Heavenly Deceptor [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

This book has a lot of interesting information in it, but the author obviously has an axe to grind that gets in the way of what he is trying to say. That doesn't make his information any less interesting or credible, at least some of it. In fact, I found a lot of what he had to say actually made the case he was trying to dismiss. Confusing? If I hadn't already done a lot of reading about Jonestown prior to this book, I would be too. Nevertheless, I'm glad I read it, and would recommend it as an adjunct to any other research on the subject.

I have to admit that Teresa Jean Buford (born September 4, 1952 in Newport, Rhode, Island) had an upbringing that would explain her motives and actions during the Jonestown massacre.

While those of us believe that it was mass murder, Terri's escape three weeks before November 18 did not go un-noticed or unaffected by Jones. He was terrified of her because she knew where the money which included millions of dollars.

Terri's background as the daughter of a military commander and manic depressive mother further explained her dysfunctional background. She came from a nuclear family but there was more toxic in that household that was left largely unexplained in the book.

For Terri, she is the story here. She fires back at her former lover and attorney, Mark Lane, in her book which largely goes un-noticed and is hard to get. It's one of the hardest books regarding Jonestown and the People's Temple.

There are some interesting facts but there is also mis-information. For example, Steven Jones is really Stephan Gandhi Jones and he is the only biological son of Jim and his legal wife, Marceline Mae Baldwin Jones. It's always spelled as Stephan Jones because he was born 3 weeks after his adopted sister, Stephanie, died in a car accident. Anyway, the book is vague on some notions.

While some of us are quite suspicious of Terri Buford's answers, why didn't she get help for Jonestown when she disappeared or plead for assistance to save the lives of over 900 men, women and children. A third of the population were kidnapped children.

Of course after Jonestown destruction on November 18, 1978, California and other government agencies had failed to investigate Jones and his operation before he moved to Guyana in summer of 1977, I suspect that Moscone's election in 1975 was won voter fraud. Jones was a powerful ally in San Francisco politics that he would send his followers to campaign religiously for their political allies like Moscone.

Milk was also a supporter of Jones and the People's Temple but you wouldn't know anything about it from the movie and it's downplayed to maintain his martyr status to the gay community. But the fact that Moscone and Milk were pretty much hiding after Jonestown displayed their cowardice.

They could have done much more to help the survivors and the families. When Jonestown occurred on November 18, 1978, the damage was far worse than any earthquake in California history. Jones had connections and millions of dollars and Terri Buford was his right-hand person, lover, and partner until she herself disappeared.

Unlike Deborah Layton who should be admired and revered as somebody who tried to stop the events of November 18, 1978 from ever coming to fruition, Terri Buford is haunted and rightfully so by Jones himself.

She became one of his heavenly deceptors and a willing contributor to the horrors of Jonestown such as the punishment, humiliating catharthic sessions, heavy workloads, and poor diets. She was one of the privileged few could have done so much more but now has to live with herself.

In the end of the book, she is compared to the fictional character, Sophie, from William Styron's book, "Sophie's Story." Terri is plagued by guilt for leaving her foster son behind and saving herself and being part of a concentration camp.

I don't blame Terri's actions because unless we are in her situation, we could never imagine what she was going through. She was 26 years old in 1978. After Jonestown, she tried to escape her past and became a mother of Vita whose father is Mark Lane.

She had a relationship with Mary Weiner but it dissolved after some years. Terri is haunted by her past and haunted by those she left behind in Guyana and Jim Jones himself. He haunts her dreams because he hasn't forgiven her betrayal and her abandonment.

I wonder what Terri could and should have done but it's too late now. She will always be haunted by her past, Jonestown, and the People's Temple. Terri has survived but even survival has a heavy price to pay when so many lives have been lost and left behind. I don't know what I would do in Terri's shoes and I shouldn't really judge her for what she did but I only want to understand it to prevent it from ever happening again.

While this book is interesting in that the author purports to have interviewed Terri Buford, his constant mistakes throughtout the book throw doubt on much of what he says. While some of his errors are clearly nothing more than typographical problems (ie incorrect footnoting that sends you to the wrong reference), other problems are factual in nature and greatly problomatic. He bases part of his assumption that Jim Jones was killed by the inner circle, on his statement that JJ was shot from a great distance. This is incorrect. While it is certainly true Jones may have been killed by someone else, if he was, it was done up-close and personal. He was shot at point-blank range. Other "facts" that Landau presents are equally false or, at best, misrepresented.

If you want a conspiracy-laden theory of Jonestown that indicts Mark Lane, this book is for you. If you want a well-researched, factual account, try instead "Raven" by Tim Rieterman, far and away the seminal work on the subject.

I would have given this book only one star, but frankly it was nice seeing someone sticking it to Mark Lane whose book "Strongest Poison" is some of the most self-aggrandizing claptrap it has ever been my misfortune to come across.