Author
David Talbot will talk about Jonestown, among other
traumas from the 1970s, at the April 30 meeting of the
San Francisco History Association.
Journalist David Talbot, a founder of the online
magazine Salon
and a former features editor at the San Francisco
Examiner, will
discuss his bestselling book about San Francisco at the next
meeting of the San
Francisco History Association, on Tuesday, April 30.
Published last spring, Season of the
Witch: Enchantment,
Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love explores
the social,
political, and cultural upheavals that rocked San Francisco
from 1967 to 1982.
In his talk, Talbot
plans to focus on the People’s Temple and
the rise of Rev. Jim Jones’ political machine. Jones’
supporters in the city’s
liberal establishment included Mayor George Moscone and
Supervisor Harvey Milk,
and both, according to the association, “were deeply
compromised by their
association with the cult leader in the 1970s.”
The author also will dissect how Jones was able
to avoid
official inquiries and media scrutiny while planning to take
his flock to
Guyana, which eventually resulted in the murder/suicide of
more than 900
people.
The Jonestown tragedy is only one of many
gut-checks in Talbot’s
work. Also documented are the wild, drug-filled days of San
Francisco’s music
scene—from Janis Joplin to the Grateful Dead—the shocking
assassinations of
both Milk and Moscone by Supervisor Dan White, and the
terrible advent and
spread of AIDS.
But from the ashes there came compassion and
liberation, Talbot
writes, and even the unifying grace of a winning football
team.
The evening starts off with a social hour at 7
p.m., with Talbot
set to speak at 7:45 p.m. The talk will be held in the hall at
St. Philip’s
Church, 725 Diamond St. between Elizabeth and 24th streets.
Admission is free
to association members, $5 for others.
There is limited parking in St. Philip’s
schoolyard; please
enter on Elizabeth Street.
For more information, call the association at
415-750-9986 or
visit sanfranciscohistory.org
online.
In his talk, Talbot
plans to focus on the People’s Temple and
the rise of Rev. Jim Jones’ political machine. Jones’
supporters in the city’s
liberal establishment included Mayor George Moscone and
Supervisor Harvey Milk,
and both, according to the association, “were deeply
compromised by their
association with the cult leader in the 1970s.”