Raven (Reiterman book)

In addition to covering the Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple in articles in the San Francisco Examiner, Reiterman also accompanied Representative Leo Ryan on his November 1978 investigative trip to Jonestown.{{cite news |last=Sheeley |first=Rachel E. |title=Jonestown: 25 Years Later |work=Palladium-Item |date=November 16, 2003 |page=7A}} Reiterman was shot when the Peoples Temple attacked Ryan's delegation at an airstrip in Guyana, but he survived.{{cite news |last=Robertson |first=Jordan |title=Two Documentaries Revisit Jonestown |agency=Associated Press |date=April 23, 2006}}

During the course of his research for the book, Reiterman traveled to Indiana and visited locations where Jim Jones grew up and conducted interviews with local residents who knew him.

The book describes the events that occurred in Jonestown, Guyana, where over 900 people lost their lives as the result of mass forced suicide, which constituted the largest loss of American civilian life (other than due to natural disasters or during the course of violence with Native Americans) in United States history until the events of September 11, 2001.{{cite news |last=Rapaport |first=Richard |title=Jonestown and City Hall slayings eerily linked in time and memory |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 16, 2003 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/11/16/INGEM3070J1.DTL&type=printable |accessdate= 2008-09-19}} The book further describes the investigation and death of Representative Ryan.{{cite news |last=Brazil |first=Jeff |title=Jonestown's Horror Fades but Mystery Remain |work=Los Angeles Times |date=December 16, 1999}}

In 1983, Raven was recognized with the Thomas Thompson PEN Award for nonfiction.{{cite news |last=Staff |title=John Jacobs; Columnist, Award-Winning Author |work=Los Angeles Times |page=B8 |date=May 25, 2000 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-may-25-me-33886-story.html |access-date=2008-09-19 }}{{cite news |last=Sward |first=Susan |title=John Jacobs – Political Writer, Big-Hearted Man |work=San Francisco Chronicle |page=C2 |publisher=The Chronicle Publishing Co |date=May 25, 2000}} Marshall Kilduff of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote highly of the book and recommended it in a 2007 summer reading list: "This stands as the definitive history of Jim Jones and his bizarre Peoples Temple."{{cite news |last=Kilduff |first=Marshall |title=Personal Perspective: A summer reading list |work=San Francisco Chronicle |page=B6 |date=July 2, 2007}} Rob Morse of the San Francisco Examiner wrote: "The book is so definitive, it's tough going. It has no cheap thrills, just depressing shivers."{{cite news |last=Morse |first=Rob |title=The Truth Is Even Further Out There |work=San Francisco Examiner |page=A1 |date=March 28, 1997 }} In a review for the Associated Press, Lisa Levitt Ryckman called the book "the most comprehensive of the dozen written since Jones directed his followers in an orgy of suicide and murder",{{cite news |last=Levitt Ryckman |first=Lisa |title=Jim Jones: Resurrected In Book Four Years After Guyana Tragedy |agency=Associated Press |date=November 17, 1982}} and in a subsequent article about Jonestown reiterated her position, and referred to the book as the "definitive book on Jones and Peoples Temple".{{cite news |last=Ryckman |first=Lisa Levitt (Associated Press) |title=A Jonestown Story – Tragedy in Guyana |work=Sun-Sentinel |page=1G |publisher=Sun-Sentinel Company |date=November 13, 1988}}

The book received a positive review in Library Journal, and reviewer Barbara Conaty wrote: "This compelling, brutally convincing account is unlikely to be surpassed."{{cite journal |last=Conaty|first=Barbara |title=Raven |journal=Library Journal |volume=107 |pages=1890 |date=October 1, 1982}} Barbara Bright of The New York Times Book Review described the book as a "powerfully written and well-researched book, documenting a peculiarly American tragedy".{{cite journal |last=Bright |first=Barbara |title=Raven |journal=The New York Times Book Review |volume=88 |pages=9 |date=December 26, 1982 |publisher=The New York Times Company}} A review in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries called the book "Good supplementary reading for a number of college courses, and valuable for general adult reading, it is strongly recommended for all libraries," and commented "Reiterman's methods and sources are sufficiently described to certify Raven as a serious work."{{cite journal |title=Raven |journal=Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries|volume=20 |pages=1007 |date=March 1, 1983 |issn=0009-4978}} Herbert A. Michelson of The Sacramento Bee described Raven as : "a critically acclaimed study of the Peoples Temple".{{cite news |last=Michelson |first=Herbert A. |title=New Trial To Begin In Jonestown Killings |work=The Sacramento Bee |page=B5 |date=September 17, 1986 }}

Bob MacDonald of The Boston Globe characterized the book as an "excellent inquiry" into the deaths at Jonestown.{{cite news |last=MacDonald |first=Bob |title=Review Book A Look Back At Jonestown Mass Suicide |work=The Boston Globe |publisher=Globe Newspaper Company |date=November 18, 1982}} In a review in National Review, David Evanier wrote: "Raven does not explain Jones ... But through its accumulation of excellent details, he is understood by the book's end, without apology, exaggeration, superfluous information, or psychoanalysis."{{cite journal |last=Evanier |first=David |title=Raven |journal=National Review |volume=34| pages=428–430 |date=April 16, 1982}} Jordan Robertson of the Associated Press called Raven the "seminal book on the Peoples Temple".{{cite news |last=Robertson|first=Jordan (Associated Press) |title=Revisiting Jonestown, at long last |work=The Star-Ledger |page=22 |date=April 25, 2006}} Writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, Michael Taylor characterized the work as an "exhaustive study",{{cite news |last=Taylor |first=Michael |title=Jones Captivated S.F.'s Liberal Elite – They were late to discover how cunningly he curried favor |work=San Francisco Chronicle |page=A1 |publisher=The Chronicle Publishing Co. |date=November 12, 1998}} and Stephen G. Bloom of the Sacramento Bee called it "an exhaustive biography of Jim Jones".{{cite news |last=Bloom |first=Stephen G. |title='I Wanted To Believe; I Felt Ecstasy At Peoples Temple,' Survivor Recalls – 10 Years After 913 Died, Jonestown Still Mystery |work=Sacramento Bee |page=A1 |date=November 13, 1988}}

Raven has been used as a reference in other books discussing the events surrounding Jonestown and Peoples Temple. Henry Warner Bowden used the book as a reference in the entry on Jim Jones in Dictionary of American Religious Biography.{{cite book |last=Bowden |first=Henry Warner |title=Dictionary of American Religious Biography: Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1993 |pages=276–277 |isbn=0313278253 }} Harold G. Barrett utilized Raven as a reference in his book Rhetoric and Civility, and described it as "a thorough, highly detailed and documented account".{{cite book |last=Barrett |first=Harold |title=Rhetoric and Civility: Human Development, Narcissism, and the Good Audience |publisher=SUNY Press|year=1991 |page=176 |isbn=0791404838}} Eugene V. Gallagher and W. Michael Ashcraft referenced the book in their work Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, where they referred to it as "an engaging journalistic account".{{cite book |last=Gallagher |first=Eugene V. |author2=W. Michael Ashcraft |title=Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2006 |pages=113 |isbn=0275987124}}

In 2016, it was announced that Vince Gilligan of Breaking Bad and The X-Files would be developing an HBO limited miniseries based on Raven, about Jones and the 1978 Jonestown tragedy. It would have been co-produced by Octavia Spencer and Gilligan's longtime collaborator Michelle MacLaren.{{cite news|last=Goldberg|first=Lesley|date=September 9, 2016|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/jonestown-drama-vince-gilligan-octavia-927002/|title=Jonestown Drama From Vince Gilligan, Octavia Spencer and Michelle MacLaren Set at HBO|work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=January 17, 2024}} However, in 2018, Gilligan said that he had slowed down on developing the project.{{cite news|last=Keene|first=Allison|date=July 2, 2018|url=https://collider.com/better-call-saul-season-4-vince-gilligan-patrick-fabian-interview//|title='Better Call Saul': Vince Gilligan on Season 4's 'Breaking Bad' Connections|work=Collider|access-date=January 17, 2024}}

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{{Portal|Books|Religion}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070505103241/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/jonestown/filmmore/pt.html Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple], PBS, 2007 (includes Reiterman interview clips)

{{Peoples Temple}}

{{Leo Ryan}}

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Category:1982 non-fiction books

Category:Books about Jonestown

Category:Leo Ryan

Category:E. P. Dutton books

Category:Cultural depictions of Jim Jones

Category:English-language non-fiction books