The mass murder/suicide at Jonestown was reported when I was in elementary school and I can still remember seeing the photos of the hundreds of victims lying on the ground of the compound. This book brought those memories back, but this time with voices of survivors. I have Jim Jones to thank for my obsession with cults, and this book tells the story of the Peoples Temple and Jim Jones from the earliest days of hope to the final hours of terror.

The author did a lot of research and it shows. The interviews with survivors and the amount of background were impressive without being academic. It is also very powerful and honest, but not too tawdry. It has appeal for older kids and teens, but adults will enjoy (is that even the right word?) it, too.

This book traces Jim Jones origin story and the start of Peoples Temple. It tells of all the good works and the positive acts that attracted so many followers. It continues with the descent into madness and paranoia that led him to create a 'promised land' in the jungles of Guyana, many thousands of miles from where they started.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ok so this was intense. I had never heard of this before. And I really have no idea why because I love true crime and I watch it every chance I get. I have never been one for cults tho (LOL) so I had never heard of this and I just learned about the one in Waco. All of this was crazy.

I LOVE narrative non-fiction! And this one is kind of that, but also not. It’s a memoir of Jones, but it’s done in such a manner that it was like a story I couldn’t pull myself away from. I knew what was coming and I still was scared to get to the end. And what I love the most about it is the way Fleming doesn’t hold any punches. She just tells the facts and you can come to your own conclusions from there. This is exactly what we need more of RIGHT NOW, so my hope is people will read this and some eyes will open.

Ok so this was a very clear example of why its important for people to learn to think for themselves. These people were tricked because they wanted something so bad, that something was going to come save them because they’ve already been through so much bad. True example of a different type of white savior complex. He knew he couldn’t do these things, all that mattered was him was catering to the Black people that would believe that he could do these things. He lied to them using chicken guts, lies, and group think.

Another thing I learned from reading this was where the saying “Drinking the Kool-Aid” came from. And it was sad to hear that people have just been saying it and being callous about the situation when there were 900+ lives that were lost. I do think that some of that might be the fact that we just don’t know. And I’m basing this entirely on the fact that I didn’t know about this before hand lol But I’m sure there are people out there like me. And I also don’t like that they hooked on a brand that didn’t want any parts of this whole situation when they had nothing to do with it. And the flavor? A whole other reason to hate it tbh.

The ending was expected, but it was still very sad. We don’t learn about the aftermath, but I went on a deep dive on the FBI website and found some of the old audio clips and to see the pictures. It was a lot. Very sad. Very important to teach the kids about listening and learning to do for themselves and how important that is. Because the stuff we have going on right now is ENOUGH. And I also think it’s important to mention how hurtful this man was. He called himself anti-racist and he preached about wanting to make this utopia where racism wasn’t a thing and where the govt couldn’t harm them and yet he was lying to those people. he was stealing from these Black people who already barely had anything, and he was still perpetuating racist stereotypes by having the Black men in their muscle detail and the white men in the higher positions. Seeing them hold out hope for this man to help them and take care of them was heartbreaking.

I hope this shows how important it is to ask questions and do proper research. And I hope people read this and see the parallels of other cults and do their part to spread the word. Dismantling is hard, but it’s worth it to see all the things that could happen once you do.

Just phenomenal. From the outset, it's obvious that this is not a middle grade title - it opens with a graphic (though not gory) description of the victims bodies being recovered from the jungle. It's written to appeal to the same teen readers of Murder Among Friends, but will appeal to adults as well. Fleming's gift is in storytelling. By the end, readers will understand how Jim Jones got under his followers skin, recognizing both the good (promoting integration and anti-racism during the 1950s and 1960s) and the insidious in the man (drug addled, power hungry, manipulative).

Jonestown not a Koolaid punchline, it's a deep tragedy with hundreds of victims, a story about murder as much as suicide, and a cautionary tale to anyone about devotion and belief.

Death in the Jungle is an EXCELLENT addition to any true crime lover's library. It is written in easy to understand language, and spans the entirety of the timeline of the Peoples Temple, from it's idealistic beginning to it's tragic end. Most people are familiar with Jonestown, or at least the phrase "don't drink the Kool-Aid", but Death in the Jungle gives an incredibly comprehensive look into how a group known for it's inclusivity and warmth could become a secretive and suspicious cult in just a few short years. I wasn't very knowledgeable about the Peoples Temple before reading, but I found myself equal parts horrified and mesmerized by the story. I am a librarian, and constantly have students asking for true crime books, and I am so excited to get this for my library because I know my students will read this one til the pages fall out. Anyone interested in true crime, even if you're familiar with the story of Jonestown, will devour this. I know I did!

I received this ARC courtesy of Netgalley, in return for my honest opinion and review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

Death in the Jungle is a fascinating and heartbreaking exploration of Jim Jones, the People's Temple, and the victims and survivors of the mass suicide/murder in Guayana. This book is well-researched and written in a way that is compelling and not dry/boring for teen readers. I appreciate how the author is able to create empathy within the reader for the followers of Jim Jones, even though it is easy to judge them without being in their shoes. This will be an excellent addition to the nonfiction shelves of any high school library or classroom!

Wowee -heartbreaking and infuriating in that I knew what was going to happen, but couldn't do anything to change the outcome. Fleming's research and writing is amazing. She has taken the facts of the rise and fall of the Peoples Temple and written a compelling narrative that does not resort to placing the group's members as Others from all the rest of us. Although Jones' requests of his followers grow increasingly more bizarre and unreasonable, I can see why people didn't feel they could leave. She has done an incredible job of showing how the cultural climate in the U.S. helped give rise to this cult, and she has provided details about the death of so many members that I've never heard before. A really fantastic book (but it needs a much better cover)!

The Jim Jones / Kool Aid story was one that intrigued me growing up. The thoughts of how and why were very prevalent in my thinking and this book definitely answered my questions.

Candace Fleming has written a thoroughly researched account of how cult leader Jim Jones led 909 cult followers to death. First hand witnesses of the Jonestown massacre were interviewed by the author to create this nonfiction book. Surely anyone reading this book will have their eyes open to the danger of blind obedience to “groupthink”.

"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. 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." (Summary of Death in the Jungle). Fleming offers excellent insight into the tragic, complicated history of Jim Jones and his followers in Peoples Temple, but rather than focus on the often judgmental perception of the group, she offers a humanizing, sensitive look into the lives of the victims and survivors of the tragedy. One of the ways she shifts away from this judgement is by presenting short biographies of each follower included in the narrative, along with a discussion of the negative connotations of the label 'cult' at the beginning of the book. She ultimately describes the Peoples Temple, under the leadership of Jim Jones, as a 'destructive group'. Fleming offers young readers a new, less-sensationalized perspective of the tragedy that occurred in Guyana in the 1970s. A must-read for any students interested in 'destructive groups' and how they lead to tragedy.

Cults, especially Jonestown, always seem to be topics that middle and high school students choose for research papers/projects. This is a fascinating, accessible look at how Jim Jones got hundreds of people to follow him. However, it wasn't as compelling as some of Fleming's other nonfiction books for teens. It felt a bit more textbook than the more narrative style of her other books, perhaps because she tried to tell so many different people's stories but did so linearly, so it was choppy. As with her other books, this is also a great book for adults to read to learn more about the topic without having to read heftier books.

This is the ultimate example that trust is a form of currency.

What an absolutely stunning story of how a man used his intelligence and skills to manipulate a community. Oscillating between help, love, fear tactics, and manipulation over multiple decades, Jim Jones earned the trust of a community, then used that trust to convince and coerce nearly one thousand people to move to South America to develop a Utopia and eventually end their life together.

This book gives you a chance to understand where Jim Jone's followers come from. This man created a community then tightened the reigns. He used religion as a means of people joining his community then, after gaining loyalty of his followers, claimed that HE was god. He used the fear and distrust of the government and cold war to sow fear in his followers. He set up elaborate hoaxes in order to serve as "proof" of his premonitions and ability to survive and heal. He created a group of super followers to do his dirty work.

This man was a menace and a mastermind.

There is no way for me to comfortably rate a story that impacted and affected so many people. It is not my place to judge how interesting/good/useful the story is, because what happened to these people is tragic. A rating does not do that justice.

In terms of writing, I would give this a 4 star. There were moments where I was confused about who was speaking. There were TONS of names that I found difficult to keep track of. Some people had the same names, which confused me at times, but perhaps their relation to Jones could have been used instead of their names. The flow of the book was inconsistent, sometimes going by quickly and other moments inundated with details and slowing things down. The first few chapters were absolutely captivating and hooked you, then the middle was a bit of a slog. I think there was potential to tell the story in a different way that kept readers captivated, but perhaps it is good that it is slow in some places so readers can read it in bite size pieces.

This story is originally intended for a Young Adult audience, but this book is very frank and candid at times (without being overly descriptive and gory). I think adults interested in this story would find this book suits their interests, too.

Wow. This is an incredibly informative read about a subject I knew very little about. The author does a fantastic job with the material, defining the traits of cults, tracing Jim Jones' life, and tackling such a difficult subject with sensitivity. Highly recommended for young adult readers, or adults who want an introduction to the subject.
Thank you to Random House Children's and NetGalley for the ARC!

Candace Fleming’s meticulously researched account of Jonestown is a gripping and unsettling read. The same week our government moved to dismantle Voice of America, I was reading about Jonestown cult members secretly tuning into VOA on contraband radios—only then beginning to realize they had been brainwashed by Jim Jones’s propaganda. Chilling.

Candace Fleming does it again! Death in the Jungle is a deeply researched and engaging account of Jonestown. And though she said she didn't want to write about Jim Jones, you can't tell the story of Jonestown without examining his life and his power over his followers. This is a dark, sad story, but it is an important one that encourages young people to think about group think and the power of peer pressure. I was hooked from page one and couldn't stop sharing what I learned with everyone around me. This will appeal to fans of true crime and cult stories.

Once again Candace Fleming has taken a dark historic event and gives it context, depth and humanity.

Candace Fleming's book Death in the Jungle is the tragic true story of the deaths in Jonestown. This book gives an excellent view into the beginning of Jim Jones' life and how he built his cult following. Fleming interviewed several survivors as well as referenced numerous news sources to give a detailed account of how a small time preacher grew to be an influential political and social mover in the 1970s. Jones used and manipulated the marginalized as well as the religious to create a following in the thousands. Through reading this book you get a clear understanding how isolation and disinformation led to the death of hundreds in Guyana. I highly recommend this book for those who lived through the 1970s and remember the horrible event as well as those who may be interested in social science and psychology.

Content warning: sexual assault, blackmailing, gaslighting, physical abuse, mental abuse, coercion, forced imprisonment, drug abuse, being drugged, suicide (by choice and by force)

Rating this on research alone, this would be a 5 star read. Fleming did an amazing job and DEATH IN THE JUNGLE has a wealth of citations and suggested further reading at the end for anyone who wants to continue learning about Jones and Peoples Temple. However, the first half of this book is a slog to get through and I'm not sure this will work as a YA book. Nonfiction is tough to get teens to read, but for those who like deep dives into cults will definitely be interested in this one.

While I knew about Jonestown and where "they drank the Kool-Aid" came from, there was a lot leading up to Jonestown that I had no idea about. I didn't know that Jones took advantage of the racial divide in the country to become a performative ally in order to gain wealth and power. This is a frustrating and heartbreaking read and a lot of what happened can be compared to the current political climate and how masses of people so easily believe the propaganda from a snake oil salesman.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Anne Schwartz Books in exchange for an honest review.

Well researched piece about Jonestown. I appreciated the care she took with the survivors' stories and their input. It was thoughtful and empathetic to the events they experienced and survived. I also found her work into Jim Jones as a developing leader and beginnings of Peoples Temple interesting and developed in such a way for younger readers to understand and digest. A good piece to add to robust nonfiction collections.

A powerful account of Jim Jones and the People's Temple and how he led his followers to commit mass suicide in Guyana in 1979 by "drinking the Kool Aid."
It is sure to impact the reader into understanding how one person can cause others to violate their personal truths and believe him instead.

Candace Fleming has outdone herself with this book, digging into the cult of Peoples Temple, Jonestown in Guyana, and the murder and suicides of over 900 people. Jim Jones started out as a neglected child, running around his town dirty, naked, hungry, and local church going women would take him in, clean, feed, and clothe him when his working, drunken mother didn't seem to care and his father fought the lung disability from fighting in a war. Jim learned very early how to use charisma and manipulation to get what he wanted and began to study the local preachers, white and black, and Hitler's rhetoric on socialism and communism. As he grew older, he knew he wanted to be a dynamic preacher, a faith healer, and draw people to follow him without question. He married young, and his wife helped him in his deceptions and setting up the first Peoples Temple that was all about community, racial acceptance, and God though even at this time Jim have left any faith in God behind. His magnetic pull drew people to him and his church where they moved from Indiana to California where he became part of the housing governing committee, and then to Guyana to create Jonestown, his Eden, where he could be god to the members of the Peoples Temple. Over the years, many defeced, or tried to, and he would find ways to bring many of them back. Jim became drug addeled, convincing the congregations, or cult followers, about communal socialism where they gave everything they had to the church and they were cared for. And, yes, in some ways they were, but things turned brutal with punishments that began as public beratings, to belting, to even worse torture. Even before Jones started Jonestown, he began talkng about suicide which forced even more to leave and others to stay in fear for family the didn't want to leave. Though there were those that left, the Gang of Eight, family members that just couldn't take the rhetoric, abuse, and drugging of members, many remained which led to Congressman Leo Ryan and the press to investigate Jonestown and the Peoples Temple overall. That is when Jones did what he had been preachnig - mass sucide with drug and cyanide laced kool-aid like drink and the murder of those that refused. Fleming draws people in by sharing the charismatic and magnetic personality of Jim Jones, his fall into drugs and pscyopathy, though she highlights his tendacies at an early age, and how he convinced so many people into 'revolutionary suicide'. The addition of black and white photos show members of the congreagation and the research is impecable on Fleming's part, leading readers to do their own digging to find out more about what happened. It's a hard read for those that aren't into cults, but it a deep look into the beginnings and endings of such horrific beliefs.
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