26 Quotes by Jeff Guinn

Manson liked to brag that prison was his daddy and the street was his mother.

A nation could choose to observe socialist tenets. Communism meant rigid government control – people had no choice other than to comply, and government mandate rather than personal accomplishment determined the course of their lives. Peoples Temple socialism was intended to change hearts through example, not coercion.

One thing the army didn’t do very often was swoop in to deflect Indian attacks on wagon trains of settlers – there weren’t that many such assaults. Between 1842 and 1859, about thirty thousand Western emigrants died while en route by wagon train, but fewer than four hundred were killed by Indians. The wagon train death rate was 3 percent, compared to the 2.5 percent average among all Americans. Ninety percent of wagon train fatalities came from disease, with cholera the leading cause.

Jimmy’s two earliest and most enduring lessons from his mother were these: there was always some Them out to get you, and reality was whatever you believed.

Let me assure you doubters – there really is a Santa Claus. I learned from working on this book that you don’t need to go to the North Pole to find him. It’s only necessary to look into your own heart.

Jim Jones had wanted his grand gesture to make an impression on the entire world, and, to that extent, he succeeded. But the Jonestown deaths quickly became renowned not as a grandly defiant revolutionary gesture, but as the ultimate example of human gullibility.

Shaw resented being questioned by the Temple Planning Commission. It felt especially offensive because, besides her constant responsibilities as a foster parent, she had a day job as well, contributing her entire salary to the Temple.

It was ironic – the great socialists could only survive by becoming capitalists.” But.