|
|
Article: David Chidester. Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple, and Jonestown.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Utopian Studies
- Article date:
- March 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Society for Utopian Studies. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
David Chidester. Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple, and Jonestown. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2003. 190 pp. $19.95 (paperback) or $45.00 (cloth)
This is a slightly modified and updated second edition of Chidester's 1988 book with the same title. The modifications are mainly at the beginning, an attempt to contextualise the Jonestown tragedy into the post-9/11 world of mass terrorism. It remains unclear to me, however, that any worthwhile connection can be made between these two events--other than the obvious point that both were underpinned by fanaticism. Chidester begins inauspiciously by admitting, "I do not claim to be able to explain Jim ...