Description
Book SynopsisHow 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 ofTemple headquarters from California to an unsettled territory in Guyana, South America, which he dubbed Jonestown?… to his transformation ofPeoples Temple into a nefarious experiment in mind-control.
And Fleming heart-stoppingly depicts Jones?s final act, persuading his followers toswallow 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, theways 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.
