A Thousand Lives

The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown

Ranked #15 in Cults

“A gripping account of how decent people can be taken in by a charismatic and crazed tyrant” (The New York Times Book Review).In 1954, a pastor named Jim Jones opened a church in Indianapolis called Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church. He was a charismatic preacher with idealistic beliefs, and he quickly filled his pews with an audience eager to hear his sermons on social justice. After Jones moved his church to Northern California in 1965, he became a major player in Northern California politics. Even as Jones’s behavior became erratic and his message more ominous, his... more

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