Snake Dance: Unravelling the Mysteries of Jonestown

by Laurie E. Kahalas

A survivor's riveting tale of terror, inspiration, tragedy, and overcoming the odds. Author Laurie Efrein Kahalas tells of being contacted by an Angelic Presence four years prior to what the world would come to know as "The Jonestown Tragedy." She was given a haunting epic poem which foretold what would happen. She was told to give it to the world after Jim Jones was gone, and that she must speak on behalf of the dead. She feared she was going mad. Nearly everyone had moved overseas by the time tragedy struck, but as fate would have it, Laurie Efrein had been left back with a tiny crew doing organizational work in the States. While others wildly shredded documents, she quietly saved them, and has reconstructed what the media blitz of the time completely suppressed. What unfolds is a blistering political exposé, rife with government plants, agent provocateurs, smears, frames, and an eight-year conspiracy to destroy an interracial, left-wing church who dared to prove that inner city dwellers could thrive and excel on a worldwide stage. In a story to rival the most twisty spy novel, the forces out to destroy Jonestown, and their interplay with a community under siege, are spun through the sensitivities of one who experienced it first-hand. SNAKE DANCE is at a 180-degree tilt from the official view. It is for everyone who believes that the public has the right to know the truth. The author relates to all aspects with searing traumas, conflicts, cults, philosophical perspective, historical context, the transformative powers of life and death. Written in an autobiographical style, this book is ripping, compelling, moving, touching, and heartwrenchingly real.

410 pages, Paperback

First published October 15, 1998

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 1 out of 5]

Laurie Efrein Kahalas’ contribution to the literature of Jonestown is very confusing. She is an extreme apologist, accusing the government of ruining the egalitarian utopia and paradise that was Jonestown. Her writing is very flowery, wordy and crazy. She writes as if she is attempting to write fiction, not a biography. The book is broken up in the middle by Kahalas’ attempt at poetry. She has included a poem she wrote in 1974 entitled “Allegory.” It is as unreadable as the rest of the book. The layout, writing and content all make for a very confusing experience. At the end of the book two more books are advertised. These books were never released, I assume due to the fact that this first book was so strange. In addition, the title of the book has a misspelling. Anyone seeking a legitimate source about Jonestown should avoid this book.

[Shelly Deluigi Coburn · Rating 1 out of 5]

very ill written and the mystery is what was she thinking when she wrote this. she elaborates on no one thing. worse book of jonestown tragedy