Written by Joseph Hartmann
Bill Hausman, an American diplomat in Guyana, has scarcely heard of Jonestown, the religious “paradise” that has recently established itself deep in the Guyanese jungle. He knows very little about the Peoples Temple or their leader, Jim Jones, a passionate, pro-integrationist minister with a vision of a harmonious future for all God’s children—and dark personal demons that will twist that vision into a horrifying nightmare. Yet Bill quickly becomes acquainted with all these things when his world collides with that of John Olsen, an American businessman whose ex-wife has moved to Jonestown, taking their daughter, Katrina, with her. As rumors surface of hunger, beatings, manipulation, and other strange abuses within the closed cult settlement, John grows increasingly frantic to get Katrina out of there, before the cruelest of these rumors comes to fruition…before Jim Jones’ long-awaited White Night.
Set in the truth of history, with detail that comes from the author’s firsthand experience, Before White Night is a fictionalized account of courage at the threshold of one of the twentieth century’s most shocking and unsettling tragedies.
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Joseph Hartmann is a Vietnam veteran who spent thirty years in government service before retiring to Blacksburg, Virginia, with his wife and son. During the 1970s, he served as a vice consul at the American embassy to Guyana and witnessed events leading up to and following the infamous Jonestown massacre. He is also the co-author of A Live Controversy: The Story of Autism and a Family’s Determination. Before White Night is his first novel.
Format: Paperback, E-book
Pages: 224
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-9399300-8-8
ISBN E-book: 978-1-9399301-9-4
Release date: October 15, 2013 (paperback) / December 10, 2014 (e-book)
