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Death in the Jungle

Death in the Jungle

Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown

Hardcover

Death in the Jungle

About the Book

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. 

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.

Product Details

On sale: April 29, 2025
Age: 12 and up
Grade: Grade 7 & Up
Page count: 368 Pages
ISBN: 9780593480069
Reading level: Lexile: 860L

Author Bio

Candace Fleming is the prolific and versatile award-winning author of many books for children and young adults. School Library Journal praised her most recent title, Murder Among Friends, which received four starred reviews, as a "chilling page-turner." Her previous book The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh received six starred reviews, was a Kirkus, PW, Booklist, and SLJ Best Book of the Year, and was hailed by the Wall Street Journal as a “fascinating chronicle.” Candace’s The Family Romanov also received six starred reviews, won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was recognized as a Sibert Nonfiction Honor Book. Her many acclaimed picture books include Giant Squid, a Sibert Honor Book. Visit her on the web at candacefleming.com.

Reviews

★ "Extraordinary and illuminating." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Teens fascinated by cults will find plenty of that here, but they’ll also come away with a more nuanced understanding of a highly sensationalized historical event." —Booklist, starred review

★ "Riveting.... this fascinating and disturbing work will help readers 'recognize the destructive groups in their own midst.'" —Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "[A]n engrossing exploration of just how easily good intentions can drag people down the wrong path if led by a charismatic speaker with a skill for manipulation." —The Bulletin, starred review

★ "Fleming’s writing is riveting....Gripping and wrenching." —School Library Journal, starred review