Since 900 members of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple committed mass-suicide in 1978, the event has stood as a horrifying example of the evils the masses can do under the sway of a charismatic leader – a case study along the lines of the famous Milgram experiment, in which scientists convinced test subjects to torture complete strangers. Ethnic tensions in the United States drove Peoples Temple adherents to seek an egalitarian utopia in Guyana, South America, where their dream descended into catastrophe.
