Acclaimed nonfiction author Candace Fleming (Is It Real?: The Loch Ness Monster; The Rise and Fall of Charles Lindbergh) documents with the tension of a thriller the history of an infamous 20th century cult while maintaining a sense of humanity that conveys immense empathy for its victims.
Death in the Jungle is a gripping and disturbing nonfiction narrative about cult leader Jim Jones, the survivors "who lived through their association with [his] organization," and the victims who died under his leadership. The book follows Jones's trajectory from impoverished child to leader of the Peoples Temple religious organization. The temple, which began as a church in Indiana, evolved into a commune, first in California and then in Guyana, where it became known as Jonestown. In 1978, the increasingly "paranoid and cruel" Jones ordered his followers to commit "revolutionary suicide," resulting in the deaths of more than 900 people.
Fleming includes a list of names of Peoples Temple members and goes beyond sensationalized headlines to humanize the individuals in her book, exploring "what caused seemingly 'normal' people to get caught up in something so fanatical?" Fleming describes how cults function and includes harrowing accounts from survivors, explaining why so many people were drawn to the organization and then unable to leave. Fleming also challenges the pervasive understanding of Jones's victims as "brainwashed cultists" who willingly took their own lives: she notes that many adults challenged Jones's orders and that hundreds of children and elderly, "unable to defend themselves," were murdered by temple nurses. Readers drawn to the darkly engrossing subject matter will likely leave Fleming's suspenseful work of nonfiction with a more nuanced understanding of this historic tragedy. --Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer