Off the Stacks is a weekly-ish feature where I highlight a nonfiction book I’m curious about but will probably run out of hours in the day to actually read. I’m hoping that by highlighting titles this way, I can encourage other people to give the book a try, and, if it’s great, consider nominating it later this year for the Indie Lit Awards. Consider these books stamped with the “Sophisticated Dorkiness Seal of Curious Approval.”
Title: A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown
Author: Julia Scheeres
Publisher: Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Nonfiction Type: Narrative History
Topics Covered: Jonestown, politics, 1960s
What It’s About: A Thousand Lives follows five members of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple – “a middle-class English teacher from Colorado, an elderly African American woman raised in Jim Crow Alabama, a troubled young black man from Oakland, and a working-class father and his teenage son “ – who came to the community for different reasons but ended up fighting for their lives as Jones slowly drew the community into chaos.
Why I Want to Read It: I liked Julia Scheeres memoir Jesus Land, which was about her time at a religious reform school in the Dominican Republic. I think her experiences in that sort of environment will give a lot of insight into this particular exploration of Jonestown and what happened there.
Who Else Might Like It: Historians, those fascinated by fanaticism and escapism
Reviews: Chocolate & Croissants |
Comments on this entry are closed.
The Jim Jones story is certainly fascinating, so I can see why this would make the list. If only we had like five extra unscheduled hours in a day, we could maybe get through our book wishlists. 🙂
Oh yes, five extra hours would be so great. I wish I could just learn to sleep less to read more 🙂
I quite liked Jesus Land and thought she did a great job with this book.
Oh good, I’m glad to hear that!
I’m anxious to read this book too.
It looks so good. I’m sure i’ll get to it eventually.
I saw this on NetGalley and I was tempted, but I tend to get a bit too overloaded with NetGalley books. I think I would rather wait and see if the library gets it. I am glad to hear the author is worth a read. I might have to check into her other book.
I’m so bad with NetGalley — I always want books, but never seem to get through the ones I request before they expire. Jesus Land was a really good, really sad, really interesting book.
I have this on my tbr list along with the author’s first book, JesusLand. I know that Carrie from Books and Movies wrote a great review about this.
Is there a B.A.N.D. topic for this month?
Thanks, I’ll have to go find her review too. Yes, there is going to be BAND – Ash is posting on her blog tomorrow. We got off because of BBAW and hadn’t quite gotten caught up.
This one is in my stacks too and yes I really want to read it. I find this subject fascinating!
Yeah, religious cults or that sort of thing always really intrigues me.
I just saw something about the Jonestown suicides/murders and the photos were horrific. I never realized that many people were involved. This would be good to read to get the full story. Thanks!
I know very little about Jonestown, but ugh, it does seem terrible.
I’m reading this one right now. I’m just about halfway in, and hope to finish it this week. It is a good book so far.
Yay, I’m glad to hear it!