Here are 14 books that Seductive Poison fans have personally recommended if you like
Seductive Poison.
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I taught English and creative writing for 37 years in San Francisco, California. In 2018, Ron Cabral and I published And Then They Were Gone, which tells the story of the Peopleâs Temple teenagers we taught. Many of them never returned after the Jonestown massacre and died there. We hope this story about our young studentsâtheir hopes, their poetry, their efforts to help make a better worldâwill bring some light to the dark story of Jonestown.
Raven is the best, most comprehensive, and most thoroughly researched book on Jim Jones, Jonestown, and Peoples Temple. Reiterman is a fine investigative journalist who was part of a group to visit Jonestown, Guyana in November of 1978. The visitors included, among others, eight members of the press; Congressman Leo Ryan and his aide Jackie Speier; and thirteen representatives of the âConcerned Relatives,â their own name for the group. Every member of the group had defected from the Temple in San Francisco. Only some of these visitorsâReiterman and a few of the other journalists, Ryan and Speier, and a small number of the group of relativesâwere finally and reluctantly admitted in by Jones, on the stern advice of Jonesâs lawyers. The Concerned Relatives were there to see ifâas they strongly suspectedâthose in Jonestown were being held against their will. The journalists wanted to find the truth about life in theâŚ
The basis for the upcoming HBO miniseries and the "definitive account of the Jonestown massacre" (Rolling Stone) -- now available for the first time in paperback.
Tim Reitermanâs Raven provides the seminal history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown in 1978.
This PEN Awardâwinning work explores the ideals-gone-wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America. Reitermanâs reportage clarifies enduring misperceptions of the character and motives of Jim Jones, the reasons why people followed him, and the important truth that manyâŚ
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to runâŚ
I taught English and creative writing for 37 years in San Francisco, California. In 2018, Ron Cabral and I published And Then They Were Gone, which tells the story of the Peopleâs Temple teenagers we taught. Many of them never returned after the Jonestown massacre and died there. We hope this story about our young studentsâtheir hopes, their poetry, their efforts to help make a better worldâwill bring some light to the dark story of Jonestown.
Woollettâs novel is based on much research on Peoples Temple and Jonestown. She came to the US from Australia for interviews with many survivors and othersâincluding Ron Cabral and me because of our knowledge of the teenagers in the Temple. Itâs a great read and adds much to the understanding of those who joined the Temple. Evelyn Lyndon (all the characters have fictional names except Jim Jones) is the âBeautiful Revolutionaryâ who, with her idealistic husband, joins the Temple and eventually becomes one of Jonesâs mistresses. I recognize many of the bookâs characters, sometimes two people rolled into one. Only in a novel could Woollett be in the minds of the characters she follows in this story, who are all believable and vividly drawn.
The thrilling new novel, inspired by the events at Jonestown in the 1970s.
It's the summer of 1968, and Evelyn Lynden is a woman at war with herself. Minister's daughter. Atheist. Independent woman. Frustrated wife. Bitch with a bleeding heart.
Following her conscientious-objector husband Lenny to the rural Eden of Evergreen Valley, California, Evelyn wants to be happy with their new life. Yet she finds herself disillusioned with Lenny's passive ways - and anxious for a saviour. Enter the Reverend Jim Jones, the dynamic leader of a new revolutionary church ...
Meticulously researched and masterfully written, Beautiful Revolutionary explores theâŚ
In 1999, fresh out of Harvard, I moved to Zendik Farmâa neo-hippie cult with a radical take on sex and relationships. Since I left in 2004, Iâve been composting the experience into a source of fertility. I've explored not only what drew me to Zendik and kept me there but also how groups like Zendik feed on deficiencies in our cultural soilâand how common it is for us humans to get trapped inside stories. Evenâespeciallyâif we assume ourselves immune to cultism. That is, Iâve approached my cult experience with sincere curiosity. So have all the authors on this list. Thatâs why I love them.
In 1988, I watched a TV special marking the tenth anniversary of the massacre at Jonestown. Did the producers ask who the dead were? How theyâd found the Peopleâs Temple? What theyâd hoped for when theyâd joined? If so, the answers didnât stick. Nothing stuck but the heaps of corpses in lurid Technicolorâscenes from a horror film misfiled in real life. No wonder I sealed that story and others like it in a pit marked âevil,â âmadness,â âthem.âÂ
In this book, Scheeres shows that many entered the Peopleâs Temple seeking what life outside had so far denied them: comfort, camaraderie, and the chance to serve what seemed a worthy cause. She shows how some fought to survive. She returns a throng of âthemâ to the ring of human understanding.
âA gripping account of how decent people can be taken in by a charismatic and crazed tyrantâ (The New York Times Book Review).
In 1954, a past or named Jim Jones opened a church in Indianapolis called Peoples Temple Full Gospel Church. He was a charismatic preacher with idealistic beliefs, and he quickly filled his pews with an audience eager to hear his sermons on social justice. As Jonesâs behavior became erratic and his message more ominous, his followers leaned on each other to recapture the sense of equality that had drawn them to his church. But even as theâŚ
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother hadâŚ
As someone who lived through the very interesting and tumultuous 1960s and 70s, I am fascinated by details of otherâs experiences of the same time frame. I inhabited the early 70s fully, going to so many once-in-a-lifetime cultural events: poetry readings, music performances, avant-garde theater, and âbe-insâ or âhappenings.â With a Masters degree in Creative Writing, I have been an observer of culture and art for several decades. I am the author of three collections of poetry, a book of short fiction, a novel, and a book for writers.
A nonfiction book that reads like a novel; I loved this book because it gave context to one of San Franciscoâs darkest days. On November 27, 1978, California suffered a terrible blow as its beloved mayor, George Moscone, and its first openly gay Supervisor, Harvey Milk, were assassinated.
With its infamous âTwinkie defense,â the assailant, Dan White, attempted to convince the city that he was temporarily insane. I loved learning about the behind-the-scenes politics.
The critically acclaimed, San Francisco Chronicle bestsellerâa gripping story of the strife and tragedy that led to San Franciscoâs ultimate rebirth and triumph.
Salon founder David Talbot chronicles the cultural history of San Francisco and from the late 1960s to the early 1980s when figures such as Harvey Milk, Janis Joplin, Jim Jones, and Bill Walsh helped usher from backwater city to thriving metropolis.
I began reading about religion, cults, and âhigh demandâ groups to help me understand the group I was writing about in The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy and the Wild Life of an American Commune. In my book, the central question was how could so many smart, highly educated people allow their lives to be taken over by a group of psychotherapists. As a result, it was crucial for me to understand what draws people into new religions and holds them in groups that others may consider extreme or bizarre.
The Road to Jonestown is a solid, comprehensive account of the long road that led Jim Jones and more than 900 of his followers to take their lives in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978, by literally drinking the Kool-Aid.
What Guinn does well is show the early appeal of Jonesâs church, its message of inter-racial harmony and social justice which attracted many idealistic young people as well as a substantial number of African-American followers. The book explains Jonesâ repeated contacts with Father Divine and his Peace Mission movement.
Jones was a complex mix of charismatic preacher and flim-flam man â both deeply insecure and wildly grandiose with a pronounced tendency toward victimhood and paranoia which became increasingly pronounced as he led his group to its apocalypse.Â
In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially integrated, and he was a much-lauded leader in the contemporary civil rights movement. In this riveting narrative, Jeff Guinn examines Jones's life, from his extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing to the fraught decision to move almost a thousand of his followers to a settlement in the jungles of Guyana in South America. Guinn provides stunning new details of the events leading to the fatal day in November, 1978 when more than nine hundred peopleâŚ
I donât think Iâm alone in considering cults and those who join cults fascinating, but Iâve also always found it frustrating when non-fiction accounts or documentaries focus on the logistics of how the communes operate rather than finding out the why. Why do people join a cult, why do they stay, why do they follow increasingly erratic and dangerous instruction? For me, researching cults for my new novel The Sleepless â about a commune whose disciples believe that sleep is a social construct â was about finding out about the characters, the individuals, who are drawn into organisations which often ask you to relinquish that self-same sense of individuality.
This novel reimagines the events of the Jonestown massacre with lushly beautiful prose and a magical realist twist that offers the possibility of escape and redemption from the most horrific circumstances.
Itâs a wonderfully immersive story that sucks you in with sensory detail and a hope-against-hope that the main characters wonât âdrink the Kool-Aidâ. One of those books where you need to sit still and catch your breath after turning the last pageâŚ
Acclaimed novelist, playwright, and poet Fred DâAguiar has been short-listed for the T.S. Eliot Prize in poetry for Bill of Rights, his narrative poem about the Jonestown massacre, and won the Whitbread First Novel Award for The Longest Memory. In this beautifully imagined work of literary fiction, he returns to the territory of Jim Jonesâs utopian commune, interweaving magical realism and shocking history into a resonant story of love, faith, oppression, and sacrifice in which a mother and daughter attempt to break free with the help of an extraordinary gorilla.
Joyce and her young daughter, Trina, are members of aâŚ
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man sheâŚ
As a young man, I wanted to do good. And I believed the best way to do that was to increase the commitment Iâd made to my faith. So, I joined a church that appeared genuine. But much to my shock, not everything was as it seemedâIâd fallen into a cult. Deception, authoritarianism, and hypocrisy abounded. This led me on a decades-long search for answers: How could leaders do this? Why would members stay loyal? What could be done about it? I eventually found my answers and began doing what Iâd always wanted to doâhelp others. I did it by becoming a journalist/author specializing in religion.
As someone who personally knows this author, I can say with absolute certainty that this is one of the best go-to books for anyone interested in cult structure and the dynamics of cult involvement. If youâve ever been perplexed by how someone could possibly get involved in not just a religion-based cult, but also a politics-based cult, then this is the volume for you. Itâs intriguing, as well as informative. Â
Combating Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue and Recovery from Destructive Cults: This 2018, 30th-anniversary edition honors the 40th anniversary of the tragedy in Jonestown, Guyana. On November 18th, 1978, over 900 people including a U.S. congressman Leo Ryan died because of Cult Leader Jim Jones. Over 300 were children forced to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid by their parents who believed they were doing Godâs will. The techniques of undue influence have evolved dramatically, and continue to do so. Today, a vast array of methods exist to deceive, manipulate, and indoctrinate people into closed systems of obedienceâŚ
Iâve spent most of my 20-year career as a professional journalist covering the entertainment industry, and I find it endlessly fascinating. As is probably true for you if youâre reading this, I love movies and TV shows. As a curious person, I always want to know why. Why did this movie get made at this time with these people? If you want to know the answer, youâve got to understand the business. Hollywood is such an interesting business, full of big personalities trying to manage corporate pressure and creative egos and to balance their need to make a profit with their desire to make great art.
Bach was an executive at United Artists when the struggling studio decided to bet it allâand then someâon a film called Heavenâs Gate. It ended up being one of the most infamous debacles in Hollywood history: a critical and commercial dud that took so long to make and lost so much money that it literally destroyed a studio.
How does a bomb this bad happen? Bach shows in detail how the best of intentions can lead to failure in a story that doesnât just demonstrate what went wrong with Heavenâs Gate but how hard it is to make a good movie when business and art intertwine.
Heaven's Gate is probably the most discussed, least seen film in modern movie history. Its notoriety is so great that its title has become a generic term for disaster, for ego run rampant, for epic mismanagement, for wanton extravagance. It was also the film that brought down one of Hollywoodâs major studiosâUnited Artists, the company founded in 1919 by Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, D. W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin. Steven Bach was senior vice president and head of worldwide production for United Artists at the time of the filming of Heaven's Gate, and apart from the director and producer, theâŚ
I am a biographer, and my biography of E.E. Cummings centers on his unjust imprisonment in France during the Great War in dangerously brutal conditionsâcold, underfed, and subject to the sadism of the prison guards. It is hard to imagine anything more imperative than writing about injustice. But perhaps for that very reason, it is difficult to write without the consciousness of a deep inadequacy to the task. I feel therefore an enormous gratitude towards those writers, five of whom I have chosen here, whose honesty and courage in writing about injustice serves as an inspiration and a beacon.Â
Wilson Harrisâs Palace of the Peacock is a wildly different way of writing about injustice â mesmerising and disorienting. The language swirls around itself and there is a bewildering feeling of never knowing quite what you are reading. I felt completely taken away from myself reading it, with no idea where I was being taken but utterly absorbed in its world. Originally published in 1960, it has now been republished in a wonderful new edition from Faber Finds, which includes a foreword by Harris reflecting on his own place in early postcolonial literature and a superb afterword by Kenneth Ramchand.
The visionary masterpiece, tracing a riverboat crew's dreamlike jungle voyage ... 'My new all time favourite book ... A magnificent, breathtaking and terrifying novel.' Tsitsi Dangarembga 'An exhilarating experience ... Makes visions real and reality visions ... Genius.' Jamaica Kincaid 'A masterpiece: I love this book for its language, adventure and wisdoms.' Monique Roffey 'Revel in the inviolate, ever-deepening mystery of Wilson Harris's work.' Jeet Thayil 'The Guyanese William Blake . Such poetic intensity.' Angela Carter
I dreamt I awoke with one dead seeing eye and one living closed eye ...
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the worldâs most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the bookâŚ
In 1999, fresh out of Harvard, I moved to Zendik Farmâa neo-hippie cult with a radical take on sex and relationships. Since I left in 2004, Iâve been composting the experience into a source of fertility. I've explored not only what drew me to Zendik and kept me there but also how groups like Zendik feed on deficiencies in our cultural soilâand how common it is for us humans to get trapped inside stories. Evenâespeciallyâif we assume ourselves immune to cultism. That is, Iâve approached my cult experience with sincere curiosity. So have all the authors on this list. Thatâs why I love them.
After ten years in a political cult, Janja Lalich dove deep into research on Heaven's Gate. Then she set out to explain, in this book, how smart, driven people function under coercive control.Â
The gist? While they keep their intelligence and capacity for achievement, they shrink the range within which they act and think.
Lalich's perspective helped me understand why my fellow ex-Zendiks and I had acquiesced to so much dumb shit. We weren't stupid or brainwashedâjust trapped by bounded choice.
Also, I was delighted by her account of her own cult's implosion, crystallized in the moment when the leader pulls out a cigarette and no one offers a light.Â
Heaven's Gate, a secretive group of celibate 'monks' awaiting pickup by a UFO, captured intense public attention in 1997 when its members committed collective suicide. As a way of understanding such perplexing events, many have seen those who join cults as needy, lost souls, unable to think for themselves. This book, a compelling look at the cult phenomenon written for a wide audience, dispels such simple formulations by explaining how normal, intelligent people can give up years of their lives - and sometimes their very lives - to groups and beliefs that appear bizarre and irrational. Looking closely at Heaven'sâŚ
