If we are to learn anything of value from the murders and mass suicide at Jonestown, its history must be salvaged from popular myths, which are little more than superficial atrocity tales. In this superb cultural history, John R. Hall presents a reasoned analysis of the meaning of Jonestown: why it happened and how it is tied to our history as a nation, our ideals, our practices, and the tensions of modern culture. Hall deflates the myths of Jonestown by exploring the social character of Jim Jones's Peoples Temple-how much of what transpired was unique to the group and its leader and how much can be explained by reference to wider social processes?