(Katherine Hill is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Metropolitan State University of Denver and is a regular contributor to this website. Her other article in this edition of <\/em>the jonestown report is Fictional Account Distorts and Obscures Reality of Jonestown<\/a>. Her complete collection of articles is <\/em>here<\/em><\/a>. She may be reached at <\/em>hilltass@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n Reviewer\u2019s Caveats<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The world will scrutinize every crazed word that Jim has left on tape. They will seek meaning where there is none. (Kindle Locations 92-93).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is the most difficult review I\u2019ve ever written. I want<\/em> to believe that Kathleen McKenna Hewtson\u2019s intentions are good, but I can\u2019t find anything redeeming in Jungle Rot<\/em>. It is the most dreadful book that I have ever read, not just on the topic of Jonestown, but on any topic. I finished reading it only because I committed to review it for the jonestown report<\/em>, and then wished to write either a two-word review (caveat emptor<\/em>) or a 3-letter review (\u201cWTF?\u201d) so that I could just be done with it. The Kindle version only cost me $5, but I am embarrassed to have purchased it and somewhat embittered that the author has made a small profit from me. Still thinking of buying it after I\u2019ve written this much? Don\u2019t. Just don\u2019t! But if you need actual reasons for my distaste, feel free to continue reading this review.<\/p>\n The Book\u2019s Premise and Main Characters<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I has done been tricked again, Lord, and I is mad as a hornet \u2019bout it too.\u201d (Kindle Location 1787)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rot<\/em> purportedly peers into the minds and motivations of six individuals, all either members or ex-members of Peoples Temple. It primarily covers the final months leading up to November 18, 1978. While Hewtson acknowledges that there\u2019s no evidence that the internal dialogues and many of the interpersonal interactions depicted in Rot <\/em>took place, she apparently deems them plausible. After reminding us in the book\u2019s foreword that \u201c[t]his is historical fiction,\u201d she establishes the credentials which give her the authority to write: \u201cI have conducted over five hundred interviews with people who were [in Jonestown], read most of the books, listened to weeks of tapes of Jim Jones talking to himself, visited Jonestown in Guyana after the event, and attended \u2026 the Jonestown memorial organized by the Rev. Jenona [sic] Norwood every year in the Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, California, on the anniversary of the massacre, November 18th.\u201d She then concludes, \u201cThe thoughts and conversations of these witnesses \u2026 hopefully \u2026 are not too far from the truth of those thoughts and those conversations\u201d (Kindle Locations 76-80).<\/p>\n Despite all this research \u2013 500 interviews with former Jonestown residents? Really? \u2013 Hewtson\u2019s attempts to capture the thoughts of the six main characters are sometimes laughable and other times offensive. The characters are remarkably one-dimensional and, in most cases, not particularly likeable. Here\u2019s a rundown of the leading characters and my impressions of them:<\/p>\n Jim Jones:<\/strong> drug-addicted, grandiose, and hypochondriacal, Jones feels superior to his flock:<\/p>\n They are revolting, the sickly old people that I refer to publicly as \u201cmy seniors,\u201d and privately to as \u2018the walking dead,\u2019 calling to me over and over again in their high quavering voices. (Kindle Locations 124-125).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n He\u2019s also superior to members of his inner circle. Jones\u2019 thoughts focus heavily on his penis, which sexual acts he\u2019s interested in pursuing, and with whom. One of Jones\u2019 primary motivations is degradation of people:<\/p>\n Still, Maria [Katsaris] is most useful, if boring, in her blind adoration of me. Maybe tonight I will allow her to suck my root. Yes, and I will make Carolyn [Layton] watch. Yes, that will remind her that, though she is my first mistress, she is never again to question me (Kindle Locations 161-163).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jones\u2019 degradation of\u00a0people is well-documented, but the extent to which Hewtson\u2019s incarnation of Jones focuses on this seems beyond the pale, because nearly every thought attributed to him contains an insult directed at someone.<\/p>\n He himself is also not going to be insulted, though, and any slights towards him or his community could result in the deaths of everyone in Jonestown at any time, which he\u2019s hell-bent on carrying out someday anyway:<\/p>\n Not to worry. Yes indeed, the decision is made. As to when and where, gosh, let me check my calendar. Is Thursday good for you? (Kindle Locations 2414-2415).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Marceline Jones:<\/strong> Jones\u2019 wife, whose power and respect have been stripped away by Jones and his mistress Carolyn:<\/p>\n There is no other way for me, then. I will say what his whore has forced him into asking of me. I\u2019ll say it and be done with it. But she will see that once I am standing beside him again, there will be no room for her. I am his wife. Once I am allowed back, I will regain my place. No one can take it away from me (Kindle Locations 873-875).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Rot<\/em>\u2019s Marceline has two primary motivations \u2013 jealousy, fueled by Jones\u2019 relationships with Carolyn, Maria, and others; and affection for her son, Stephan \u2013 which also serve to obscure the concerns real-life Marceline had about the day-to-day running of the settlement and the well-being of all<\/em> of its residents. The most interesting aspect of this character is how Hewtson depicts her during the deaths (more on this later).<\/p>\n Grace Stoen:<\/strong> The confused mother who gave up custody of John Victor before defecting from the Temple. Rot<\/em>\u2019s Grace identifies John Victor\u2019s biological father, although she changes her story throughout the book; to the reader, this would seem to imply Grace is a liar. This character comes across as weak and flakey\u2014dependent on her former husband Tim Stoen and unable to make up her mind. She doesn\u2019t want to be back with Tim, but she needs his help to try to get her son out of Jonestown. In a surprise \u201ctwist,\u201d after arriving in Guyana, she gives up her seat on the plane from Georgetown to Port Kaituma to another member of the concerned relatives, later explaining to Tim Stoen that she doesn\u2019t want John Victor back after all (WTF?).<\/p>\n Tim Stoen:<\/strong> Possibly as egotistical and self-serving as Jim Jones, this cunning lawyer\u2019s connection to the Concerned Relatives and their efforts to get loved ones out of Jonestown is due to Tim\u2019s desires to (1) reclaim Grace Stoen as \u201chis,\u201d (2) take down Jones, which will earn Tim \u201chero\u201d status, and (3) be subsequently elected to public office to wield power of his own. Rot<\/em>\u2019s version of Tim Stoen does not love John Victor and never thought of him as a son. He had no problem leaving John Victor behind while defecting from the Temple and would be happy to forget about him, if not for Grace\u2019s attempts to reclaim the boy. When we first meet fictional Tim, he has resumed a posh, bachelor lifestyle, as if he had never been a part of the Temple. His outward concern about John Victor and others in Jonestown is all manipulation to suit his own ends.<\/p>\n Vernon Gosney: <\/strong>A gay man who is victimized by Jim Jones because of his homosexuality (Kindle Location 73). Vernon, whose last name is written both as \u201cGosney\u201d and \u201cGodney\u201d in the book, is presented as a selfish man who blames his son Mark for landing him in Jonestown. This character cares only about escaping from Jonestown to return to his lover in San Francisco; he is not concerned about taking his son with him because it would only complicate things, given that neither he nor his lover is interested in raising Mark (WTF?). Real-life Vernon is one of the people to whom the author dedicated her book. I find it contradictory that Hewtson speaks so reverently about Gosney in her dedication, yet appears to throw his character under the proverbial bus in her fictional account (WTF?).<\/p>\n Hyacinth Thrash:<\/strong> An elderly African American woman who still believes in and prays to God, refusing to use Bible pages as toilet paper in Jonestown. Rot<\/em>\u2019s inclusion of this character is curious, given that Thrash wrote her own memoir back in the 1980s: we don\u2019t need Hewtson to divine what Hyacinth was thinking. Perhaps the author realized that she needed a Black character to reflect Jonestown\u2019s overwhelmingly African-American population. Indeed, there are literally hundreds of Jonestown residents whom she could have chosen to write about, but using Thrash may have been convenient. Or maybe Hewtson is drawn to Hyacinth because the author herself fervently believes in God.<\/p>\n Functionally the Thrash character provides a mechanism to provide backstory about what Peoples Temple was like in earlier days. The savvy senior was wise to Jones years ago and considered leaving, but at Marceline\u2019s urging, she stayed and eventually found herself in Jonestown. Hyacinth is one of the more likeable characters and seems to be the voice of reason. However, I found reading the chapters \u201cnarrated\u201d by Hyacinth to be particularly grueling because the author wrote this prose phonetically, forcing the reader to adopt a stereotypical Southern Black dialect. Thrash undoubtedly had a dialect, but this writing approach is off-putting and \u2013 to me \u2013 in bad taste. Here\u2019s a glimpse of the fictional Hyacinth character, in an interaction with a young girl in Jonestown:<\/p>\n You is a nice little gal and I likes you, but, chil\u2019, if our God above us has gone and created a greater fool den me, well I hopes I don\u2019t never meet \u2019em. Following some damned white man, trusting a white man, look what it\u2019s brought me to, chil\u2019. I\u2019s eighty year old, or close enough to it, doan make no difference, and here I is. If a body cain\u2019t learn sumpin\u2019 in eighty years of life, I don\u2019t \u2019spect they ever wills. It\u2019s false hopes dat brought me heah, chil\u2019, false hope dat a man, \u2019specially a white man, could helps my peoples. (Kindle Locations 243-246).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WTF?<\/p>\n There are also a few supporting characters \u2013 or, perhaps, caricatures \u2013 all included, apparently, for no other reason than to have Jim Jones abuse them:<\/p>\n Carolyn Layton:<\/strong> Jones\u2019 primary mistress, close aide, and mother of his unwanted \u201cbastard\u201d (Hewtson\u2019s word), described by Jones as \u201ccow\u201d or \u201cbitch.\u201d<\/p>\n Maria Katsaris:<\/strong> Another mistress and close aide to Jones\u2014always at the ready to jump at his command \u2013 described as \u201cugly\u201d and \u201cstupid,\u201d and treated like a pet\u2026 or maybe just a dog.<\/p>\n Richard and Harriet Tropp:<\/strong> A fictionalized married couple who in real life were siblings, painted as a wimpy lap dog to Jones and as a snotty bitch respectively (WTF?).<\/p>\n Larry Schacht<\/strong>: Jonestown\u2019s doctor, repeatedly called \u201cdarling\u201d by Jones, especially when Jones is raping him (there\u2019s more than one such scene in Rot\u2014<\/em>WTF?).<\/p>\n Annie<\/strong> Moore:<\/strong> Jones\u2019 nurse and, according to Rot<\/em>, wannabe lover \u2013 even though it would make her sister Carolyn jealous \u2013 described by Jones as \u201cugly\u201d and \u201ccow\u201d by Jones (he is apparently not above recycling his descriptions of the women around him).<\/p>\n (Dis)honorable Mentions: <\/strong>There are a few names of Temple members thrown out in places throughout the book, including Mom and Pops Jackson and Viola Ford. Typically, these people are described unfavorably by Hyacinth Thrash, who criticizes them as being zealous:<\/p>\n Dem Jacksons dey is Jim\u2019s mose famous gimcracks of all. Dat\u2019s why dey is the onliest niggers heah dats gots dey very own cottage all to dem selves (Kindle Locations 1817-1818).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n WTF?<\/p>\n The Depiction of the Deaths<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Round and round I go \u2013 where I\u2019ll leave these fuckers is only for me to know. (Kindle Locations 2286-2287)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hewtson uses an interesting, albeit implausible, device to reveal the deaths. Most readers of this review will be familiar with FBI Tape Q042. In Rot<\/em>, there\u2019s a tape of the tape<\/em>: in the aftermath, a tape is found concealed in Marceline Jones\u2019 pocket. Played in the office of a military officer involved in the clean-up operation, Marceline\u2019s recorded voice provides a play-by-play as the dialogue and action of Q042 unfolds. Although a transcript of Q042 was obviously used as the basis, there are notable omissions in this final \u201cWhite Night\u201d: (1) Christine Miller\u2019s debate with Jones is non-existent\u2014indeed, there are no objections to dying, and (2) there are no testimonials from Jonestown residents praising Jones. Given that Hewtson views nearly all of the deaths as murder, Rot<\/em> surprisingly depicts no<\/em> resistance to \u201crevolutionary suicide\u201d by Jones\u2019 followers. Additionally, Jones\u2019 urgings to his followers to hurry and take the poison are peppered with expletives\u2014something that is not heard in the actual Q042 tape.<\/p>\n The \u201csurprise\u201d ending is that Jones\u2019 death is officially ruled murder by an unknown person: the author is vague, but the reader will be inclined to think that fictional Marceline is responsible for shooting her husband in the forehead (but not in the temple, which is how the real Jim Jones died). To add further intrigue to the storyline, some of the people in West House (Jones\u2019 cabin) were strangled rather than poisoned, and Annie Moore dies of a gunshot (which did in fact happen). The book\u2019s afterword reveals Hewtson believes that Jones intended to escape with millions of dollars on the Cudjoe<\/em> that evening. Thus, her fictional storyline implies that the inner circle and Jones would have cheated death, had not someone with sufficient anger, jealousy, and sense of retribution killed Jones before they could make their escape.<\/p>\n The Author\u2019s Purpose<\/em><\/strong>\/<\/em><\/strong>Agenda<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It is not my aim to traduce anyone involved in this murderous tale, not even Jim Jones \u2013 but, there again, how could I in his case? (Kindle Locations 80-81).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To my recollection, this is the first time I have repeatedly asked myself \u201cWTF?\u201d while reading a book. Unfamiliar with the author, I searched the Jonestown Institute website and discovered that she had previously written a couple of pieces about this book for the jonestown report<\/em> as she was in the process of writing it. Based on these earlier statements, Hewtson\u2019s book is purportedly an effort to make peace with the final outcome by conveying how she has come to understand it. She recognizes Tim Reiterman\u2019s Raven<\/em> as so thorough that there\u2019s no need for a similar attempt. Instead, Hewtson tells us, \u201cI wrote Jungle Rot<\/em>, because it was the book I wanted to read.\u201d That\u2019s a telling statement because much of the book is conjecture, while other portions are downright untrue.<\/p>\n The author\u2019s real sentiments become apparent in the afterword of the book. Hewtson rightfully decries the horror and enormity of the loss, but then turns the reader\u2019s attention to what she judges to be \u201cthe most grotesque thing of all in the wake of the tragedy, this day of holocaust, is that on the marble tombstone laid over the mass grave of the victims of Jonestown in Evergreen Cemetery, Oakland, California, is etched the name of the Reverend Jim Jones \u2013 as a victim.\u201d<\/p>\n In apparent retaliation for the all-inclusive Jonestown memorial, Hewtson provides \u201cthe single longest dedication in history\u201d (Kindle Location 4625) by printing the names of those who died\u2014in edited form. Not only is the name of Jim Jones omitted, so are the names of Marceline Jones, Carolyn Layton, Ann Moore, Maria Katsaris, and Laurence Schacht, people whom Hewtson compares to the Goebbels and Himmlers and Goerings to Jones\u2019 Hitler. Because this is the author\u2019s<\/em> dedication, one might say \u201cfair enough,\u201d except that there\u2019s inconsistency here. Is it hypocrisy or ignorance that led the author to include the names of known airstrip shooters in the book\u2019s dedication? If Hewtson\u2019s goal is to exclude murderers from the list, shouldn\u2019t these people be excluded, too? (There\u2019s the rub: it becomes impossible to know where to draw the line in terms of those to include vs. those to exclude.)<\/p>\n Reviewer\u2019s Final Thoughts<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2026you say \u2018abuses,\u2019 I say \u2018tomatoes,\u2019 let\u2019s call the whole thing off (Kindle Location 2384).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If I had to describe Jungle Rot <\/em>in one word, it would be \u201clurid.\u201d The cover itself is a clue: The title \u201cJungle Rot\u201d written across an image of the Jonestown pavilion in the aftermath of the deaths. The next clue is the repeated use of quotes from Jethro Tull\u2019s \u201cBungle in the Jungle\u201d as chapter headings. Although the author seems to find the song prescient, it seems to make light of the tragedy. As I read these lyrics, I feared the book was mere steps away from a Flavour-Aid joke. Through the first few chapters, I wondered if the whole thing might just be a farce: a sarcastic, over-the-top mockery of Jones and his inner circle. Eventually, I realized the author was serious but\u2014at least in my mind\u2014seriously off the mark in terms of providing something meaningful on the subject.<\/p>\n Worse, I see the book failing miserably at explaining the tragedy or at conveying any respect, concern, or sensitivity for Temple members. Much of the book comes off as mean-spirited. Does the author desire to smear the survivors? Does she want to inflict pain on living family members of those who died? Her foreword claims this isn\u2019t her purpose, but nothing in the book supports that statement.<\/p>\n After reading Jungle Rot<\/em>, I\u2019m convinced that Hewtson didn\u2019t write \u201chistorical fiction.\u201d Instead, it\u2019s more like \u201cpulp fiction\u201d or maybe \u201chysterical fiction.\u201d Rot<\/em> is an exaggerated depiction of Jones in a small world populated by a handful of one-dimensional inner circle members and hundreds of nameless, faceless, voiceless props.<\/p>\n Still thinking of buying Jungle Rot<\/em> after all you\u2019ve just read? Don\u2019t. Just don\u2019t! If you care about Jonestown victims and survivors, consider instead donating $5 to a charity that seems befitting people\u2019s motivations for joining the Temple in the first place: give to a homeless shelter, soup kitchen, disaster relief agency, or political cause. Your money will be better spent, in a manner that honors the victims, and your brain cells will thank you.<\/p>\n You\u2019re still gonna buy it anyway? WTF?! Caveat emptor<\/em>.<\/p>\n Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n Hewtson, K.M. (2015). Jungle Rot: Jonestown, an American Holocaust<\/em>. San Francisco, Taylor Street Books. (Kindle Edition)<\/p>\n Hewtson, K.M. (2009). I wrote the book. the jonestown report<\/em>, 11.<\/em> http:\/\/jonestown.sdsu.edu\/?page_id=30855<\/a><\/p>\n