Journey to Nowhere

A New World Tragedy

De: Shiva Naipaul, Hua Hsu - introduction

A timeless classic that recounts the origins of the Jonestown Massacre as well as the U.S. culture wars of the late 60s and 70s

In this harrowing and unflinching work of reportage, acclaimed writer Shiva Naipaul travels deep into the ideological wreckage of the Jonestown massacre—seeking not only to understand the tragedy in Guyana, but to trace the broader crisis of faith, belonging, and disillusionment that made it possible.

With characteristic wit and fierce intelligence, Naipaul investigates the rise and fall of Jim Jones and the People’s Temple, but his journey takes him far beyond the jungle compound. From California’s radical enclaves to the fringes of Caribbean politics, he uncovers a tangle of social desperation, utopian yearning, and political naiveté that stretches across the Americas.

Journey to Nowhere is more than a chronicle of one cult’s collapse—it is a searing meditation on idealism gone awry, and a sobering reflection on the perils of misplaced hope in a fractured world. Relentlessly observant and darkly perceptive, this is Naipaul at his most urgent: confronting the illusions of progress and the cost of blind belief in the modern age.

“There [have] been many accounts of the macabre events…Shiva Naipaul’s book stands out by its resolute attack on this question and its refusal to accept easy answers…lively…absorbing.”–The New York Times

©2026 Shiva Naipaul (P)2026 Random House Audio