Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple andJonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the "trulyunforgettable" ( Kirkus Review ) story of how one woman wasseduced by one of the most notorious cults in recent memory and howshe found her way back to sanity. From Waco to Heaven's Gate, the past decade has seen its share ofcult tragedies. But none has been quite so dramatic or compellingas the Jonestown massacre of 1978, in which the Reverend Jim Jonesand 913 of his disciples perished. Deborah Layton had been a memberof the Peoples Temple for seven years when she departed forJonestown, Guyana, the promised land nestled deep in the SouthAmerican jungle. When she arrived, however, Layton saw thatsomething was seriously wrong. Jones constantly spoke of arevolutionary mass suicide, and Layton knew only too well that hehad enough control over the minds of the Jonestown residents tocarry it out. But her pleas for help--and her sworn affidavit tothe U.S. government--fell on skeptical ears. I
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Discover Jane Fonda, in her own words and now experience the story of her life in the HBO documentary Jane Fonda in Five Acts.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Discoverersdemonstrates the truth behind the aphorism that if Cleopatra's nosehad been shorter, the face of the world would have been changed.Boorstin goes on to uncover the elements of accident, improvisationand contradiction at the core of American institutions andbeliefs.