Publisher's Synopsis
Re-issued in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the mass suicides at Jonestown, this revised edition of David ChidesterÆs path-breaking book features a new prologue that considers the meaning of the tragedy for a post-Waco, post-9/11 world. For Chidester, Jonestown recalls the American religious commitment to redemptive sacrifice, which for Jim Jones meant saving his followers from the evils of capitalist society. ôJonestown is ancient history,ö writes Chidester, but it does provide us with an opportunity ôto reflect upon the strangeness of familiar . . . promises of redemption through sacrifice.ö David Chidester is Chair of Religious Studies at the University of Cape Town and author or editor of 20 books, including American Sacred Space(IUP, 1995), edited with Edward T. Linenthal, and Christianity: A Global History.