Jonestown 30 Years Later

The preacher who rose to power in San Francisco ultimately led hundreds to their deaths on Nov. 18, 1978.

Much of the Peoples Temple story is in large collections of audiotapes which are available to researchers and the general public. The tapes offer an immediacy that other media do not: they include the voices of the people of Peoples Temple and Jonestown; they represent a contribution to the history of the Temple in its own words; they present events in their original form rather than forcing us to rely on faulty memories; and – most important – they remind us of the complexity of the Temple with its creative and destructive forces, its principled stands and its ethical lapses, its passion for life and (at least for some of its leaders) its passion for death.

Continued...