover
The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy
Taylor, Matthew D.
Hardcover
The Only Plane in the Sky (Revised and Expanded Edition for the 25th Anniversary): An Oral History of 9/11
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
Happy Semiquincentennial, America!: 250 Reasons Why America Is Still Worth Celebrating
Payleitner, Jay
Hardcover
Survivor Legends: The Players Who Changed the Game (Unofficial & Unauthorized)
Merchant, Shaan
Hardcover
This Is an Uprising: How Nonviolent Revolt Is Shaping the Twenty-First Century
Engler, Mark
Engler, Paul
Paperback
Cash on the Block: The Broken Promise of Reinvestment in Black Urban Neighborhoods
Satter, Beryl
Hardcover
The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End
Howe, Neil
Hardcover
The Rise and Fall of the Neoliberal Order: America and the World in the Free Market Era
Gerstle, Gary
Paperback
The Trump Indictments: The 91 Criminal Counts Against the Former President of the United States
Velshi, Ali
Paperback
Holding Fast in Heavy Seas: Leadership for Turbulent Times by Rear Admiral
Gallaudet Us Navy (Ret), Tim
Paperback
Ill Winds: Saving Democracy from Russian Rage, Chinese Ambition, and American Complacency
Diamond, Larry
Paperback
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime
Heilemann, John
Halperin, Mark
Paperback
Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department (Large Print Edition)
Leonnig, Carol
Davis, Aaron C.
Paperback
Biden's Corruption and War: The True Story of the 1 Billion Dollar Prosecutor
Shokin, Viktor
Paperback
The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc: Ronald Reagan, D-Day, and the U.S. Army 2nd Ranger Battalion
Brinkley, Douglas
Paperback
Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law
Rothstein, Leah
Rothstein, Richard
Paperback
Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy Since 1938, Ninth Revised Edition
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
Holding Fast in Heavy Seas: Leadership for Turbulent Times by Rear Admiral
Gallaudet Us Navy (Ret), Tim
Hardcover
White Fear: How the Browning of America Is Making White Folks Lose Their Minds
Martin, Roland
Lakins, Leah
Hardcover
The Hidden Roots of White Supremacy: And the Path to a Shared American Future
Jones, Robert P.
Paperback
Hold the Line: The Insurrection and One Cop's Battle for America's Soul
Shiffman, John
Fanone, Michael
Paperback
2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America
Dawsey, Josh
Arnsdorf, Isaac
Pager, Tyler
Hardcover
The Infernal Machine: A True Story of Dynamite, Terror, and the Rise of the Modern Detective
Johnson, Steven
Paperback
Reign of Terror: How the 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump
Ackerman, Spencer
Paperback
New Cold Wars: China's Rise, Russia's Invasion, and America's Struggle to Defend the West
Sanger, David E.
Paperback
The American Century: A History of the United States from 1900 to the Pandemic
Cohen, Rodgir
Paperback
White Poverty: How Exposing Myths about Race and Class Can Reconstruct American Democracy
Barber, William J., II
Paperback
Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law
Rothstein, Richard
Rothstein, Leah
Hardcover
America: The Last Best Hope (Volume III): From the Collapse of Communism to the Rise of Radical Islam
Bennett, William J.
Paperback
Latinoland (Spanish Edition): Un Retrato de la Mayor Minoría de Estados Unidos
Arana, Marie
Paperback
Lessons from Bobby: Ten Reasons Robert F. Kennedy Still Matters (Large Print Edition)
Matthews, Chris
Hardcover
We're Not Leaving: 9/11 Responders Tell Their Stories of Courage, Sacrifice, and Renewal
Luft, Benjamin J.
Paperback
A Republic If You Can Keep It: Reflections on an America in Crisis
Gaillard, Frye
Tucker, Cynthia
Paperback
Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next
Onishi, Bradley
Paperback
Black Ball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Spencer Haywood, and the Generation That Saved the Soul of the NBA
Runstedtler, Theresa
Paperback
New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement
Williams, Juan
Paperback
Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland
Zito, Salena
Hardcover
On Top of the World: Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, and 9/11: A Story of Loss and Renewal
Barbash, Tom
Paperback
Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11 (20th Anniversary Commemorative Edition)
DiMarco, Damon
Paperback
Who's Your Founding Father?: Discovering the Mecdec in the True Cradle of American Independence
Fleming, David
Paperback
Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley's Swingin' A's
Turbow, Jason
Paperback
No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States
Chemerinsky, Erwin
Paperback
We the Presidents: How a Century of Presidents from Harding to Trump Forged Today's America
Gruner, Ronald
Hardcover
America's Next Great Awakening: What the Convergence of Mysticism, Religion, Atheism & Science Means for the Nation. And You.
Naughton, Christopher W.
Paperback
Biden's Corruption and War The True Story of the 1 Billion Dollar Prosecutor
Shokin, Viktor
Hardcover
Subway: The Curiosities, Secrets, and Unofficial History of the New York City Transit System
Morris, John E.
Hardcover
Equal Means Equal: The Case for Recognizing the Era as the 28th Amendment
Neuwirth, Jessica
Paperback