The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple

I like to think I can handle reading just about anything but man oh man, the end of this book made me so nauseated. I had obviously heard things about Jonestown before - the “Kool-aid” joke being the crux of them. This book, while a slow, meticulous slog through the the mundane beginnings of Jonestown, is a thorough introduction to the group and their story. Guinn did a masterful job of in-depth research and somehow maintaining distance from this story with a horrific end. It was hard to reconcile the group at beginning of this book to the group at the end - how did things go so wrong and how did Jones become so unhinged? I appreciated Guinn's ability to stay removed and give us a full picture of the ups and downs of Jones and Peoples' Temple prior to the ubiquitous final tragedy. Objectivity with a case surrounding a tragedy of such tremendous proportions must have been difficult. I'm left dumbfounded and intrigued by the psychology of Jones in his years.