Black & White (book)
Encyclopedia
Black & White is a non-fiction book written by Shiva Naipaul
and published by Hamish Hamilton
in the U.K. in 1980. It was published with the title Journey to Nowhere: A New World Tragedy in the U.S. The book is based on Naipaul's trip to Guyana
in the aftermath of the Jonestown Massacre, and his subsequent trip to the United States
, in which he explored links between the People's Temple and other groups and individuals. Naipaul attempted to connect Rev. Jim Jones
, founder of the People's Temple, with disparate parts of California
's counterculture
, and Guyanese and other Third World governments and the revolutionary
ideologies which supported them. Naipaul was highly critical of these and other movements, including the U.S. Civil Rights movement
, black liberation
, and the nascent New Age
movement, Including EST
, in as much as they helped, in his analysis, to create fertile ground for the People's Temple to flourish on the two continents. The book's US paperback cover tagline reads "How American ideas and ideologies led to the mass suicide of 900 people in Jonestown, Guyana."
Naipaul would later tell his father-in-law of the arresting effects visiting Jonestown
had had on him, saying that the dissipation of the earlier comic, lighter tone in his work was due to this.
Shiva Naipaul
Shiva Naipaul , born Shivadhar Srivinasa Naipaul in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, was a Trinidadian and British novelist and journalist.Shiva Naipaul was the younger brother of novelist V. S. Naipaul...
and published by Hamish Hamilton
Hamish Hamilton
Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton . Confusingly, Jamie Hamilton was often referred to as Hamish Hamilton...
in the U.K. in 1980. It was published with the title Journey to Nowhere: A New World Tragedy in the U.S. The book is based on Naipaul's trip to Guyana
Guyana
Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...
in the aftermath of the Jonestown Massacre, and his subsequent trip to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, in which he explored links between the People's Temple and other groups and individuals. Naipaul attempted to connect Rev. Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
, founder of the People's Temple, with disparate parts of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's counterculture
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
, and Guyanese and other Third World governments and the revolutionary
Liberation movement
A liberation movement is an organization leading a rebellion against a colonial power or national government, often seeking independence based on a nationalist identity and an anti-imperialist outlook.-See also:*Anti-imperialism...
ideologies which supported them. Naipaul was highly critical of these and other movements, including the U.S. Civil Rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
, black liberation
Black liberation theology
Black liberation theology, sometimes shortened to black theology, is a relatively new theological perspective found in some Christian churches in the United States. It maintains that African Americans must be liberated from multiple forms of bondage — political, social, economic, and religious...
, and the nascent New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
movement, Including EST
EST
-Places:* Est , a town in Gelderland* Estonia, a nation in northern Europe** Estonian language, the Estonian language in ISO 639.2 or ISO 639–3 language codes* Est Region , one of Burkina Faso's 13 administrative regions...
, in as much as they helped, in his analysis, to create fertile ground for the People's Temple to flourish on the two continents. The book's US paperback cover tagline reads "How American ideas and ideologies led to the mass suicide of 900 people in Jonestown, Guyana."
Naipaul would later tell his father-in-law of the arresting effects visiting Jonestown
Jonestown
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby...
had had on him, saying that the dissipation of the earlier comic, lighter tone in his work was due to this.