Death in the Jungle

By Candace Fleming

A leader's dark influence leads 900 followers to a deadly end.

4.3/5 Goodreads · 3,007 ratings

356 pages

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Bookroo's summary

In a chilling tale of manipulation, Jim Jones transforms from a humble Depression-era child to the leader of Peoples Temple, promising equality but delivering tragedy. As he relocates his followers to Guyana, the community becomes a sinister experiment in control. With gripping first-person accounts, the story unfolds to reveal how Jones convinced over 900 people to commit mass suicide, testing their ultimate devotion. Amidst the horror, a few, including his own son, dared to defy him, but their resistance came too late. Discover the harrowing journey of faith turned fatal.

From the publisher

How did Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, convince more than 900 of his followers to commit “revolutionary suicide” by drinking cyanide-laced punch? From a master of narrative nonfiction comes a chilling chronicle of one of the most notorious cults in American history. A YALSA EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION WINNER - A SCBWI GOLDEN KITE AWARD FINALIST - ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: Publishers Weekly, BookPage, Horn Book, Booklist, The Bulletin of The Center for Children’s Books, School Library Journal Using riveting first-person accounts, award-winning author Candace Fleming reveals the makings of a monster: from Jones’s humble origins as a child of the Depression… to his founding of a group whose idealistic promises of equality and justice attracted thousands of followers… to his relocation of Temple headquarters from California to an unsettled territory in Guyana, South America, which he dubbed “Jonestown”… to his transformation of Peoples Temple into a nefarious experiment in mind-control. And Fleming heart-stoppingly depicts Jones’s final act, persuading his followers to swallow fatal doses of cyanide–to “drink the kool-aid,” as it became known–as a test of their ultimate devotion. Here is a sweeping story that traces, step by step, the ways in which one man slowly indoctrinated, then murdered, 900 innocent, well- meaning people. And how a few members, Jones’ own son included, stood up to him… but not before it was too late.