The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

by Jeff Guinn

Jimmy’s two earliest and most enduring lessons from his mother were these: there was always some Them out to get you, and reality was whatever you believed.

It was, he repeated in virtually every sermon, a matter of us against them, and the mission was to change the country, the world, through example rather than intermingling with outsiders on their unacceptable terms.

Nothing was more important than the cause, facts included.

“Keep them poor and keep them tired, and they’ll never leave.”