A Thousand Lives

The Untold Story of Hope, Deception, and Survival at Jonestown

By: Julia Scheeres

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

They left America for the jungles of Guyana to start a better life. Yet what started as a Utopian dream soon devolved into a terrifying work camp run by a madman, ending in the mass murder-suicide of 914 members in November 1978.

In A Thousand Lives, the New York Times best-selling memoirist Julia Scheeres traces the fates of five individuals who followed Jim Jones to South America as they struggled to first build their paradise, and then survive it. Each went for different reasons - some were drawn to Jones for his progressive attitudes towards racial equality, others were dazzled by his claims to be a faith healer. But once in Guyana, Jones' drug addiction, mental decay, and sexual depredations quickly eroded the idealistic community.

For this groundbreaking book, Scheeres examined more than 50,000 pages of newly released documents that the FBI collected from the camp after the massacre - including diaries, crop reports, and letters that were never sent home - as well as hundreds of audiotapes of Jones addressing his group.

Scheeres's own experience at a religious boot camp in the Dominican Republic, detailed in her unforgettable debut memoir Jesus Land, gives her unique insight into this chilling tale.

Haunting and vividly written, A Thousand Lives is a story of blind loyalty and daring escapes, of corrupted ideals and senseless, searing loss.

©2011 Julia Scheeres (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Chilling and heart-wrenching, this is a brilliant testament to Jones's victims, so many of whom were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time." ( Publisher's Weekly)

"Scheeres shows great compassion and journalistic skill in reconstructing Jonestown’s last months and the lives of many Temple members (including a few survivors).... [A] well-written, disturbing tale of faith and evil." ( Kirkus)

"Julia Scheeres' A Thousand Lives... tells the tragic tale of Jonestown - in its way, a peculiarly American apocalypse." ( Los Angeles Times)

Difficult but comprehensive read

What did you like best about this story?

I liked that it was detailed without being intensely graffic

Have you listened to any of Robin Miles’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have alwyas found Robin Miles to be a fantastic narrator; she did not disappoint here

Any additional comments?

This book is so important to read, giving truth to the attage "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Unforgettable

I began reading true crime because I wanted to know the story behind the sound bite headlines. This book delivers that and more. To listen is to watch something that began as a positive turn slowly into a horror.
I never knew or heard about the positive beginnings, or about the courage of so many who were involved...
Not for the faint of heart, the volience described is gut wrenching. Like reading about the Titanic, one wants to somehow rush in and re-write history and change the ending.
I'll never forget it, or the people I "met" while reading this.
This is a chapter in history that must not be forgotten, it has so much to teach us all.

Experiencing a New Emotion at the End of a Book

What are the typical responses you feel after finishing a book? If you are like me you have had awe or happiness after finishing an uplifting story, engagement after an informative one, and after a difficult or boring one a sense of relief for getting to the end.

This is the first time I have felt extreme anger as the "One Thousand Lives" story wound down. On finishing the tale at midnight, my state of mind was set to fuming for an hour and sleep eluded me.

Jim Jones was a charlatan and a liar. Through trickery and manipulation he was able to distort many people’s noble aspirations into a grisly society. My heart went out to those who started to realize the truth about Jones. They were trapped in an isolated community by a majority of blind acolytes. Although we all know the ending of this story of one thousand lives where over 200 innocent children were murdered in Jonestown, the author skillfully fills in the details with important firsthand information.

It is ironic that the biggest lesson from this riveting book was hung above Jim Jones throne on that fateful day. "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it". So a banner of wisdom participated in an orgy of stupidity by some intelligent people.

Still, I am convinced that the majority of listeners will take the appropriate lessons away from this highly recommended read.

Are you kidding?! A shocking must read!! A++

Upon finishing this book, I couldn't understand why I didn't already know more about this shocking tragedy. I realize that the suicides occurred before I was born (Im 33) , but so did the Charles Manson murders- and I grew up knowing all about that story and its victims. Anyway...

Knowing just a little about this story, I was transfixed with this book. It is so well written and well read! Kudos to the author for the ability to be empathetic, but also straightforward and cutting when necessary. The reader definitely gets to make up his own mind about various individuals involved, i.e. the members who were forced to leave family including their children behind when escaping.

The thing that was most surprising to me is that Jonestown was a movement for socialism, and not actually a religious cult. Jones started as a religious minister, but dropped all pretense of religion after a while. He forbade bibles and told the group that he was god. His message was not religious or spiritual, but economical. They killed themselves for socialism! ?????

I was shocked and disgusted after listening to a book about Scientology recently. Compared to Jonestown, Scientology barely registers on the radar! I have so much trouble understanding individuals who fall prey to men like Jim Jones or L Ron Hubbard. Both men had similar personality types, marked by the ability to charm and move people, and also by a growing and bizarre paranoia and isolation. Though I must add that Jones was just a really bad man, through and through. Why do people get caught up in cults? There was an obvious point where Jones had gone nuts, and yet these people followed him still. For years, the members lived in squalor and starved. Many lived in fear, and rightly so.

The final chapter of the saga, the circumstances before the mass suicide, was the most shocking. I knew about the suicides and forced suicides, but not about the slaughter of nonmembers.

I haven't read a more interesting book in a long time. I will definitely read more by Julia Scheeres. Also the narrator Robin Miles was excellent.

Why are all cult-leaders perverts?

I didnt know much of the Jonestown massacre before this book. I think the basis of the story should be taught in Junior high schools. Teens should be schooled in what signs to look for in their leaders. They should be aware of cult -leaders like Jim Jones who lie, cheat, manipulate, torture and ultimately kill.

Frightening in the extreme.

I have always had a fascination with the story of Jonestown. I remember as a teen watching a documentary on this story and just being engrossed. It is amazing what people will believe and do in order to fit in. We get to hear many different point of views from this book. It is written as if they were telling the story. I finished reading Helter Skelter not long ago and I thought Manson was crazy, but after reading this I believe Jim Jones was way more advanced in his delusions than Manson. So much abuse and mind control it was unbelievable that people get sucked into this, but it was so gradual it snuck up on most of them. The first hour or so is a little slow, but after that the horror and shock of what is unfolding will enthrall you.

WOW! Delve into Jones' warped mind... crazy scary

This book is amazing, very comprehensive and really takes you there, from the mild beginnings to the ruthless end. What a trip. I've read/listened to several books about Jones and Jonestown, and this is the best one I've found. What a sick guy.... this is why socialism is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad - in theory it's good, but never ever works out that way. :(

Morbid History Lesson

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

The book, yes. The audiobook, maybe. This is one of those books that has a lot of names, places, etc. that can be difficult to keep up with in audio format.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I think we all have a morbid curiosity when it comes to Jonestown and People's Temple. As others have said in reviews, there are scenes that are hard to listen to (child abuse, etc.)

Difficult but engrossing.

I was already pretty knowledgeable about Jim Jones and People's Temple, and the Jonestown tragedy, and still learned an incredible amount from this thorough and compassionate portrait of the people of Jonestown. I very much liked the technique of jumping around via the perspectives of different survivors and the use of diaries and letters to document what people were thinking as the Promised Land turned into Heart of Darkness. Heartbreaking and horrifying as it is to listen to the transcripts of the bitter end, it is so important for people to understand that ALL of the children and MANY of the adults did not commit suicide, they were murdered.

Another thing that comes across, which is absent from so many accounts of People's Temple, is how it could have been (and at times was) the groundbreaking social justice experiment that the congregants wanted it to be. How sad that the very thing (Jim Jones) that brought them all together is the same thing that tore the dream to shreds because all he really wanted was power.

The human side of a tragic event

This book gave me a chance to find some explanations as to what makes a person along with their children join a cult like this. This gave a look into these poor souls who got caught up in a nightmare.