Cult City: Jim Jones, Harvey Milk, and 10 Days That Shook San Francisco

Daniel J. Flynn has written a historical account about Harvey Milk and Rev. Jim Jones. They were both born and raised elsewhere than San Francisco, California. They came to the city by the bay in the sixties.This book is an essential read in understanding the city; contemporary history and the events that unfolded in November 1978.On November 18,1978, 918 lives were lost in Jonestown; Port Kaituma and Lamaha Gardens in Georgetown, Guyana. On November 27, 1978, disgruntled and troubled Dan White shot and killed San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Openly Gay Supervisor Harvey Milk. The 2008 film, "Milk." omitted any mention of Jonestown or Milk's relationship with Jones and the People's Temple.This book chronicled Milk and Jones lives and histories. It is important to know that Jones and Milk had a platonic relationship where Milk used Jones for his support in his campaign. Jones was appointed on the San Francisco Housing Commission. Milk and Moscone among others defended Jones and the People's Temple despite evidence, testimonies and an urgency to assist the people in Jonestown.Congressman Leo Ryan was the real hero and should be remembered for his genuine care and concern. He risked his life to visit Jonestown. Ironically former Vice President than Congressman Dan Quayle was supposed to join him but his wife was pregnant and due at the time. Ryan was the kind of politician who took an interest in his constituents even putting his life on the line.I was surprised to know about Milk's private life especially his preference for young men. I wasn't surprised to learn that Jones was going to be taken out but it was too late. Only if they had done it sooner, so many lives would have been saved. Milk and Moscone were never held accountable for their lack of investigations into the People's Temple and Jones because they were killed 9 days later. Harvey Milk got a state holiday; a postage stamp and the Presidential Medal of Freedom post-humously. Milk has been appointed the gay martyr. Dan White didn't kill Milk because of his sexuality nor did he kill Moscone for another reason. White felt betrayed by Milk and Moscone.The book is an easy read overall and offered insight as we approach the fortieth anniversaries of both tragic events.

This is powerful and thoughtful book. The research, even-handed narrative, and attention to detail is amazing. I found it to be stunningly attune to our present day cultural and political situation. The author spent years researching, but the parallels to our media and political frenzy today are too good to miss. In Cult City, the national radicalization of our two political parties in a context of rising socialism and over-the-top politics is eerily mirrored in the actual history of one of America’s most susceptible, naive, but corrupt cities. Since purchasing, there hasn't been a day this week that recent events do not evoke an echo to the events of the late 1970's and the San Francisco this book chronicles. The last sentence of the book, though a well-known quote, has been remarkably prophetic.Well worth the money spent.

Daniel Flynn well documents the connections between San Francisco politics in the 1970s, the Jonestown mass murder and suicide, and the assassinations of city supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. It is a highly readable and fascinating story, though not for the squeamish.The main protagonists are Milk and Jim Jones. I’ll start with the better of the two. Milk’s life shows the risks and benefits of political activism. He paid the ultimate price during his lifetime. He was a supervisor for the San Francisco city government in the late 1970s. A colleague, Dan White, resigned his position, enabling Mayor George Moscone to fill his position. White was the swing vote on a measure important to his constituents. When they complained, he sought to withdraw his resignation. Mayor Moscone was initially supportive, though this meant losing an important vote. Milk worked behind the scenes to keep White off the board of supervisors. When White learned that his friend betrayed him, he killed Milk and Moscone.Milk was not a saint. In order to attract gay support, he falsely claimed to have been discharged from the military for being a homosexual. He was a serial child abuser. He wrote a dishonest letter to President Carter supporting his ally, Jim Jones. After death Milk’s victimhood turned him into a martyr, with a movie and a state holiday. (White spent five years in prison; he was one of the many people in this story who didn’t bet what they deserved.) Milk’s death is often falsely portrayed as motivated by hostility to gays; it was about city politics.If Milk was flawed, Jones was the devil himself. It’s hard to think of any area where Jones wasn’t disgraceful. He was a liar, omnisexual adulterer, swindler, hypocrite and mass murderer. He performed faith healings and raised people from the dead. Jones attracted minorities because he was ostensibly on their side. Yet he favored whites when filling leadership slots. Jones liked the poor and minorities only in the sense that anteaters like ants.Jones was no Christian; he was a Marxist. Jones’ gimmick was to use appeals to Christianity to promote socialism. One example of his depravity: Jones forced a child to eat its vomit. When the child threw up again, Jones again made it eat its vomit. An example of his hypocrisy is his imposition of abstinence, while he was very promiscuous.Jones was very charismatic. His “congregation” grew in both size and influence. Poor members turned their welfare benefits over to the Peoples Temple. They willingly moved to Jonestown (Jones was starting to get into legal trouble), an agricultural experiment that had to import food and rarely served meat. The compound was not the expected utopia but a concentration camp. Besides the armed guards, the jungle made escape dangerous. Except for a few defectors, the followers were willing to die for him. Oddly enough, it was the children who mostly resisted death.Jones’ supporters weren’t the only ones to be gullible. There ought to be a special place for the politicians who aided him. These include First Lady Rosalynn Carter, Vice President Walter Mondale, Governor Jerry Brown, and future Speaker of the State Assembly, Willie Brown. The book omits a letter Mondale wrote calling Jones’ congregation an “inspiration” to him. Also worthy of note is the America envoy who not only ignored complaints but tipped off Jones.In a book with much reprehensible behavior, there are a few heroes. Congressman Leo Ryan took complaints seriously. He went to Guyana and rescued some. He paid with his life. Other heroes are those who escaped or warned others. The politicians who helped Jones were never held to account; many advanced their careers.If there’s a lesson in Flynn’s well-organized and thoroughly research book, it’s don’t go looking for utopia. Skepticism towards all public figures is always in order.

I lived in San Francisco when this was going down. Most of what Flynn reports I already new. There are a few episodes and quotations that are new to me but they fit so well with rest I’m inclined to accept them as accurate.Although I had little direct contact with any of the events due to working 60+ hrs a week for a tech company, there was enough info leaking through to know that PT was a cult and Jones a dangerous conman. There was also enough info out there the recognize Moscone, Milk and their friends as a bunch of sleazy politians who embraced progressive/marxist BS to get power and maybe wealth unavailable to them by other means.

Engrossing look into the tie-in between San Francisco politics and the Jones cult. Murder and suicide seem almost as “natural outcomes” for Moscone and Milk and the Jones cult. How could any of these persons or activities end on a good note?

Interesting read did not ever think these two separate incidents could possibly Be connected .Very good read