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.

Author: Candace Fleming
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Anne Schwartz Books
Published: 04/29/2025
Pages: 368
Weight: 1.2lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.30w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9780593480069


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/03/2025
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 03/01/2025
Booklist 02/01/2025 pg. 65
Kirkus Reviews 02/15/2025
School Library Journal 03/01/2025 pg. 94
Horn Book Magazine 05/01/2025 pg. 108
BookPage 05/01/2025
Shelf Awareness 04/26/2025
Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2025 - Outstanding, Noteworthy In Style

About the Author
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.