Death in the JungleListening Library, 2025. 9 hours, 47 minutes.
Review written September 8, 2025, from a library eaudiobook.
Starred Review
I checked out this eaudiobook, not because I was interested in Jim Jones, but because everything Candace Fleming writes is fascinating. This book was no exception. It was not pleasant listening, but once I got started, I couldn't look away.
This book tells the whole story of Jim Jones and Jonestown - and the murders and suicides of over 900 people. (Yes, murder. Some people did not drink the poison, but were injected with it.)
Knowing basically how the story ends, it was horrible to watch it unfold, but fascinating. By necessity, the author got her information from interviews with survivors and survivor accounts, so the main folks whose perspective we got to hear from were people who survived, which made the story a little less gut-wrenching.
I was a teen when the Jonestown tragedy happened, so I didn't know a lot of the details. I didn't even realize that Jim Jones ordered the assassination of a congressman who was investigating the commune in Guyana - and his assassination spurred the other deaths, as the people had been told the American government wanted to destroy them.
But I also hadn't known how the People's Temple started - with good works and social work against poverty and racism in the 1960s. The People's Temple had a mix of Blacks and whites when other American churches excluded minorities. It was hard to hear what good things they started with, putting other churches to shame.
But clearly, from the beginning, Jim Jones was after power and manipulation. He faked faith healings to build followers. Later, after he had people under his sway, he repudiated the Bible and Christianity - it had been all part of his show.
And things got worse and worse as Jim Jones gained power over people. He was also addicted to various drugs and not at all healthy, mentally or physically. Once he got his followers to Guyana, where he could keep them from escaping, he could control their lives in every way. Perhaps that's why the congressman's visit - and the fact that some people tried to leave with him - was so threatening.
The book is sobering, because yes, the good works the church did at the beginning would have gained my admiration. I also began to understand how hard it was to leave once you were plugged in. And Jim Jones' power to gain a devoted following? People who are willing to lie and manipulate can gain all kinds of power that's hard to shake. Dare I say that this reminded me of our current president?
So it's not like this book is pleasant reading. But it tells the full story of a dark incident in our history. And maybe it will help teens think twice about promises from a charismatic leader. Pair it with the book Cultish for insights on how to tell if a tight-knit community is good for you or is destructive.