Jonestown: "Don't Drink the Kool-Aid":

by Will Savive

November 18, 1978, was a tragically unprecedented day in U.S. history that will forever be woven into the fabric of this country. It is the day that leader of Peoples Temple (PT), James Warren Jones, ordered the assassination of U.S. Congressman Leo J. Ryan and others at the Port Kaituma airstrip in South America, then led his congregation on what Guyana’s police chief, Skip Roberts, testified was a “mass suicide.” Decades later, however, the depth of this story is still unknown, and many scholars and former members who have continued their exploration of the incidents have found that there is still plenty of evidence as well as plenty of sinister connections that contradict the official version of this “Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid” is the chronological story of the rise and fall of Peoples Temple and its leader Jim Jones—from his early years in Indianapolis and California, to the tragic ending in the jungle of South America that claimed the lives of 918 Americans. “Don’t Drink the Kool-Aid” comprehensively details the many links that Jones and his compound had with the CIA and their MKULTRA experiments. Through a comprehensive analysis of Jones’ life, Peoples Temple, and the investigation and the aftermath of the mass murder/suicides; this book is designed to be the quintessential marking piece that will re-introduce this story to society and serve as a reminder of the infamous mantra that hung in the pavilion in “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”

292 pages, Paperback

First published March 5, 2014

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book about the Rise of Jim Jones and the People's Temple and their ultimate fatal demise in the jungle of Guyana. The first 4/5 of the book describes the rise of a charismatic, despotic megalomanic and his increasing control over his flock. Many of this flock were black and disadvantaged, while most of the church hierarchy was white. The book loosely describes his relationship with California politicians.

The book winds down with a detailed discussion of the assassination of US Congressman Leo Ryan and others on the airport tarmac at Port Kaituma in Guyana. This part of the mass killing is described in detail including the demise of each of those killed and wounds inflicted on the survivors.

The remainder of the book jarringly switches to a CIA plot to control minds and cover their deeds up with the slaughter the of the Jonestown residents. This part of the book is intriguing but incoherent. Could MKUltra have been part of it? The author makes a good circumstantial case, but is it good enough? For me it was unconvincing, but possible.

If you are interested in Jonestown or the illegal CIA mind control projects in the 60s and 70s, I would recommend this book.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book might have some decent information in it, but I'll never know because I can't get past its numerous spelling and grammatical errors. Several words are used incorrectly and it's very distracting. Putting it down before page 50.

There are probably better resources out there, I wouldn't trust a book written so poorly.

[Kathy Apple · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book on my Kindle. If I could have given it less than 1 star, I would have...1 star is more than it deserved.

The content (generally speaking) was interesting and though a little flighty at times, it was a good non-fiction book...maybe worth 3 stars. But, the Kindle version was so inundated with "editing" mistakes that it made the book hard to read. And I'm not talking about typos or a few misspellings. I'm talking about a product that a 6th grader could have VASTLY improved. The "editing" and "proof reading" on this book, the Kindle format, was, apparently, non-existent. The "book" was prepared by an uneducated, almost illiterate idiot. This person, or these people, could not have read through the book even one time...so many mistakes were missed. But the absolute worst part of this is the use of the inappropriate spelling of words...repeatedly and in every instance...like using "steel" instead of "steal" when referring to something theft related. This was not a one time thing. This specific example was used 8 - 10 times in the book...every single time that the appropriate "steal" should have been used, it was "steel". Also, every time the word "deceased" should have been used, instead, "deseased" was used...this was many, many times times and every single opportunity. Not once did they get it correct. These are just two of many, many times incorrect words were used.

Add in all the many, many, many typos, and "extra words"....it was mind boggling how something this inaccurate and juvenile could be released as a final product. Honestly, a 6th grader could have done a better job. It made reading the book a quite annoying "job". How any publisher or editor could allow something this defective to be released to ANYONE is beyond belief.

[Donna Peake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have given the book a 4 star except the few chapters at the end of the book trying to say he worked for the CIA. This was just bizarre. He was just a cruel individual pretending to be a preacher.

[Tiffany L · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is filled with a lot of great information. It is also filled with a lot of grammatical and spelling errors that could have easily been caught by proofreading. For example, diseased was written instead of deceased. Things like that drive me CrAzY!!

[Kelly O'Brien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good Material

I did enjoy this book, but please, please get an editor for your next one. The spelling errors throughout the whole book are ridiculous!

[Sara Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was Jonestown a tragic event that might have been avoided? There are many theories on what happened, who Jim Jones really was, and his involvement with agencies in the US like the CIA. This book is a eye opening look at a historical time-line from the early days of The Peoples Temple through the tragedy in the jungle of Guyana. It focuses mainly on Jim Jones, his rise, and fall.

[Misty Watkins]

I found this pretty interesting but the last few chapters were hard reads when it got into the aftermath and making guesses at what they thought was why all this happened. I am not convinced that Jim Jones was involved with the CIA but then again I would not be surprised.

[Nele · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent book, well written, well researched, however contains shocking typos and mix-up of homophones.

[Jlsimon · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was nothing so much as a regurgitation of everything that has been available in video interviews of Jonestown. It was pretty disappointing.