Journey to Nowhere begins – and ends – in a precipitation-dampened atmosphere. For author Shiva Naipaul, this marks a particularly unusual melancholy pall over his entire work.

This book provides a very alternate view on Jonestown, Guyana, and the People's Temple under Jim Jones. Rather than regale established fact and speculated experiences there, Naipaul takes the route of self-exploration and variant viewpoints. Rather than delve into the horrors so lushly provided by the age's “instant books” and media reports of 1978-1979, Naipaul attempts to decode the lure of the Temple, and to rationalize the irrational beliefs held by over a thousand followers of Jones.

Journey to Nowhere has been described as being rife with “sardonic humour” (The Times, London). This, in a sense, accurately describes the overall tone of the work. Naipaul spares no detail for the sake of seriousness' sake; he delves into the overbearing presence of a fellow (unnamed) writer who protests at every given opportunity during a government-sanctioned tour of the depleted Jonestown, to great comical effect; he also described the pesky fly bothering Black Panther Huey Newton during Naipaul's exchange with the man. As far as humour goes, the book does contain a hearty amount of satirical-yet-realistic detail, but it cannot be considered a work of comedy.

In fact, during his remaining short years alive after the publication of Journey to Nowhere (also released as Black & White in Europe), Naipaul contended that the dark changes which overtook his writing style was a direct effect of the bleak, desolate journey into the eviscerated Jonestown, two months after the 1978 tragedy, with the stench of violent death still emanating from the very Guyanese soil.

Naipaul links the journey of the People's Temple from church to socialist movement to American tragedy to many other elements of the zeitgeist from which it spawned. Racial relations are examined, as are “religious” and ingeminated teachings/beliefs to which individuals remain steadfast, regardless of what they may have formerly felt as being “moral,” or socially acceptable. Journey to Nowhere is not a glimpse of the People's Temple under yet another microscope, resplendent with trite commentary – this book is wholly unique inasmuch as it represents a single man's journey into the heart of the beast, and his particular conclusions regarding the entire matter.

Well-written and captivating, this book may not be the definitive version of events which led to the “revolutionary suicide” in Jonestown, but it does represent one of the most introspective investigations thereof.

Interesting account of Jim Jones' People's Temple. Pretty fast read.

If a book focused on a horrible event like the Jonestown massacre can be described sensitively as a delight, this book is a delight. Naipaul goes on-site to investigate the socio-economic and political environments that enabled an organization like Peoples Temple to attract followers and skirt oversight, both in corrupt, autocratic Guyana and post-modernist California. Despite the serious subject matter, Naipaul writes with a touch of humor and sarcasm...maybe reading like a PJ O'Rourke with a drier and more restrained touch?

The one flaw is that Naipaul's discussion of the California scene throws a lot against the wall without coalescing around a coherent thesis. On the other hand, forty years later doing so would still be a difficult task. Some things are hard to understand. Journey to Nowhere may not have the answers, but it provides ample food for thought.

Aptly titled