Fascinating

As you can't break down the book into parts, I riffled between 4 and 5 stars.
For the most part I was riveted.
This book was extremely extensive. This was a good and a bad thing. It was so extensive, that I started to feel like I was back in school and I found myself saying, "Okay, I get it. No need to keep reiterating that point, move along."
The author wasn't redundant but the antics of Jim Jones and his followers became redundant.
I find cults fascinating and this book was the most extensive, on Jim Jones, I've encountered to date. Most books on the subject leave me wanting to know more. This book left me very satiated and without the usual dangling curiosity.
If you want to know all the ins and outs of Jonestown and Jim Jones, this is the book to listen to.
The narrator was good, yet very slow so I did have to speed up the playback.

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worth the listen

the story is long but it is worth it to fully understand the massacre in Jonestown. This story is haunting and at times infuriating. Jim Jones is the epitome of evil. Using notions of equality, social justice and even socialism as bait for a trap that would cost the lives of nearly a thousand people, over three hundred of them children as young as a month old.

To understand how this could happen in the first place is important and this book helps in that understanding.

don't drink the flavor aid.

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An Insightful, Meticulous Chronicle

Yes, this book is longer than it needs to be.. a skilled Editor could probably carve 10 hours from the text.. but it actually goes by quite quickly. Tim Reiterman puts together an incredibly well-researched documentary of the rise and fall of Jim Jones and The People's Temple. The book is organized logically, includes voluminous detail (surprisingly without much information that feels extraneous), and provides an eye-opening look into the personalities and motivations that culminated in the 'Jonestown Massacre' (No, it was not a "Mass-Suicide").. claiming 918 lives in the jungle of Guyana on November 18, 1978. The writing is clear, descriptive, and well-paced.

The quality standards for this recording are excellent and the narration by historian Mitch Horowitz is commendable. His diction is clear, he delivers an interested performance, and his level of gravitas is appropriate to the subject matter without slipping into a sombre monotone. The one drawback is that Horowitz's pacing is off (I had to increase playback speed to 1.15X for an optimal listening experience).

When all is said and done, I worried that this painstakingly-compiled thirty-hour recording would be tedious. It's not. Even with slightly suboptimal narration, I rate it 9 stars out of 10 - it's well worth your Credit if you're looking for an in-depth presentation from a reporter who investigated controversies with The People's Temple in California and survived the Airstrip attack on Congressman Leo Ryan in South America. There are several free documentaries (and a very good docudrama) on YouTube if you're interested, but this is a definitive look. I can Highly recommend it.

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Incredible Reading

Even though at times the text in this book is dense and thick with information, reader Horowitz kept me enthralled at all times, never falling into a monotone. The quality of the book combined with the quality of the reading makes this a true treasure. I can not recommend it enough.

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Well worth it

This was a fascinating and detailed look at Jim Jones and his twisted mind, from the time he was a very young boy, until his last day in Jonestown. He may have been the mastermind of The People's Temple but he was not alone in his journey. His own family and closest followers and co-conspirators are profiles here; too. A thoroughly researched piece of work. There is nothing left to know. The narrator was excellent; suitably somber without being boring.

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