My Thoughts - A Thousand Lives - Julia Scheeres

I picked an odd time to read this disturbing story.  November.  November is the month The Peoples Temple was instructed to commit mass suicide.  November is the month of Thanksgiving.  An odd coincidence.  And today as I finish the book on Thanksgiving, I'm left feeling out-of-sorts and sad.  So many lives disrupted and destroyed due to one madman.

I am old enough to know the cultural references to The Temple ("Don't drink the Kool-Aid") but not old enough to remember the events. Scheeres's book does an amazing job of explaining the hows and whys of the cult.  In the beginning, I remember thinking "this guy doesn't seem that bad and the cause seems worthy" but then all hell breaks loose.  The control Jim Jones had over his followers is astonishing.  The book describes how people can get caught up in a movement with no turning back before they even realize how deep they are involved.

I'm just so dismayed by what happened to these people.  I don't even know what to say.

If you haven't read this book, read it.