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Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Readers' Favorite History & Biography (2013)Based on new interviews with previously undiscovered relatives and filled with revelations and unpublished photographs, this is the most authoritative account of the life of Charles Manson.
The most authoritative account ever written of how an ordinary juvenile delinquent named Charles Manson became the notorious murderer whose crimes still shock and horrify us today.
More than forty years ago Charles Manson and his mostly female commune killed nine people, among them the pregnant actress Sharon Tate. It was the culmination of a criminal career that author Jeff Guinn traces back to Manson’s childhood. Guinn interviewed Manson’s sister and cousin, neither of whom had ever previously cooperated with an author. Childhood friends, cellmates, and even some members of the Manson Family have provided new information about Manson’s life. Guinn has made discoveries about the night of the Tate murders, answering unresolved questions, such as why one person on the property where the murders occurred was spared.
Manson puts the killer in the context of his times, the turbulent late sixties, an era of race riots and street protests when authority in all its forms was under siege. Guinn shows us how Manson created and refined his message to fit the times, persuading confused young women (and a few men) that he had the solutions to their problems. At the same time he used them to pursue his long-standing musical ambitions, relocating to Los Angeles in search of a recording contract. His frustrated ambitions, combined with his bizarre race-war obsession, would have lethal consequences as he convinced his followers to commit heinous murders on successive nights.
In addition to stunning revelations about Charles Manson, the book contains family photographs never before published.
The most authoritative account ever written of how an ordinary juvenile delinquent named Charles Manson became the notorious murderer whose crimes still shock and horrify us today.
More than forty years ago Charles Manson and his mostly female commune killed nine people, among them the pregnant actress Sharon Tate. It was the culmination of a criminal career that author Jeff Guinn traces back to Manson’s childhood. Guinn interviewed Manson’s sister and cousin, neither of whom had ever previously cooperated with an author. Childhood friends, cellmates, and even some members of the Manson Family have provided new information about Manson’s life. Guinn has made discoveries about the night of the Tate murders, answering unresolved questions, such as why one person on the property where the murders occurred was spared.
Manson puts the killer in the context of his times, the turbulent late sixties, an era of race riots and street protests when authority in all its forms was under siege. Guinn shows us how Manson created and refined his message to fit the times, persuading confused young women (and a few men) that he had the solutions to their problems. At the same time he used them to pursue his long-standing musical ambitions, relocating to Los Angeles in search of a recording contract. His frustrated ambitions, combined with his bizarre race-war obsession, would have lethal consequences as he convinced his followers to commit heinous murders on successive nights.
In addition to stunning revelations about Charles Manson, the book contains family photographs never before published.
495 pages, Hardcover
First published August 6, 2013
598 people are currently reading
16232 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Guinn
30 books727 followersJeff Guinn is a former journalist who has won national, regional and state awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, and literary criticism.
Guinn is also the bestselling author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction including, but not limited to: Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (which was a finalist for an Edgar Award in 2010); The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral - and How It Changed the West; Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson; and The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.
Jeff Guinn is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, and the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He appears as an expert guest in documentaries and on television programs on a variety of topics.
Guinn lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
Guinn is also the bestselling author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction including, but not limited to: Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (which was a finalist for an Edgar Award in 2010); The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral - and How It Changed the West; Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson; and The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.
Jeff Guinn is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, and the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He appears as an expert guest in documentaries and on television programs on a variety of topics.
Guinn lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
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November 22, 2020
“Tex [Watson] guided the Ford up steep Cielo Drive, passing housing scattered at short intervals along the way. Besides its narrow width and tight curves, there was the additional pressure of keeping a wary eye for deer that ventured out to graze after dark. At the very top of the hill Tex stopped in front of the closed electronic gate and told the women to wait. From that vantage point, none of them could actually see the house or the guest cottage behind it. Grabbing the bolt cutters as Charlie [Manson] had instructed, Tex nimbly climbed a telephone pole and snipped the wires connecting to the main house and guest cottage. Then he backed the car down the hill, a tricky maneuver he managed without a hitch, and led the women back up on foot. Tex tucked the .22 in his pants and slung a coil of three-ply white rope over his shoulder…”
- Jeff Guinn, Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson
The late 60s – you might have heard – were a rather tumultuous time in American history. A controversial president held office, while an unpopular war raged in Vietnam. There was racial upheaval and mass demonstrations, riots in the streets and National Guardsmen on college campuses. As Americans dropped bombs in Southeast Asia, other Americans planted bombs in courthouses and federal buildings. In this fraught period where violence lingered in the very air, a counterculture promoting peace through sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll sprang up in California, drawing idealists, the curious, and the lost.
It was in this context that Charles Manson, a nobody from nowhere, who’d spent much of his life in various correctional institutions, arrived in Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a rock star. As Jeff Guinn succinctly notes in his Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson, Charlie was “the wrong man in the right place at the right time.” A penny-ante philosopher with overhyped charisma, Manson was able to gather a group of followers – called “the Family” – who raided dumpsters for food, regularly used LSD to expand their minds, engaged in orchestrated orgies, and believed in a coming race war. Living on an old western movie lot called the Spahn Ranch, they were smalltime criminals mostly dealing in stolen automobiles.
Then, over the course of two nights – August 8-9, 1969 – members of the Family brutally murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate and coffee heiress Abigail Folger. Thanks in part to an ambitious prosecutor – who played up the wildest aspects of the event – the slayings became one of the most infamous crimes in American history.
With such over-the-top material, it helps to have a no-nonsense guide such as Guinn. His Manson is a sturdy, studiously old-fashioned biography, with no frills or flourishes. Aside from a brief opening chapter that has Charlie clubbing with three Hollywood friends, this is a strictly chronological tale, one that begins with Charlie’s birth, and ends with him firmly ensconced in a well-deserved prison cell (this was published in 2013, before Manson’s death). As is typical in Guinn’s other books, Manson is deeply researched – with extremely enlightening explanatory notes – and is based in part on his own interviews with willing participants. Unfortunately, Charlie himself refused to discuss the book with Guinn, though as Guinn rightly notes, he probably would not have added much.
Because Charlie was such an unexceptional person, the early going of this book is rather slow (which is a typical shortcoming of the chronological approach, where you sacrifice momentum for methodical thoroughness). Guinn dutifully lays out his background, including sketches of his hyper-religious grandmother and his ne’er-do-well mother, who was clearly rebelling against that hyper-religiosity. From an early age, Charlie proved to be a low-grade problem child, manipulative and glib. As he grew older, he gradually ratcheted up his felonious instincts, though he was such a hapless outlaw that he was invariably caught quite quickly no matter the escapade.
Manson really clicks into gear when Charlie is released from a California prison and wanders into the hippie scene, where he immediately began preying on the vulnerable seekers – many from solid middle-class homes – who were looking for an answer to a question they had not fully formed.
Guinn has carved himself a pretty good career detailing the lives of charismatic criminals with a demythologizing rigor. Recently, I read his book on Jim Jones, The Road to Jonestown, which detailed the sad arc of the Peoples Temple from a church fighting for civil rights, to a broken community in Guyana downing cups of Flavor Aid dosed with cyanide. As I read Manson, I found it impossible not to see the parallels between the two men (who might both be titled “cult leaders”). While Jones – unlike Charlie – started with good intentions before veering off the rails, both provided a refuge to vulnerable men and women looking to belong. In an often unfriendly and unwelcoming world, both the Peoples Temple and the Family provided an attractive axis in which to orient one’s life, imbuing members with meaning and purpose. The fact that Manson’s core belief was insane – in particular, his theory of “Helter Skelter,” an apocalyptic race war in which the Family was going to survive by finding a special hole in the desert – is almost beside the point.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Manson is Guinn’s attention to Charlie’s rock star dreams. After Charlie’s notoriously homicidal turn, many of his LA acquaintances made pointed efforts to distance themselves from him. However, as Guinn shows, Charlie had an extremely close relationship with Beach Boys member Dennis Wilson. During the course of this “friendship,” Charlie showed Wilson his songs, got studio time, and even auditioned for successful producer Terry Melcher (who at one point rented the house at Cielo Drive in which Tate eventually was murdered). By the time Charlie ordered the Family to venture forth and kill, those musical ambitions had been dashed once and for all, and Charlie’s hold on the Family was loosening. In Guinn’s telling, cult leaders are like sharks in that they have to keep moving or die. Having made a bunch of bold, unfulfilled promises – including that he was about to become as famous as The Beatles – Charlie’s grip was loosening. Seen in this light, the Tate-LaBianca murders become less about igniting a war between blacks and whites, and more about re-exerting his authority.
My hardcover version of Mansion checks in at exactly 399-pages of text. Approximately forty percent of that length is devoted to the Tate-LaBianca murders, the ensuing investigation, and the trial of five members of the Family: Charles “Tex” Watson; Patricia Krenwinkel; Leslie Van Houten; Susan Atkins; and Charlie himself. Frankly, while Guinn does a fine job streamlining this material, this simply can’t compare to Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi’s insider account, Helter Skelter. Despite having its own problems, Helter Skelter is extremely thorough, extremely detailed, and one of the bestselling true crime books of all time. Guinn cannot hope to compare, and rightly, does not really make the attempt.
The true value of Manson is in putting Charlie in proper perspective. For all his attributes as a lawyer – and he was a good one – Bugliosi’s decision to play up the “Helter Skelter” angle in Charlie’s trial assured him a lasting place in the criminal pantheon. Bugliosi essentially based the entire conspiracy on the notion that Charlie could control and direct the wills of his followers. In doing so, Bugliosi imbued Charlie with near-mystical attributes. He might as well have built a marble statue of the guy. Because of Bugliosi – who attempted to parlay his fame into elected office – Charles Manson achieved an unfortunate immortality.
While Bugliosi and Helter Skelter turned Charlie into a monster for the ages, Guinn’s Manson does just the opposite. By methodically detailing the arc of Charlie’s life, we see that he was not especially smart, or clever, or talented, or special. He was a blunt object, a destroyer, who managed to exploit a very particular moment in American life. It may be that we will always remember Charles Manson, but Guinn helpfully reminds us that in a better world, we would forget he ever existed at all.
- Jeff Guinn, Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson
The late 60s – you might have heard – were a rather tumultuous time in American history. A controversial president held office, while an unpopular war raged in Vietnam. There was racial upheaval and mass demonstrations, riots in the streets and National Guardsmen on college campuses. As Americans dropped bombs in Southeast Asia, other Americans planted bombs in courthouses and federal buildings. In this fraught period where violence lingered in the very air, a counterculture promoting peace through sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll sprang up in California, drawing idealists, the curious, and the lost.
It was in this context that Charles Manson, a nobody from nowhere, who’d spent much of his life in various correctional institutions, arrived in Los Angeles with dreams of becoming a rock star. As Jeff Guinn succinctly notes in his Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson, Charlie was “the wrong man in the right place at the right time.” A penny-ante philosopher with overhyped charisma, Manson was able to gather a group of followers – called “the Family” – who raided dumpsters for food, regularly used LSD to expand their minds, engaged in orchestrated orgies, and believed in a coming race war. Living on an old western movie lot called the Spahn Ranch, they were smalltime criminals mostly dealing in stolen automobiles.
Then, over the course of two nights – August 8-9, 1969 – members of the Family brutally murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate and coffee heiress Abigail Folger. Thanks in part to an ambitious prosecutor – who played up the wildest aspects of the event – the slayings became one of the most infamous crimes in American history.
With such over-the-top material, it helps to have a no-nonsense guide such as Guinn. His Manson is a sturdy, studiously old-fashioned biography, with no frills or flourishes. Aside from a brief opening chapter that has Charlie clubbing with three Hollywood friends, this is a strictly chronological tale, one that begins with Charlie’s birth, and ends with him firmly ensconced in a well-deserved prison cell (this was published in 2013, before Manson’s death). As is typical in Guinn’s other books, Manson is deeply researched – with extremely enlightening explanatory notes – and is based in part on his own interviews with willing participants. Unfortunately, Charlie himself refused to discuss the book with Guinn, though as Guinn rightly notes, he probably would not have added much.
Because Charlie was such an unexceptional person, the early going of this book is rather slow (which is a typical shortcoming of the chronological approach, where you sacrifice momentum for methodical thoroughness). Guinn dutifully lays out his background, including sketches of his hyper-religious grandmother and his ne’er-do-well mother, who was clearly rebelling against that hyper-religiosity. From an early age, Charlie proved to be a low-grade problem child, manipulative and glib. As he grew older, he gradually ratcheted up his felonious instincts, though he was such a hapless outlaw that he was invariably caught quite quickly no matter the escapade.
Manson really clicks into gear when Charlie is released from a California prison and wanders into the hippie scene, where he immediately began preying on the vulnerable seekers – many from solid middle-class homes – who were looking for an answer to a question they had not fully formed.
Guinn has carved himself a pretty good career detailing the lives of charismatic criminals with a demythologizing rigor. Recently, I read his book on Jim Jones, The Road to Jonestown, which detailed the sad arc of the Peoples Temple from a church fighting for civil rights, to a broken community in Guyana downing cups of Flavor Aid dosed with cyanide. As I read Manson, I found it impossible not to see the parallels between the two men (who might both be titled “cult leaders”). While Jones – unlike Charlie – started with good intentions before veering off the rails, both provided a refuge to vulnerable men and women looking to belong. In an often unfriendly and unwelcoming world, both the Peoples Temple and the Family provided an attractive axis in which to orient one’s life, imbuing members with meaning and purpose. The fact that Manson’s core belief was insane – in particular, his theory of “Helter Skelter,” an apocalyptic race war in which the Family was going to survive by finding a special hole in the desert – is almost beside the point.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Manson is Guinn’s attention to Charlie’s rock star dreams. After Charlie’s notoriously homicidal turn, many of his LA acquaintances made pointed efforts to distance themselves from him. However, as Guinn shows, Charlie had an extremely close relationship with Beach Boys member Dennis Wilson. During the course of this “friendship,” Charlie showed Wilson his songs, got studio time, and even auditioned for successful producer Terry Melcher (who at one point rented the house at Cielo Drive in which Tate eventually was murdered). By the time Charlie ordered the Family to venture forth and kill, those musical ambitions had been dashed once and for all, and Charlie’s hold on the Family was loosening. In Guinn’s telling, cult leaders are like sharks in that they have to keep moving or die. Having made a bunch of bold, unfulfilled promises – including that he was about to become as famous as The Beatles – Charlie’s grip was loosening. Seen in this light, the Tate-LaBianca murders become less about igniting a war between blacks and whites, and more about re-exerting his authority.
My hardcover version of Mansion checks in at exactly 399-pages of text. Approximately forty percent of that length is devoted to the Tate-LaBianca murders, the ensuing investigation, and the trial of five members of the Family: Charles “Tex” Watson; Patricia Krenwinkel; Leslie Van Houten; Susan Atkins; and Charlie himself. Frankly, while Guinn does a fine job streamlining this material, this simply can’t compare to Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi’s insider account, Helter Skelter. Despite having its own problems, Helter Skelter is extremely thorough, extremely detailed, and one of the bestselling true crime books of all time. Guinn cannot hope to compare, and rightly, does not really make the attempt.
The true value of Manson is in putting Charlie in proper perspective. For all his attributes as a lawyer – and he was a good one – Bugliosi’s decision to play up the “Helter Skelter” angle in Charlie’s trial assured him a lasting place in the criminal pantheon. Bugliosi essentially based the entire conspiracy on the notion that Charlie could control and direct the wills of his followers. In doing so, Bugliosi imbued Charlie with near-mystical attributes. He might as well have built a marble statue of the guy. Because of Bugliosi – who attempted to parlay his fame into elected office – Charles Manson achieved an unfortunate immortality.
While Bugliosi and Helter Skelter turned Charlie into a monster for the ages, Guinn’s Manson does just the opposite. By methodically detailing the arc of Charlie’s life, we see that he was not especially smart, or clever, or talented, or special. He was a blunt object, a destroyer, who managed to exploit a very particular moment in American life. It may be that we will always remember Charles Manson, but Guinn helpfully reminds us that in a better world, we would forget he ever existed at all.
November 7, 2022
Manson by Jeff Guinn is a 2013 Simon & Schuster publication.
After reading Jeff Guinn’s chilling book about Jim Jones, which was published after this one, I was so impressed by his work, I added this book to my library wish-list- but I couldn’t seem to muster the emotional courage to read about Manson, right away, so the book fell down the list.
I recently learned Guinn had a new book coming out, which reminded me that I had never gotten around to reading this one. So, I took a deep fortifying breath and got started on it.
Guinn really digs deep in his biographies so that the reader gets a full picture of how someone like Charlie developed into the person they became, which means we begin with his childhood- which was far from charmed.
As a result, Charlie started getting into trouble at an early age- and naturally ended up in prison- it was as though he was in his element and preferred to stay there. Unfortunately, he was paroled…
Manson was a combination of a narcissist and con man- eventually spiraling out of control in what I feel was a perfect storm- the sixties, communes, the blurred lines that saw people like Manson and his ‘family’ hanging out with Didi Lansbury, living at Dennis Wilson’s home, brushing elbows with music industry people, while his ‘family’ lived under the rule of a maniac cult leader, who was desperate to keep them under his thumb.
As time passes, and the window of opportunity closes on Manson’s dream of being the biggest rock star in the world, he starts losing his grip over his ‘family’ and obviously things begin to go horribly awry.
Guinn does an incredible job of bringing that period of history to life, showing how it was the exact moment in time for someone like Charlie to flourish. It’s a mind boggling, emotionally conflicting and chilling tale- but at the end of the day, Guinn strips Manson of his mystique, exposing who he really was all along.
One of the chapter headings says- The Wrong Man in the Right Place, at the Right Time- which couldn’t be more apt. The 1960s was already a brewing storm and Manson simply capitalized on that. He was nothing but an opportunistic, sociopathic con-man- pure and simple…
He cost people their lives, both literally and figuratively, and in truth it’s sad that he managed to stay in the public eye for so long-something that most assuredly pleased him- and kept some people tied to him for years.
As to the presentation and execution of the book, this one didn’t quite reach the same level of excellence as ‘The Road to Jonestown”, but it comes in a close second. There were a few things I took issue with. On occasion I picked up on a note of sarcasm and wasn’t sure if it was due to the author’s personal feelings about the topic being discussed, or if it was aimed at Charlie’s twisted view of it. I chose to give Guinn the benefit of the doubt in those areas.
Other than that, I didn’t feel the author opined very often, mostly just presenting the facts and allowing the reader to interpret them from there. It is not the author’s place to make judgments on those on the fringes of Manson life- such as the celebrities that he rubbed elbows with on occasion, for example. I prefer this approach, myself, and do not like attempts to blame others for someone’s crimes, or attempt to lead readers to any like minded conclusion- so I was happy with the author’s presentation on that front.
There was some material inserted here that didn’t really have anything to do with the topic at hand and I wondered why it was necessary to include it- other than to simply remind readers of what else was going on at the same time the Manson cult was operating, killing, and on trial.
Sometimes it is still hard to believe all that really happened, but this book serves to remind us there is pure, narcissistic evil in the world, and we might do well to remember that…
Overall, another outstanding piece of true crime by this author. His portrait of Charles Manson was spot-on. The book is organized and well-researched, hard to read at times, but impossible to put down.
*Charlie died after this book was published- and is still referred to in the present tense.
April 12, 2017
*Take this review with a grain of salt because I don't read biographies ever lol*
4.5 Stars. I really enjoyed this read! I'm not one for biographies or non-fiction, but Charles Manson is a figure I've been relentlessly studying since I was about 13. As I wrote a paper this semester on explaining Charles Manson's criminal activity, this book was a MASSIVE help!
Guinn goes into immense detail on Manson's life from the beginning to the present. There were tiny anecdotes I had never heard anywhere else, yet still held significant relevance to Manson's story. This is the first biography I've ever read in full, so I'm not knowledgeable about the general structure of these books, but it was SOOOO detailed. I honestly feel it answered the majority of large questions I've harbored about Manson's life and more. If you ever need a play by play of Charles Manson's life or need a really expansive resource, I'd highly highly recommend this read.
The only minor negatives I found were:
1. There was SOOOOOO much history. Again, I'm not a qualified reviewer of biographies in any sense, but there were pages and pages of American History that I personally did not care for and did not need for my reading experience. I imagine it is very important for biographers to describe the context of the events they are recounting (again, I'm positive this is a crucial addition to ALL biographies but this ain't my cup of tea), but it wasn't enjoyable for me and I ended up skipping pages and pages of information that didn't contribute to what I was reading for.
2. It sometimes felt as if the author were placing thoughts and feelings into the individuals mentioned in the story that he could not have known. This was especially present in the primary chapters and did disappear as the novel progressed, but there were points where I found myself saying, "This doesn't seem like something anyone could know, even through extensive research." At times it felt like sentences were added to increase to the general intensity of the book, but these points felt very inauthentic to me.
That being said, the book was clearly very well researched, especially considering the author was unable to speak with Manson personally. I was really impressed with this novel and am very glad I read it!
4.5 Stars. I really enjoyed this read! I'm not one for biographies or non-fiction, but Charles Manson is a figure I've been relentlessly studying since I was about 13. As I wrote a paper this semester on explaining Charles Manson's criminal activity, this book was a MASSIVE help!
Guinn goes into immense detail on Manson's life from the beginning to the present. There were tiny anecdotes I had never heard anywhere else, yet still held significant relevance to Manson's story. This is the first biography I've ever read in full, so I'm not knowledgeable about the general structure of these books, but it was SOOOO detailed. I honestly feel it answered the majority of large questions I've harbored about Manson's life and more. If you ever need a play by play of Charles Manson's life or need a really expansive resource, I'd highly highly recommend this read.
The only minor negatives I found were:
1. There was SOOOOOO much history. Again, I'm not a qualified reviewer of biographies in any sense, but there were pages and pages of American History that I personally did not care for and did not need for my reading experience. I imagine it is very important for biographers to describe the context of the events they are recounting (again, I'm positive this is a crucial addition to ALL biographies but this ain't my cup of tea), but it wasn't enjoyable for me and I ended up skipping pages and pages of information that didn't contribute to what I was reading for.
2. It sometimes felt as if the author were placing thoughts and feelings into the individuals mentioned in the story that he could not have known. This was especially present in the primary chapters and did disappear as the novel progressed, but there were points where I found myself saying, "This doesn't seem like something anyone could know, even through extensive research." At times it felt like sentences were added to increase to the general intensity of the book, but these points felt very inauthentic to me.
That being said, the book was clearly very well researched, especially considering the author was unable to speak with Manson personally. I was really impressed with this novel and am very glad I read it!
August 6, 2013
Peace, Love, and Aberration
This is a mind expanding book. It’s as much a social history of America and more specifically of California in the late sixties and the early seventies as it is a study of Manson and his so called family. Guin sets the context of Manson’s story by delving into the genesis of the hippie movement in Haight-Ashbury and then as it extends across the country. One of the things that fascinates me so much about true crime is how someone comes to be involved in their crimes. What caused them to act this way? He takes us through an in depth look at Charlie’s mother’s growing years and her problems with her family, the law and her incarceration. So much of what Manson wants us to believe about his early years is his fabrication. He came from a loving but troubled southern family with strong (maybe too strong?) values. His grandmother and aunt and uncle did a lot to steer him towards good behavior as did his mother when she was released from prison but Charlie was a manipulative child almost from the beginning. He was a user.
During his reform school days and early adult prison stints he turned to the lessons of Dale Carnegie and Scientology not for guidance but as a way to perfect his use of others. He was motivated to be famous and determined to do anything he could to be in the limelight. He focused on becoming a musician but only accomplished rudimentary skills in that area though his self delusion told him others just couldn’t appreciate his talent. He also especially looked down on women and was a rampant racist. He even fancied himself as Jesus Christ! The amazing thing is he was able to get others to believe his fantasies and to serve him.
The emphasis of “Manson” stays on the larger social history and the history of how the Manson Family was created and operated within that context and how they turned to murder and many other crimes. In fact Guin only turns to the Tate and La Bianca murders at about the 50% mark of the book. This is not a negative. The creation of the hippie movement, the war protesters, the Weathermen, the Black Panthers and most intriguing for me as an Angelino was the local history was revelatory. Guin pits Manson’s story against the against the backdrop of the social environment. The times, the place and the people are the stars of this book. Charlie and his sick family are the aberration.
This review is based on an advance reader’s copy supplied by the publisher.
(Disclaimer given per FTC requirement.)
This is a mind expanding book. It’s as much a social history of America and more specifically of California in the late sixties and the early seventies as it is a study of Manson and his so called family. Guin sets the context of Manson’s story by delving into the genesis of the hippie movement in Haight-Ashbury and then as it extends across the country. One of the things that fascinates me so much about true crime is how someone comes to be involved in their crimes. What caused them to act this way? He takes us through an in depth look at Charlie’s mother’s growing years and her problems with her family, the law and her incarceration. So much of what Manson wants us to believe about his early years is his fabrication. He came from a loving but troubled southern family with strong (maybe too strong?) values. His grandmother and aunt and uncle did a lot to steer him towards good behavior as did his mother when she was released from prison but Charlie was a manipulative child almost from the beginning. He was a user.
During his reform school days and early adult prison stints he turned to the lessons of Dale Carnegie and Scientology not for guidance but as a way to perfect his use of others. He was motivated to be famous and determined to do anything he could to be in the limelight. He focused on becoming a musician but only accomplished rudimentary skills in that area though his self delusion told him others just couldn’t appreciate his talent. He also especially looked down on women and was a rampant racist. He even fancied himself as Jesus Christ! The amazing thing is he was able to get others to believe his fantasies and to serve him.
The emphasis of “Manson” stays on the larger social history and the history of how the Manson Family was created and operated within that context and how they turned to murder and many other crimes. In fact Guin only turns to the Tate and La Bianca murders at about the 50% mark of the book. This is not a negative. The creation of the hippie movement, the war protesters, the Weathermen, the Black Panthers and most intriguing for me as an Angelino was the local history was revelatory. Guin pits Manson’s story against the against the backdrop of the social environment. The times, the place and the people are the stars of this book. Charlie and his sick family are the aberration.
This review is based on an advance reader’s copy supplied by the publisher.
(Disclaimer given per FTC requirement.)
January 22, 2020
4.5/5 stars!
This is a fascinating look inside the head of a monster.
I especially liked the observations regarding how Charlie used a little bit of knowledge from all sorts of different subjects and wove them together to manipulate specific people. During his many prison stints, he met and listened to Black Panthers, Scientologists and he even picked up some tips from Dale Carnegie's book, HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. He melded together bits from of all them, depending on his audience. The result was often striking-as a professional actor he might have done well, but as a professional musician he did not. There lies much of the frustration that ended up helping to fuel his attempt at "Helter Skelter."
Jeff Guinn writes excellent, detailed biographies, (I especially enjoyed his Bonnie and Clyde and Jim Jones books), which work well as audios. I'm not sure if I would have liked them all as much in print, but audio works perfectly for me. (There is so much detail included that I feel like I may have become bored in actually reading these books.) The narrator here, Jim Frangione, did an excellent job and helped keep me interested, especially when detailing the actions of various family members.
A warning for sensitive people-the descriptions of these brutal murders is graphic and unflinching. It's uncomfortable to listen to. Even after reading hundreds of books, (both fictional and non), about murders and horrific happenings, it never fails to bother me and I never fail to try to imagine how someone could do such things. Guinn attempts to tell us in his excellent biographies, but somehow, the answer to the question "Why?" is never fully answered in any of them. But I can't keep myself from continuing to try to understand.
Finally, one thing I wouldn't want to forget to mention is the ridiculously random nature and brutality of these crimes. I think that often gets lost in the mysterious aura that surrounds Manson and his "family." It would be an extreme disservice to forget: the very pregnant Sharon Tate and her friends, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and poor Steven Parent, (who was just a young man trying to sell a clock radio), the LaBiancas, Shorty Shea and Gary Hinman. May they all rest in peace.
Highly recommended to fans of true crime and detailed biographies.
This is a fascinating look inside the head of a monster.
I especially liked the observations regarding how Charlie used a little bit of knowledge from all sorts of different subjects and wove them together to manipulate specific people. During his many prison stints, he met and listened to Black Panthers, Scientologists and he even picked up some tips from Dale Carnegie's book, HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE. He melded together bits from of all them, depending on his audience. The result was often striking-as a professional actor he might have done well, but as a professional musician he did not. There lies much of the frustration that ended up helping to fuel his attempt at "Helter Skelter."
Jeff Guinn writes excellent, detailed biographies, (I especially enjoyed his Bonnie and Clyde and Jim Jones books), which work well as audios. I'm not sure if I would have liked them all as much in print, but audio works perfectly for me. (There is so much detail included that I feel like I may have become bored in actually reading these books.) The narrator here, Jim Frangione, did an excellent job and helped keep me interested, especially when detailing the actions of various family members.
A warning for sensitive people-the descriptions of these brutal murders is graphic and unflinching. It's uncomfortable to listen to. Even after reading hundreds of books, (both fictional and non), about murders and horrific happenings, it never fails to bother me and I never fail to try to imagine how someone could do such things. Guinn attempts to tell us in his excellent biographies, but somehow, the answer to the question "Why?" is never fully answered in any of them. But I can't keep myself from continuing to try to understand.
Finally, one thing I wouldn't want to forget to mention is the ridiculously random nature and brutality of these crimes. I think that often gets lost in the mysterious aura that surrounds Manson and his "family." It would be an extreme disservice to forget: the very pregnant Sharon Tate and her friends, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and poor Steven Parent, (who was just a young man trying to sell a clock radio), the LaBiancas, Shorty Shea and Gary Hinman. May they all rest in peace.
Highly recommended to fans of true crime and detailed biographies.
September 26, 2022
Manson: The Life and Times by Jeff Guinn i have always been fascinated with Charles Manson. I’ve read Helter Skelter, seen the movie. This is the most in-depth book I’ve read about him. It was very interesting.
February 4, 2015
Guinn tackles the extremely daunting task of presenting a cogent biography of one of the world's most notorious serial killers of the 20th century. Charles Manson and his life are likely of keen interest to many, though the number who will admit it may pale in comparison. Guinn is left to explore Manson's life before permanent incarceration, especially his development of The Family, the group he led by his amazing power of persuasion. Guinn sketches Manson out to be three distinct beings over his lifetime before incarceration: the two-bit criminal, the aspiring musician, and the all-controlling leader. These three personas do blend throughout the tome, though there are key points where their differentiation is clear to the attentive reader. Guinn's work is not only stellar, but also highly informative, drawn on what can only been countless hours of interviews and correspondence with many to piece together the intricate and sometimes sadistic details of Manson and his followers. Including in-depth analysis of the trial that led to Manson's permanent incarceration, Guinn spares no detail in presenting a piece of biographical gold.
Manson was a two-bit criminal for his entire life. Guinn opens the biography placing the larger family tree in front of the reader and showing how the various branches jetted off into their own directions. Manson was born to a teenage prostitute whose dalliances were more rebellious than filled with passion. His biological father departed before Manson was born and his mother left to spend years behind bars when Manson was but a toddler. Manson was always an awkward child and, according to Guinn, filled with trouble from an early age. Becoming an inhabitant of numerous boys reformatories in his youth, Manson's life took a turn towards darker paths before he reached adulthood. Even during these incarcerations, Manson was able to develop key skills that he could use in his future criminal acts, including mechanical repairs, skillful negotiation, and sexual numbness. Guinn documents Manson's numerous flitting relationships and how his life of crime did lead to those he wed disappearing as soon as he was behind bars. One skill he did pick up in his youth that might have led to a completely different path was music and the desire to make something of himself through musical stardom.
Guinn weaves an ongoing thread in the book to describe Manson as an ever-aspiring musician. Manson developed close relationships with many after he made the move out to Los Angeles and did cross paths with the likes of Dennis Wilson, drummer for the Beach Boys. Manson always touted himself as a decent musician whose messages, grounded in the counter-culture, would fit nicely into the rebellious age of the 1960s. Wilson, along with Terry Melcher (son of actress Doris Day) and Gregg Jakobson (young producer) became the focus of Manson's revolving request to make him a star. Guinn depicts Manson as a tepid singer and sub-par guitar player, who had the contacts needed but lacked the talent. This musician persona is so important to the biography, as the age in which Manson saw his own star rise and the collection of 'fame' around which he was surrounded created more of a blessed nature for Manson and did fuel his all-powerful leader persona, which represents the best known side of Manson for most readers.
Guinn shows Manson as the all-controlling leader throughout the tome, repeatedly illustrating how the loner was able to shepherd so many hapless souls and have them follow his directives without question. This is a mixed inherent/learned behaviour that Guinn attributes to Manson's obsessive reading of Dale Carnegie's self-help manuals and applying these techniques. Manson preyed on those who lacked confidence or disliked mainstream rules by presenting an alternative that brought praise to those who invested in his teachings and accepted what he felt was the path destined for them. Manson developed key followers by breaking down inhibition through sex and drug use, as well as demanding total investment in his alternative lifestyle. Sometimes calling himself Jesus Christ, Manson presented biblical scripture as the sole answer and interpreted things in such a way that those who followed him felt as if the words spoke directly of modern happenings. Manson and his Family soon became a group whose dedication could not be matched, though Manson himself felt the need to reinvent himself to keep the message fresh and the followers from waning, most famously with his Helter Skelter mantra, a black-white race war. Guinn also illustrates the leadership role Manson took in the summer of 1969, which started the killing spree for which he and his Family are most notoriously known. I leave it to readers to determine what sort of leadership structure they feel Manson created, though I would not shy away from a Jonestown or Branch Davidian flavour.
Guinn's meticulous detailing of the chronological story keeps the impetus flowing and allows the reader to better understand the man and his thinking. While more recent interviews likely depict Manson as a crazed killer who will never escape his incarcerated state, Guinn allows the reader to see, over time, how this mindset developed and how Manson used his own goals to fuel the Family's actions. The book's length should not scare a reader off, for it is completely digestible and keeps the reader wanting to know more. From foundational snapshots of the era, Guinn paints a better picture for the reader who may not have been around for free love or Haight-Ashbury's most prominent time, but it also provides a powerful backdrop to elucidate WHY and HOW Manson was able to expand his flock with such ease and the culture he chose to rebel against, all as a means of presenting himself as a leader worth following. Manson is a genius as well as a sadistic man, a keen listener as well as a prophet of edicts. The reader will likely leave this novel sensing this as well and come away with a better understanding of the man and a respect for the larger picture. This is not to say that there will be an Manson compassion, but the knee-jerk "he's a fu**ed up son of a bitch!" holds no water if the reader allows Guinn to present his complete argument.
Will this book help present a softer, more loving side of Charles Manson to the general public? Not likely, nor do I think that is what Guinn sought to do. He did try, and succeeded, to show that Charles Manson's actions in the summer of 1969 are but an end result of a long and arduous set of actions that brought Manson and his followers to commence a killing spree to begin Helter Skelter.
Kudos, Mr. Guinn for opening my eyes and my mind to such a rich history as it relates to one of America's most notorious serial killer masterminds. How can a man, whose criminal acts ended in 1969, still hold such sway and whose name has such an impact on generations later? I cannot recommend this book enough to those who seek to understand and speak more confidently about Charles Manson and his crimes that rocked the world.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
Manson was a two-bit criminal for his entire life. Guinn opens the biography placing the larger family tree in front of the reader and showing how the various branches jetted off into their own directions. Manson was born to a teenage prostitute whose dalliances were more rebellious than filled with passion. His biological father departed before Manson was born and his mother left to spend years behind bars when Manson was but a toddler. Manson was always an awkward child and, according to Guinn, filled with trouble from an early age. Becoming an inhabitant of numerous boys reformatories in his youth, Manson's life took a turn towards darker paths before he reached adulthood. Even during these incarcerations, Manson was able to develop key skills that he could use in his future criminal acts, including mechanical repairs, skillful negotiation, and sexual numbness. Guinn documents Manson's numerous flitting relationships and how his life of crime did lead to those he wed disappearing as soon as he was behind bars. One skill he did pick up in his youth that might have led to a completely different path was music and the desire to make something of himself through musical stardom.
Guinn weaves an ongoing thread in the book to describe Manson as an ever-aspiring musician. Manson developed close relationships with many after he made the move out to Los Angeles and did cross paths with the likes of Dennis Wilson, drummer for the Beach Boys. Manson always touted himself as a decent musician whose messages, grounded in the counter-culture, would fit nicely into the rebellious age of the 1960s. Wilson, along with Terry Melcher (son of actress Doris Day) and Gregg Jakobson (young producer) became the focus of Manson's revolving request to make him a star. Guinn depicts Manson as a tepid singer and sub-par guitar player, who had the contacts needed but lacked the talent. This musician persona is so important to the biography, as the age in which Manson saw his own star rise and the collection of 'fame' around which he was surrounded created more of a blessed nature for Manson and did fuel his all-powerful leader persona, which represents the best known side of Manson for most readers.
Guinn shows Manson as the all-controlling leader throughout the tome, repeatedly illustrating how the loner was able to shepherd so many hapless souls and have them follow his directives without question. This is a mixed inherent/learned behaviour that Guinn attributes to Manson's obsessive reading of Dale Carnegie's self-help manuals and applying these techniques. Manson preyed on those who lacked confidence or disliked mainstream rules by presenting an alternative that brought praise to those who invested in his teachings and accepted what he felt was the path destined for them. Manson developed key followers by breaking down inhibition through sex and drug use, as well as demanding total investment in his alternative lifestyle. Sometimes calling himself Jesus Christ, Manson presented biblical scripture as the sole answer and interpreted things in such a way that those who followed him felt as if the words spoke directly of modern happenings. Manson and his Family soon became a group whose dedication could not be matched, though Manson himself felt the need to reinvent himself to keep the message fresh and the followers from waning, most famously with his Helter Skelter mantra, a black-white race war. Guinn also illustrates the leadership role Manson took in the summer of 1969, which started the killing spree for which he and his Family are most notoriously known. I leave it to readers to determine what sort of leadership structure they feel Manson created, though I would not shy away from a Jonestown or Branch Davidian flavour.
Guinn's meticulous detailing of the chronological story keeps the impetus flowing and allows the reader to better understand the man and his thinking. While more recent interviews likely depict Manson as a crazed killer who will never escape his incarcerated state, Guinn allows the reader to see, over time, how this mindset developed and how Manson used his own goals to fuel the Family's actions. The book's length should not scare a reader off, for it is completely digestible and keeps the reader wanting to know more. From foundational snapshots of the era, Guinn paints a better picture for the reader who may not have been around for free love or Haight-Ashbury's most prominent time, but it also provides a powerful backdrop to elucidate WHY and HOW Manson was able to expand his flock with such ease and the culture he chose to rebel against, all as a means of presenting himself as a leader worth following. Manson is a genius as well as a sadistic man, a keen listener as well as a prophet of edicts. The reader will likely leave this novel sensing this as well and come away with a better understanding of the man and a respect for the larger picture. This is not to say that there will be an Manson compassion, but the knee-jerk "he's a fu**ed up son of a bitch!" holds no water if the reader allows Guinn to present his complete argument.
Will this book help present a softer, more loving side of Charles Manson to the general public? Not likely, nor do I think that is what Guinn sought to do. He did try, and succeeded, to show that Charles Manson's actions in the summer of 1969 are but an end result of a long and arduous set of actions that brought Manson and his followers to commence a killing spree to begin Helter Skelter.
Kudos, Mr. Guinn for opening my eyes and my mind to such a rich history as it relates to one of America's most notorious serial killer masterminds. How can a man, whose criminal acts ended in 1969, still hold such sway and whose name has such an impact on generations later? I cannot recommend this book enough to those who seek to understand and speak more confidently about Charles Manson and his crimes that rocked the world.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
May 3, 2020
So y’all do realize that technically Manson is not a serial killer right?
Just a pet peeve of mine.
Just a pet peeve of mine.
August 9, 2013
First of all I would like to say a few words about the last few paragraphs in this book.
For me Guinn manages to pinpoint Manson exactly right in those last few sentences. I actually nodded in agreement as I read them.
The fact that the author managed to get Manson's family members, sorry his genetic family, to talk to him gives this book some extra insight. It is filled with factual info that makes a lot of things less mystical, and let's be honest the media likes to paint Manson that way, and with a great deal more realism than is usually shown in regards to this true story.
Manson is a sociopath.
There is nothing special about him and he doesn't possess an awe-inspiring charisma. Manson obviously learnt to manipulate at an early age and use his adapted Dale Carnegie skills. He was/is a controlling, abusive, misogynistic criminal with a tendency towards violence. If he and his cult members hadn't been caught they would have gone on to murder many more.
They didn't though and unfortunately the vile acts they committed has given Manson and his tribe the attention and notoriety that Manson craved. Even now, after many decades his name still commands and instills a sense of evil and foreboding in people of which he is not and never was deserving.
His fellow comrades in murder seem to get a lot of leniency from many corners. Drugs, mass-thought, fear and control can only explain a part of their involvement.
Fact is they are the ones who used the weapons. Nobody forced Susan Atkins to stab Sharon Tate, no person held Tex's hand while he stabbed, shot and caved the victim's head in. They are just as responsible as the person who sent them there. They went without concise orders so ultimately they decided to choose to commit murder and how to do it.
I have no pity and am not swayed by arguments that place the sole blame on Manson.
Guinn doesn't do that. He doesn't play up to the media hype or make excuses for the poor brainwashed vulnerable females/males. He sees Manson for the role-playing manipulator he is. Even after all these years Manson still sits in prison and thrives on the attention of murder junkies, Manson fans and the media.
Despite the fact that the flow of information could have been a little smoother this was a good book. It contains a lot of insight from sources close to Manson and people who were part of his life on a daily basis.
I especially liked the fact that the author gives the reader all the info about Manson's rocky childhood, adolescence and early adulthood in juvenile detention or prison. that way the reader can absorb that information and decide whether it is enough of a factor to feel sympathy or understanding for Manson. The author allows us to have that opening, a door of sorts, and then right at the end he opens another door.
The door marked 'Manson would have done this anyway, it just would have been another time and different victims' and I for one will gladly walk through that door.
I received a free copy of this book via Edelweiss.
For me Guinn manages to pinpoint Manson exactly right in those last few sentences. I actually nodded in agreement as I read them.
The fact that the author managed to get Manson's family members, sorry his genetic family, to talk to him gives this book some extra insight. It is filled with factual info that makes a lot of things less mystical, and let's be honest the media likes to paint Manson that way, and with a great deal more realism than is usually shown in regards to this true story.
Manson is a sociopath.
There is nothing special about him and he doesn't possess an awe-inspiring charisma. Manson obviously learnt to manipulate at an early age and use his adapted Dale Carnegie skills. He was/is a controlling, abusive, misogynistic criminal with a tendency towards violence. If he and his cult members hadn't been caught they would have gone on to murder many more.
They didn't though and unfortunately the vile acts they committed has given Manson and his tribe the attention and notoriety that Manson craved. Even now, after many decades his name still commands and instills a sense of evil and foreboding in people of which he is not and never was deserving.
His fellow comrades in murder seem to get a lot of leniency from many corners. Drugs, mass-thought, fear and control can only explain a part of their involvement.
Fact is they are the ones who used the weapons. Nobody forced Susan Atkins to stab Sharon Tate, no person held Tex's hand while he stabbed, shot and caved the victim's head in. They are just as responsible as the person who sent them there. They went without concise orders so ultimately they decided to choose to commit murder and how to do it.
I have no pity and am not swayed by arguments that place the sole blame on Manson.
Guinn doesn't do that. He doesn't play up to the media hype or make excuses for the poor brainwashed vulnerable females/males. He sees Manson for the role-playing manipulator he is. Even after all these years Manson still sits in prison and thrives on the attention of murder junkies, Manson fans and the media.
Despite the fact that the flow of information could have been a little smoother this was a good book. It contains a lot of insight from sources close to Manson and people who were part of his life on a daily basis.
I especially liked the fact that the author gives the reader all the info about Manson's rocky childhood, adolescence and early adulthood in juvenile detention or prison. that way the reader can absorb that information and decide whether it is enough of a factor to feel sympathy or understanding for Manson. The author allows us to have that opening, a door of sorts, and then right at the end he opens another door.
The door marked 'Manson would have done this anyway, it just would have been another time and different victims' and I for one will gladly walk through that door.
I received a free copy of this book via Edelweiss.
August 15, 2019
Manson is more than a story about a guy who committed heinous murders. This is his childhood, the tumultuos 60's, racial unrest, music, and of course the master manipulator and how he coerced people to join his "family". How does an author organize all these details and present it in an unputdownable book? Jeff Guinn has that formula and presents it in Manson.
I was fascinated right from the start. I knew the basics about Manson and his followers, but none of the details and nothing about his childhood. His obsession with music and getting a recording deal was very interesting. His friendship with Dennis Wilson was shocking, but eventually his true nature would bring that to an end. The mental downward spiral and need for control was haunting as he grew more desperate and violent.
This biography is a comprehensive timeline of Manson's life. I'm eager to get a copy of Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry's Helter Skelter and focus on all the courtroom drama.
I was fascinated right from the start. I knew the basics about Manson and his followers, but none of the details and nothing about his childhood. His obsession with music and getting a recording deal was very interesting. His friendship with Dennis Wilson was shocking, but eventually his true nature would bring that to an end. The mental downward spiral and need for control was haunting as he grew more desperate and violent.
This biography is a comprehensive timeline of Manson's life. I'm eager to get a copy of Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry's Helter Skelter and focus on all the courtroom drama.
July 20, 2016
As a big fan of Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, I suspected that there wouldn't be much new for me in this biography of Manson. I was pleasantly surprised -- Jeff Guinn has written a biography of Manson, but also an overview of San Francisco in the 50s.
I heard Guinn on Fresh Air and he made that the point that Manson could not have existed at any other time in US culture. His arrival in San Francisco coincided with a time when people were seeking enlightenment through drugs, gurus, and rock and roll--and Manson learned how to provide all three. SF was also full of kids and teenagers who had cut ties with their families, meaning there was no one there to stop them from joining a potentially dangerous cult. As Guinn phrased it: Manson would never be able amass this group of followers picking out midwestern daughters in Iowa.
There's no way to make this story anything less than sensational, but Guinn manages to focus on the impact to people, both the victims of The Family and the followers of Manson. He adds a human element to Manson's mother, who has in the past been portrayed as little more than a prostitute who was happen to abandon her son. In actuality, she was an overwhelmed mother who did occasionally trade sex for money, but she also provided Manson with a reasonable family life, including an extended family who took him in repeatedly in between his stays in prison.
This book is best approached as a slice of what the US was like in the 60s, and all of the good and bad things that came from that time.
I heard Guinn on Fresh Air and he made that the point that Manson could not have existed at any other time in US culture. His arrival in San Francisco coincided with a time when people were seeking enlightenment through drugs, gurus, and rock and roll--and Manson learned how to provide all three. SF was also full of kids and teenagers who had cut ties with their families, meaning there was no one there to stop them from joining a potentially dangerous cult. As Guinn phrased it: Manson would never be able amass this group of followers picking out midwestern daughters in Iowa.
There's no way to make this story anything less than sensational, but Guinn manages to focus on the impact to people, both the victims of The Family and the followers of Manson. He adds a human element to Manson's mother, who has in the past been portrayed as little more than a prostitute who was happen to abandon her son. In actuality, she was an overwhelmed mother who did occasionally trade sex for money, but she also provided Manson with a reasonable family life, including an extended family who took him in repeatedly in between his stays in prison.
This book is best approached as a slice of what the US was like in the 60s, and all of the good and bad things that came from that time.
October 1, 2014
Page 399 (my book)
Almost everyone who had anything to do with him [Manson] was damaged in some way, and Charlie could not have cared less. Gregg Jakobson compares Charlie to a cancer cell because he thrived by eradicating everything around him that was healthy.
This book captures the totality of Charles Manson - actually called Charlie by all around him. In this crime biography the author does not give us any excuses in a sociological or psychological sense. Manson was a creep, a predator, a prime manipulator and delusional.
He had all the makings of a criminal in his upbringing. When he was five years old his mother was carted off to jail and he hardly ever saw his father. Even at a young age he was always trying to draw attention to himself. Most of his teenage years were spent in juvenile detention centres - mostly for auto-theft, nothing overtly violent.
In 1967, in his early twenties when he was on parole, he went to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury area and was overwhelmed by the freedom there (sex and drugs and rock and roll). It was there that he started to form a small colony (eventually called “The Family”) of young disenfranchised girls (some of them underage). Manson was delusional and saw himself as a great musician waiting to be discovered. He would rise to super-stardom and eclipse even the Beatles.
To achieve his musical success he moved “The Family” to Los Angeles because this was where the music producers and recording studios were. Manson was very good at networking and established “some friendships” in the music industry, particularly with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. He used Dennis to find contacts in the business for music auditions. This was aided by the use of his young girls who had sex with these musicians, music producers and recording artists. These young girls believed fully in Charlie and complied willingly with any of his requests – for now this usually revolved around sex and drugs – it would get much worse. “The Family” continued to grow and all believed in Charlie and hung onto his every word as if it were a pearl of wisdom. He started to have some guys in the group, who he used as enforcers when he wasn’t around. Some were used to recruit other members. All of them were young runaways and drifters. They were entertained in the evenings by Charlie’s music and Biblical rants – followed or accompanied by drugs and sex. Charlie said he loved them and they believed.
Charlie was working in two different directions at the same time. One was that his musical genius was soon to be discovered and all in “The Family” would become famous – but Charlie would be the most famous. The other direction was that Charlie and his entourage were searching for a cave in Death Valley in which to hide-out during the upcoming race war in the United States. Charlie believed that African Americans were going to rise up en masses and kill white people. Charlie’s family would hibernate in the cave and emerge after several years to rule the world. To accomplish this they stole several dune buggies and cars.
At a certain stage when a significant number of music producers rejected Charlie’s musical offerings; Charlie, somewhere inside of himself, must have realized that his dreams were just that. This is when Charlie sent his family on a murderous spree.
This book is very well-written and is always in focus. It captures very well the essence of the era. I found it extremely sad how these young girls and guys from fifteen years of age to their early twenties could so willingly follow and believe in another human being. Many of them participated in senseless killings. They continued to follow and support Charlie even after his arrest and even after some of “The Family” members started to abdicate. During the trail Charlie carved an “X” in his forehead, some of the girls did the same. Some of the female members attempted to kill another female member who was going to testify in the trial by giving her an acid overdose. During the trial Manson attempted to stab the judge with a pen. I can only speculate on the affect this had on the jury.
Almost everyone who had anything to do with him [Manson] was damaged in some way, and Charlie could not have cared less. Gregg Jakobson compares Charlie to a cancer cell because he thrived by eradicating everything around him that was healthy.
This book captures the totality of Charles Manson - actually called Charlie by all around him. In this crime biography the author does not give us any excuses in a sociological or psychological sense. Manson was a creep, a predator, a prime manipulator and delusional.
He had all the makings of a criminal in his upbringing. When he was five years old his mother was carted off to jail and he hardly ever saw his father. Even at a young age he was always trying to draw attention to himself. Most of his teenage years were spent in juvenile detention centres - mostly for auto-theft, nothing overtly violent.
In 1967, in his early twenties when he was on parole, he went to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury area and was overwhelmed by the freedom there (sex and drugs and rock and roll). It was there that he started to form a small colony (eventually called “The Family”) of young disenfranchised girls (some of them underage). Manson was delusional and saw himself as a great musician waiting to be discovered. He would rise to super-stardom and eclipse even the Beatles.
To achieve his musical success he moved “The Family” to Los Angeles because this was where the music producers and recording studios were. Manson was very good at networking and established “some friendships” in the music industry, particularly with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. He used Dennis to find contacts in the business for music auditions. This was aided by the use of his young girls who had sex with these musicians, music producers and recording artists. These young girls believed fully in Charlie and complied willingly with any of his requests – for now this usually revolved around sex and drugs – it would get much worse. “The Family” continued to grow and all believed in Charlie and hung onto his every word as if it were a pearl of wisdom. He started to have some guys in the group, who he used as enforcers when he wasn’t around. Some were used to recruit other members. All of them were young runaways and drifters. They were entertained in the evenings by Charlie’s music and Biblical rants – followed or accompanied by drugs and sex. Charlie said he loved them and they believed.
Charlie was working in two different directions at the same time. One was that his musical genius was soon to be discovered and all in “The Family” would become famous – but Charlie would be the most famous. The other direction was that Charlie and his entourage were searching for a cave in Death Valley in which to hide-out during the upcoming race war in the United States. Charlie believed that African Americans were going to rise up en masses and kill white people. Charlie’s family would hibernate in the cave and emerge after several years to rule the world. To accomplish this they stole several dune buggies and cars.
At a certain stage when a significant number of music producers rejected Charlie’s musical offerings; Charlie, somewhere inside of himself, must have realized that his dreams were just that. This is when Charlie sent his family on a murderous spree.
This book is very well-written and is always in focus. It captures very well the essence of the era. I found it extremely sad how these young girls and guys from fifteen years of age to their early twenties could so willingly follow and believe in another human being. Many of them participated in senseless killings. They continued to follow and support Charlie even after his arrest and even after some of “The Family” members started to abdicate. During the trail Charlie carved an “X” in his forehead, some of the girls did the same. Some of the female members attempted to kill another female member who was going to testify in the trial by giving her an acid overdose. During the trial Manson attempted to stab the judge with a pen. I can only speculate on the affect this had on the jury.
March 23, 2016
I received a copy of this book through the GoodReads First Reads giveaway program. I was very excited to win an advance copy of this book, but for some reason (perhaps a review I read) I expected it to be very poorly written. I did not find this to be the case at all.
The most striking quality of this book was its tremendous readability; it proved a real page turner. I am a fan of true crime journalism, stories, etc., but I had no real interest in the Manson case beforehand. The author, Jeff Guinn, sure converted me quickly.
I very much appreciated the extensive context he provided concerning "Charlie's" background -- from childhood through his early prison sentences. I also noted that Mr. Guinn did a very good job of contextualizing his story in time and place very succinctly and usefully. He did not let the book's topic become the history of the times of Charles Manson, but inasmuch as those times were inextricable from the story, he presented them and put them in perspective for the reader.
This book exceeded my expectations and was well worth the time I spent reading it!
The most striking quality of this book was its tremendous readability; it proved a real page turner. I am a fan of true crime journalism, stories, etc., but I had no real interest in the Manson case beforehand. The author, Jeff Guinn, sure converted me quickly.
I very much appreciated the extensive context he provided concerning "Charlie's" background -- from childhood through his early prison sentences. I also noted that Mr. Guinn did a very good job of contextualizing his story in time and place very succinctly and usefully. He did not let the book's topic become the history of the times of Charles Manson, but inasmuch as those times were inextricable from the story, he presented them and put them in perspective for the reader.
This book exceeded my expectations and was well worth the time I spent reading it!
November 23, 2020
It's been years since the crimes, but Charles Manson (perhaps America's most famous living sociopath) is still of reading interest. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders remains the definitive work on the trial; The Family, for which there has been some dispute of facts, nevertheless, remains definitive on Manson and his followers. I believe this book will similarly survive as the definitive biography of Manson.
The detail on his sad childhood is sourced from state and county records, interviews with family members and local people as well as secondary sources. There are interesting photos of the young Charlie; Striking in to contrast the older Manson is the one of his wedding day. You follow Manson through his life in reform and correctional programs, inclusive of a stay at Boys Town. In prison he learned "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and picked up the jargon of Scientology. He exploited both upon release.
Author Jeff Guinn shows how Manson grew his tribe from his first recruit, Mary Brunner, to over 30 hand-picked followers. He shows how the women helped lure the attention and largesse of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, were useful in entertaining Terry Melcher and were necessary in obtaining food, cash and credit cards. The men stole and rebuilt vehicles. Manson procured housing and was the authoritarian spiritual leader. The narrative takes Manson from his goals of getting a recording contract to that of surviving the coming race war; it describes how he manipulted others to commit crimes and later complement his courtroom antics designed for them to take the rap; and how he now lives in prison.
The "... and his Times" part of the title is covered by inserting the parallel events of the country in the Manson chronology. If you lived through these times, the specific placement helps set the stage for the Manson events and the more lengthy descriptions are not needed.
The last chapter starts a discussion on Manson and the times. While it is commonly said that he and "The Family" are a 60's phenomena, Guinn in his last paragraph states that Manson, himself, is a product of the 30's, 40's and 50's. I would have liked more development of this idea, because in a similar way, the 60's were a product of a pent up need for social changes that had not been met in the earlier three decades.
The detail on his sad childhood is sourced from state and county records, interviews with family members and local people as well as secondary sources. There are interesting photos of the young Charlie; Striking in to contrast the older Manson is the one of his wedding day. You follow Manson through his life in reform and correctional programs, inclusive of a stay at Boys Town. In prison he learned "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and picked up the jargon of Scientology. He exploited both upon release.
Author Jeff Guinn shows how Manson grew his tribe from his first recruit, Mary Brunner, to over 30 hand-picked followers. He shows how the women helped lure the attention and largesse of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, were useful in entertaining Terry Melcher and were necessary in obtaining food, cash and credit cards. The men stole and rebuilt vehicles. Manson procured housing and was the authoritarian spiritual leader. The narrative takes Manson from his goals of getting a recording contract to that of surviving the coming race war; it describes how he manipulted others to commit crimes and later complement his courtroom antics designed for them to take the rap; and how he now lives in prison.
The "... and his Times" part of the title is covered by inserting the parallel events of the country in the Manson chronology. If you lived through these times, the specific placement helps set the stage for the Manson events and the more lengthy descriptions are not needed.
The last chapter starts a discussion on Manson and the times. While it is commonly said that he and "The Family" are a 60's phenomena, Guinn in his last paragraph states that Manson, himself, is a product of the 30's, 40's and 50's. I would have liked more development of this idea, because in a similar way, the 60's were a product of a pent up need for social changes that had not been met in the earlier three decades.
May 16, 2016
Good update on the Manson story with a much-needed focus on Manson's youth. As I recall (and it's been a very long time), Bugliosi, in Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, was pretty thin (and possibly wrong) on those details. Yeah, Manson's childhood was a rough one, but a lot of that was brought on by his own choices. If you believe in Bad Seeds, he would certainly be a candidate. It's true, his mother was a honky tonk girl (but hardly a prostitute), who would spend some time in jail, but to her credit she would straighten herself out via AA and an eventual good marriage (after a few failures). While she was going through this, other family members stepped up to help out. Guinn portrays them as generally good and responsible people. In contrast, Manson, from an early age, was totally anti-social. A pathological liar, violent, and incredibly manipulative. The prose is a bit purple up to and including the murders, but also fascinating since Guinn is willing to speculate where the button-downed Bugliosi would not. Bugliosi's effort, truth be told, is kind of dry, but at the time (which was very close to the events) that actually heightened the horror of Manson and his family. The murky menace of Manson was everywhere. Guinn is a different kind of writer, and the Manson he shows is a diminished character, and hardly the evil genius he is often portrayed as.
Basically, Manson was a pimp, armed with some Dale Carnegie prison courses, who wanted to be a rock star bigger than the Beatles. If you're going to dream, dream big. He used his women (many of them jail bait from troubled homes) as lures to gain access to the music world he so wanted to be a part of. Amazingly, he and his family would actually live with the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson -- who clearly liked them young, naked, and running around the yard, some with attached fairy wings. I'm not making this shit up. Manson would get his studio tryouts, but bad attitude, lack of talent, and those spooky girls would sink him. When this central dream started to crumble, the Helter Skelter race war nonsense -- and the murders began.
The second half of the book moves at a good clip. It's almost like a different writer took over, but I'm OK with that since that could have easily been, given the way that trial went, quite a slog. (It was in Bugliosi's book.) In the end it's a sad story of wasted lives (the numerous mini-bios on family members are excellent), butchered bodies, one man's monstrous ego, and the knowledge that 8 months pregnant Sharon Tate called for her mother as Susan Atkins jammed a knife into her heart. It's also an indictment (and Guinn is very good with this) of a profoundly unhappy time that Neil Young -- who actually met Manson -- still calls, lovingly, a hippie dream.
Basically, Manson was a pimp, armed with some Dale Carnegie prison courses, who wanted to be a rock star bigger than the Beatles. If you're going to dream, dream big. He used his women (many of them jail bait from troubled homes) as lures to gain access to the music world he so wanted to be a part of. Amazingly, he and his family would actually live with the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson -- who clearly liked them young, naked, and running around the yard, some with attached fairy wings. I'm not making this shit up. Manson would get his studio tryouts, but bad attitude, lack of talent, and those spooky girls would sink him. When this central dream started to crumble, the Helter Skelter race war nonsense -- and the murders began.
The second half of the book moves at a good clip. It's almost like a different writer took over, but I'm OK with that since that could have easily been, given the way that trial went, quite a slog. (It was in Bugliosi's book.) In the end it's a sad story of wasted lives (the numerous mini-bios on family members are excellent), butchered bodies, one man's monstrous ego, and the knowledge that 8 months pregnant Sharon Tate called for her mother as Susan Atkins jammed a knife into her heart. It's also an indictment (and Guinn is very good with this) of a profoundly unhappy time that Neil Young -- who actually met Manson -- still calls, lovingly, a hippie dream.
March 17, 2024
Tragic, outrageous, sad, scary that is the story of Charles Manson and the murders committed by him and the murders committed he commuted through his "family". Frank Guinn's portrayal of the life and times of Manson manages to be objective and captivating at the same time. Guinn's work is well-researched and he never lets his own opinion take over. I consider this work on Mansion the most well-rounded and informative book on the life of Charles Manson and all the unfortunate people he brought under his spell
August 14, 2015
For anyone who lived though the 60s, there is probably too much tedius (and sometimes irrelevant) historical detail. For those who didn't, it likely doesn't seem excessive. Not as riveting as Helter Skelter, but a decent book with a bit of new information, told with the authority of a gruntload of reasearch. It also has the advantage of time, so we get to learn what happened to all the surviving players.
December 28, 2018
“Charlie was booked as “MANSON, CHARLES M., AKA JESUS CHRIST, GOD.”
Another fabulous book from Jeff Guinn! So detailed, yet very readable. The Family is fascinating, but damn, it was all truly insane and absolutely gruesome. If you devoured Helter Skelter, definitely read this one, too, if you haven’t already. The audio is very well done.
Another fabulous book from Jeff Guinn! So detailed, yet very readable. The Family is fascinating, but damn, it was all truly insane and absolutely gruesome. If you devoured Helter Skelter, definitely read this one, too, if you haven’t already. The audio is very well done.
September 7, 2014
I won this book as a Goodreads Giveaway.
Having read Helter Skelter years ago and being familiar with the basic ‘plot’ of the Manson Family murders, I was glad that this book contained far more than a rehashing of the all too familiar details.
The first couple of hundred pages provides an insight into Charles’ upbringing including information about his mother and the uncle and aunt who basically raised him, as well as the town where he spent most of his youth. It follows him into young adulthood and his early crimes and prison sentences as well as delving into the early phases of his need to dominate people and gain admiration and attention from people, particularly women. I would’ve liked to have read more about the dynamic between Charles and his mother, a teenaged prostitute imprisoned while Charles was a child and later on bullied by Charles behind bars.
What I enjoyed almost as much as the subject matter was the social history of San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 60s. The black panthers, race riots, drug culture, the Beat writers, hippies, the sharp rise in national violence, the Summer of Love, the defining music of the era…all this and more is used to provide the context of the time in which Charles was living.
For the most part I found this book engrossing and well researched.
Having read Helter Skelter years ago and being familiar with the basic ‘plot’ of the Manson Family murders, I was glad that this book contained far more than a rehashing of the all too familiar details.
The first couple of hundred pages provides an insight into Charles’ upbringing including information about his mother and the uncle and aunt who basically raised him, as well as the town where he spent most of his youth. It follows him into young adulthood and his early crimes and prison sentences as well as delving into the early phases of his need to dominate people and gain admiration and attention from people, particularly women. I would’ve liked to have read more about the dynamic between Charles and his mother, a teenaged prostitute imprisoned while Charles was a child and later on bullied by Charles behind bars.
What I enjoyed almost as much as the subject matter was the social history of San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 60s. The black panthers, race riots, drug culture, the Beat writers, hippies, the sharp rise in national violence, the Summer of Love, the defining music of the era…all this and more is used to provide the context of the time in which Charles was living.
For the most part I found this book engrossing and well researched.
November 22, 2017
Update:
At last, Charles Manson has died by the age of 83 from natural causes on Sunday, November 19. Rot In Hell.
It has never been so addictive to get into the history of one of the world's most notorious psychopaths, Charlie Manson.
The author has a splendid way in keeping me interested and engaged; I've kept reading the book for hours and hours. The book never bored be at all, not even once, and it sure kept me on my toes and fascinated me all the time with all these shocking details and accounts. Moreover, it is completely shown that Jeff Guinn has done his research with authenticity and in-depth.
I enjoyed how the author approaches this book by blending Charlie's life and the Family story with the era and its crisis when Charlie and his cult 'The Family' committed the murders. I thoroughly loved how the author painted and portrayed Charlie as a 3-dimensional character in this book. I felt like I was 'with' these dislikeable people, which I liked and disliked at the same time.
Assigned as a celebration of Halloween, this book is a groundbreaking breakthrough! Highly recommended!
At last, Charles Manson has died by the age of 83 from natural causes on Sunday, November 19. Rot In Hell.
It has never been so addictive to get into the history of one of the world's most notorious psychopaths, Charlie Manson.
The author has a splendid way in keeping me interested and engaged; I've kept reading the book for hours and hours. The book never bored be at all, not even once, and it sure kept me on my toes and fascinated me all the time with all these shocking details and accounts. Moreover, it is completely shown that Jeff Guinn has done his research with authenticity and in-depth.
I enjoyed how the author approaches this book by blending Charlie's life and the Family story with the era and its crisis when Charlie and his cult 'The Family' committed the murders. I thoroughly loved how the author painted and portrayed Charlie as a 3-dimensional character in this book. I felt like I was 'with' these dislikeable people, which I liked and disliked at the same time.
Assigned as a celebration of Halloween, this book is a groundbreaking breakthrough! Highly recommended!
September 17, 2013
Jeff Guinn, Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013). $27.50, 495 pages. Hardcover / Kindle
Frigyes Karinthy originated the idea of six degrees separation in his 1929 short story, “Chains.” One of the characters in the story bet his friends that
“using no more than five individuals, one of whom is a personal acquaintance, he could contact [any person in the world] using nothing except the network of personal acquaintances.”
I had a six-degrees-like experience while reading Jeff Guinn’s excellent new biography of Charles Manson. (I don't normally read biographies of serial killers, but I highly recommend this one.) I was sitting in the reception area of an auto repair shop waiting for my wife’s car to be fixed, and I mentioned to the receptionist that I was reading the book. She told me that she had a personal interest in the story, as her brother had dated Sharon Tate’s sister, Patti. I live in rural Missouri, but that conversation bridged 40+ years and 1600+ miles in an instant.
Whether or not you’ve had a similar six-degrees experience, you know Charles Manson. The Tate-LaBianca murders of August 9–10, 1969, are engraved in America’s public memory, shaped our perception of the 60s and 70s, and influenced our behavior. Growing up in southern California in the early 70s, for example, I remember my mom assiduously closing windows, locking doors, and exhorting my sister and me never to open the front door when she and my dad weren’t home or to answer the phone unless it had rung 10 times (this was the era before answering machines became ubiquitous). This despite the fact that she had grown up in rural Alabama, where windows were usually open and doors rarely locked. No one would “creepy crawl” in our house, as the Manson Family had done in others people’s houses. In such quotidian ways, this man left his infamous mark.
But how did he become evil in the first place? Reading Guinn’s biography of him, arm-chair sociologists can check off a long list of correlates pointing to future bad behavior. Teenage mom who conceived her child out of wedlock? Check. Fatherless family? Check. Mom who served prison time? Check. Bad relationship with mom’s new husband? Check. Learning and behavioral problems at school? Check. Bullied and sexually abused? Check. Early criminality? Check. Long time spent in reform school and later prison? Check. Recidivism? Check.
On top of these correlates, American culture was changing. It is difficult for those of us who didn’t live through the period in which Charles Manson came of age to understand the seismic forces shaking and reshaping American society. The Civil Rights Movement highlighted the inequities and injustices underlying much of American society. Opposition to the burgeoning war in Vietnam challenged the goodness of American foreign policy and institutions. The slow pace of change frustrated radicals and convinced some of them that only revolutionary violence would bring real change. Hippies promoted peace, love, and better living through chemistry. In different ways, these movements challenged the status quo and hoped and worked for a very different American than the one that currently existed.
Put together the sociological correlates and the cultural changes, and you still don’t get Charles Manson, however. Most people with bad upbringings don’t become notorious criminals. Millions survived the 60s (relatively) unscathed; most even thrived. At the end of the day, what caused Charles Manson was not his upbringing or social environment alone. What caused Charles Manson was…Charles Manson. In the final paragraph of his biography of Manson, Jeff Guinn describes him as “an opportunistic sociopath.” “By the time the 1960s arrived,” he writes, “Charles Manson was already a lifelong social predator.” He concludes: “The unsettling 1960s didn’t create Charlie, but they made it possible for him to bloom in full, malignant flower. In every sense, Charles Manson was always the wrong man in the right place at the right time.”
That last sentence is an apt summary of a notorious life. It is also an exhortation to caution. Opportunistic sociopaths will always be with us. But we can mitigate the damage they do to us by paying attention to who we’re with, and when, and where.
And, of course, by remembering to close your windows and lock your doors.
P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
Frigyes Karinthy originated the idea of six degrees separation in his 1929 short story, “Chains.” One of the characters in the story bet his friends that
“using no more than five individuals, one of whom is a personal acquaintance, he could contact [any person in the world] using nothing except the network of personal acquaintances.”
I had a six-degrees-like experience while reading Jeff Guinn’s excellent new biography of Charles Manson. (I don't normally read biographies of serial killers, but I highly recommend this one.) I was sitting in the reception area of an auto repair shop waiting for my wife’s car to be fixed, and I mentioned to the receptionist that I was reading the book. She told me that she had a personal interest in the story, as her brother had dated Sharon Tate’s sister, Patti. I live in rural Missouri, but that conversation bridged 40+ years and 1600+ miles in an instant.
Whether or not you’ve had a similar six-degrees experience, you know Charles Manson. The Tate-LaBianca murders of August 9–10, 1969, are engraved in America’s public memory, shaped our perception of the 60s and 70s, and influenced our behavior. Growing up in southern California in the early 70s, for example, I remember my mom assiduously closing windows, locking doors, and exhorting my sister and me never to open the front door when she and my dad weren’t home or to answer the phone unless it had rung 10 times (this was the era before answering machines became ubiquitous). This despite the fact that she had grown up in rural Alabama, where windows were usually open and doors rarely locked. No one would “creepy crawl” in our house, as the Manson Family had done in others people’s houses. In such quotidian ways, this man left his infamous mark.
But how did he become evil in the first place? Reading Guinn’s biography of him, arm-chair sociologists can check off a long list of correlates pointing to future bad behavior. Teenage mom who conceived her child out of wedlock? Check. Fatherless family? Check. Mom who served prison time? Check. Bad relationship with mom’s new husband? Check. Learning and behavioral problems at school? Check. Bullied and sexually abused? Check. Early criminality? Check. Long time spent in reform school and later prison? Check. Recidivism? Check.
On top of these correlates, American culture was changing. It is difficult for those of us who didn’t live through the period in which Charles Manson came of age to understand the seismic forces shaking and reshaping American society. The Civil Rights Movement highlighted the inequities and injustices underlying much of American society. Opposition to the burgeoning war in Vietnam challenged the goodness of American foreign policy and institutions. The slow pace of change frustrated radicals and convinced some of them that only revolutionary violence would bring real change. Hippies promoted peace, love, and better living through chemistry. In different ways, these movements challenged the status quo and hoped and worked for a very different American than the one that currently existed.
Put together the sociological correlates and the cultural changes, and you still don’t get Charles Manson, however. Most people with bad upbringings don’t become notorious criminals. Millions survived the 60s (relatively) unscathed; most even thrived. At the end of the day, what caused Charles Manson was not his upbringing or social environment alone. What caused Charles Manson was…Charles Manson. In the final paragraph of his biography of Manson, Jeff Guinn describes him as “an opportunistic sociopath.” “By the time the 1960s arrived,” he writes, “Charles Manson was already a lifelong social predator.” He concludes: “The unsettling 1960s didn’t create Charlie, but they made it possible for him to bloom in full, malignant flower. In every sense, Charles Manson was always the wrong man in the right place at the right time.”
That last sentence is an apt summary of a notorious life. It is also an exhortation to caution. Opportunistic sociopaths will always be with us. But we can mitigate the damage they do to us by paying attention to who we’re with, and when, and where.
And, of course, by remembering to close your windows and lock your doors.
P.S. If you found my review helpful, please vote “Yes” on my Amazon.com review page.
July 12, 2024
Quite good. Very well researched.
November 26, 2014
The book is worth a read for those interested in the Manson story, but it's not a great example of historical writing.
Guinn certainly has dug up a lot of detail on Manson's life, starting with the various plights of his grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Unfortunately, I found the early chapters to be very poorly written. The author takes the tone of an omnipresent narrator and makes unfounded assumptions about the thoughts and motivations of the various characters. If it had been written in the style of a detailed narrative, this might have been forgivable. Instead, chapters 1-5 seem to be long, rambling chronologies with a lot of vague generalization, speculation, and amateur-ish writing.
For example, from Chapter 3: "[Charlie's mother] Kathleen surely felt guilty. She knew that her own aberrant behavior had been a terrible influence on Charlie. But even though she'd finally changed her ways, Charlie continued to lie, steal, and skip class. Every so often he'd lose control and scream, and then even though he was just a kid, barely five feet tall and maybe sixty or sixty-five pounds, he still scared Kathleen with his crazy eyes. Between [her alcoholic second husband] Lewis and Charlie she felt sometimes like she was going insane. Probably nothing could change Lewis. He was grown and permanently set in his ways. But Charlie was young. Something might still be done - just not by her. Where her son was concerned, Kathleen had run out of energy and ideas." (I'm reading an ebook without page numbers).
I understand that popular biographies don't cite sources in the style of academic history, but if the author was drawing from personal interviews, archived correspondence, or legal documents, I think he easily could have incorporated that information into the text in a way that is still easy to read. Why not "Charlie's grandmother Nancy describes his fist stay in McMechan as..."? As a reader, I find it difficult to trust Guinn's authority, because it's unclear where he gets any of his information.
Chapters 6 and 7 offer good summaries on the rise and fall of the Haight district in San Fransisco and the racial geography of Los Angeles, as it contributed to the unrest of the late 1960s. However, I'm not sure that Guinn's tone is entirely respectful or sympathetic. The background history on the racial tensions in LA reads a bit rushed-through and generalized.
In Chapter 8: "America continued to unravel in March 1968. President Johnson had organized a blue-ribbon commission to study the cause of civil unrest—racial rioting—and its report placed most of the blame squarely on 'white racism.'" Is it just me or does the author seem skeptical here, verging on snide?
The latter chapters are better than the first five, likely because the author has more detail to offer. He might have condensed Manson's childhood and adult jail time into 1-2 chapters, rather than trying to pad out a few facts and anecdotes with so much conjecture and poor narration. Where his own voice slips in, it comes off as both accidental and potentially offensive.
Guinn certainly has dug up a lot of detail on Manson's life, starting with the various plights of his grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Unfortunately, I found the early chapters to be very poorly written. The author takes the tone of an omnipresent narrator and makes unfounded assumptions about the thoughts and motivations of the various characters. If it had been written in the style of a detailed narrative, this might have been forgivable. Instead, chapters 1-5 seem to be long, rambling chronologies with a lot of vague generalization, speculation, and amateur-ish writing.
For example, from Chapter 3: "[Charlie's mother] Kathleen surely felt guilty. She knew that her own aberrant behavior had been a terrible influence on Charlie. But even though she'd finally changed her ways, Charlie continued to lie, steal, and skip class. Every so often he'd lose control and scream, and then even though he was just a kid, barely five feet tall and maybe sixty or sixty-five pounds, he still scared Kathleen with his crazy eyes. Between [her alcoholic second husband] Lewis and Charlie she felt sometimes like she was going insane. Probably nothing could change Lewis. He was grown and permanently set in his ways. But Charlie was young. Something might still be done - just not by her. Where her son was concerned, Kathleen had run out of energy and ideas." (I'm reading an ebook without page numbers).
I understand that popular biographies don't cite sources in the style of academic history, but if the author was drawing from personal interviews, archived correspondence, or legal documents, I think he easily could have incorporated that information into the text in a way that is still easy to read. Why not "Charlie's grandmother Nancy describes his fist stay in McMechan as..."? As a reader, I find it difficult to trust Guinn's authority, because it's unclear where he gets any of his information.
Chapters 6 and 7 offer good summaries on the rise and fall of the Haight district in San Fransisco and the racial geography of Los Angeles, as it contributed to the unrest of the late 1960s. However, I'm not sure that Guinn's tone is entirely respectful or sympathetic. The background history on the racial tensions in LA reads a bit rushed-through and generalized.
In Chapter 8: "America continued to unravel in March 1968. President Johnson had organized a blue-ribbon commission to study the cause of civil unrest—racial rioting—and its report placed most of the blame squarely on 'white racism.'" Is it just me or does the author seem skeptical here, verging on snide?
The latter chapters are better than the first five, likely because the author has more detail to offer. He might have condensed Manson's childhood and adult jail time into 1-2 chapters, rather than trying to pad out a few facts and anecdotes with so much conjecture and poor narration. Where his own voice slips in, it comes off as both accidental and potentially offensive.
August 7, 2021
If you know next to nothing about Charles Manson this is the perfect book to pick up.
In a classroom I’d be the first to put my hand up for knowing peanuts about Manson, sure, I’ve heard he was a serial killer sociopath. That is it, though. And, oh my gosh, there is so much more, so much more…
Jeff Guinn gives an incredibly comprehensive account of crazy Charlie’s life, The Family, 60s & 70s politics, cults, gangs, hippie culture, history of the Beatles and Beach Boys, LA music scene, Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and more.
This book was a gift from my daughter, she loves true crime stories and is fascinated with serial killers… they scare the bejeezus out of me. I guess she wanted me to learn more about America’s most famous madman. So glad I read it, absolutely fascinating.
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2021: #41 - A book from your TBR list you associate with a favourite person, place or thing
In a classroom I’d be the first to put my hand up for knowing peanuts about Manson, sure, I’ve heard he was a serial killer sociopath. That is it, though. And, oh my gosh, there is so much more, so much more…
Jeff Guinn gives an incredibly comprehensive account of crazy Charlie’s life, The Family, 60s & 70s politics, cults, gangs, hippie culture, history of the Beatles and Beach Boys, LA music scene, Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and more.
This book was a gift from my daughter, she loves true crime stories and is fascinated with serial killers… they scare the bejeezus out of me. I guess she wanted me to learn more about America’s most famous madman. So glad I read it, absolutely fascinating.
POPSUGAR Reading Challenge 2021: #41 - A book from your TBR list you associate with a favourite person, place or thing
March 5, 2023
To była bardzo ciężka przeprawa... Okazuje się, że Manson osiągnął to o czym od zawsze w życiu marzył - sławę - podczas, gdy jego historia nie jest tak fascynująca jak mogłoby się wydawać. Można stwierdzić, że splot różnych całkiem przypadkowych wydarzeń sprawił, że o tej zwichrowanej jednostce jest tak głośno. Odzierając jego losy z przypadku i jego osobistych starań by było o nim głośno - bez względu na to z jakiego powodu - nie zostaje wiele. Trudne dzieciństwo, nieporadność życiowa, wybujałe ego oraz zdolność manipulowania innymi, co niejako pozwoliło mu przetrwać. Brzmi jak typowy schemat przywódcy co drugiej sekty i co drugiego mordercy.
Nie wiem czy to kwestia tej książki, tego autora czy jednak w dużej części życiorysu Mansona, ale wyszło sucho. Jak na tak - koniec końców - prostą (choć oczywiście tragiczną) historię mamy tu tak wiele szczegółów, że głowa pęka. Doceniam badania autora, bo czuje że nie pozostawił żadnego kamienia nieodkrytego, ale reportaż to nie jest artykuł w gazecie. Przy krótkiej formie można wytrzymać szczegółowe, bezemocjonalne i bardzo konkretne relacjonowanie kolejnych zdarzeń, ale na 500 stronach książki, w okolicach połowy, idzie wymięknąć na amen. Przydałoby się jednak trochę werwy.
Początek był znacznie ciekawszy niż to co było dalej. Od momentu w którym Manson zakłada swoją sektę nie dzieje się wiele, a konkretnie dzieje się w kółko to samo. Potem - część dotycząca morderstw i samego procesu - jest tak wyładowana szczegółami, że nie idzie zapamiętać kto z kim i w którym momencie. Wydawało mi się, że to będzie najciekawsza część książki, a była najmniej interesująca. Mocno czekałam na koniec, a to najgorsze z uczuć podczas czytania książki.
Jeśli ktoś chciałby poczytać o Mansonie to lepiej sięgnąć po coś innego. Chociażby słynną "Helter Skelter" Bugliosi'ego (prokuratora występującego w sprawie Mansona), bo podobno dobra. Przypuszczam, ze spodobałaby mi się bardziej niż ta.
Nie wiem czy to kwestia tej książki, tego autora czy jednak w dużej części życiorysu Mansona, ale wyszło sucho. Jak na tak - koniec końców - prostą (choć oczywiście tragiczną) historię mamy tu tak wiele szczegółów, że głowa pęka. Doceniam badania autora, bo czuje że nie pozostawił żadnego kamienia nieodkrytego, ale reportaż to nie jest artykuł w gazecie. Przy krótkiej formie można wytrzymać szczegółowe, bezemocjonalne i bardzo konkretne relacjonowanie kolejnych zdarzeń, ale na 500 stronach książki, w okolicach połowy, idzie wymięknąć na amen. Przydałoby się jednak trochę werwy.
Początek był znacznie ciekawszy niż to co było dalej. Od momentu w którym Manson zakłada swoją sektę nie dzieje się wiele, a konkretnie dzieje się w kółko to samo. Potem - część dotycząca morderstw i samego procesu - jest tak wyładowana szczegółami, że nie idzie zapamiętać kto z kim i w którym momencie. Wydawało mi się, że to będzie najciekawsza część książki, a była najmniej interesująca. Mocno czekałam na koniec, a to najgorsze z uczuć podczas czytania książki.
Jeśli ktoś chciałby poczytać o Mansonie to lepiej sięgnąć po coś innego. Chociażby słynną "Helter Skelter" Bugliosi'ego (prokuratora występującego w sprawie Mansona), bo podobno dobra. Przypuszczam, ze spodobałaby mi się bardziej niż ta.
June 17, 2014
I'm not really sure why I picked up this book and started to read it. Maybe I thought it would be an interesting exploration of the psychopathic mind of Charles Manson. It's not. Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson should be renamed: The Extremely Detailed Daily Jaunts of a Quirky, Charismatic Guy Named Charlie.
When I read a book about a murderer, I want to get into his mind. That sounds nasty, but I want to know why he did it. What about his upbringing, his adult life, his psychological state pushed him into taking another human's life? How is a murderer created? That's what interests me. This book is completely devoid of that. It's as if Jeff Guinn pulled together all the research about Manson and organized it very neatly into a chronological book. There's no exploration of Manson the person. Just his interests, his quirks, his habits. Over and over again Guinn describes Manson as being "charismatic" and mentions the Dale Carnegie classes he took in prison (How to Win Friends and Influence People--basically how to "sell" yourself to people, how to manipulate people for your own gain) as if that explains why Manson was such a piece of shit human being. I'm told many times how Manson used women for his own purposes; he hunted specifically for women who were vulnerable and needy and damaged, but not too damaged. Just the right mix of pathetic and emotionally fucked up yet still able to follow his instructions. He gathered these women around him to pimp them out for money, panhandle, dumpster dive for food, and have sex with him whenever he wanted. He also hit them, threatened them, and humiliated them when he wished. Guinn had the audacity to write this sentence: "For all his copycat, cobbled-together rhetoric and all-consuming interest, Charlie really was making the lives of his first three followers happier" (105). Really, Guinn? You think so? Wow. After I read that sentence, I realized the author is absolutely clueless and decided to abandon the book. If he thinks these emotionally disturbed and abused women were "happy" being treated basically like Manson's slaves, I have to question everything about this book. I also found it disturbing that the author referred to Manson as "Charlie." As if Manson is his favorite kid brother. What the fuck.
While I learned some interesting facts about the San Francisco area called Haight-Ashbury during the 1960s, overall this book isn't worth reading. Guinn provides no insight into the mind of Charles Manson and his followers. The author basically describes their activities, continually calls Manson "charismatic" as if that one personality trait explains his life-long anti-social behavior, and is too detailed about the things that don't matter. The words "psychopath" or "sociopath" aren't even in the index. I find that very odd as Manson is a famous psychopath and clearly exhibited psychopathic traits beginning as young as five years old. The book is written in what I would describe as "high school term paper" mode--a lot of information is vomited back onto the paper in a coherent, if not exactly interesting, fashion. If you're looking for a book about Manson, keep looking. Manson isn't worth the trouble. Unless you want to know music Manson listened to while in prison. Then this is the book for you.
I also got the impression that Guinn didn't actually talk to any of the people in the book. I know from reading some of the notes that he did interview many people, but it doesn't come across that way. The whole book reads as if he basically cobbled together chapters from other books and newspaper articles. I find it fascinating that although Guinn examined Manson's life with a microscope, he neglected the most relevant area: Manson's psychological state. Why? You mean the author never thought that would be interesting to investigate? Manson is not a genius criminal. He was a pathetic, illiterate, petty criminal who found his self-worth in bullying women and men weaker and more emotionally needy that he himself was. So what led him murder? The complete absence of any discussion/research into the pathologies of Manson and his followers is a huge, gaping hole in the book. Without it, this book is just an extremely detailed story of a bunch of pathetic, emotionally fucked-up idiots following a loser whose only talent is being able to manipulate the weak-minded and gullible.
When I read a book about a murderer, I want to get into his mind. That sounds nasty, but I want to know why he did it. What about his upbringing, his adult life, his psychological state pushed him into taking another human's life? How is a murderer created? That's what interests me. This book is completely devoid of that. It's as if Jeff Guinn pulled together all the research about Manson and organized it very neatly into a chronological book. There's no exploration of Manson the person. Just his interests, his quirks, his habits. Over and over again Guinn describes Manson as being "charismatic" and mentions the Dale Carnegie classes he took in prison (How to Win Friends and Influence People--basically how to "sell" yourself to people, how to manipulate people for your own gain) as if that explains why Manson was such a piece of shit human being. I'm told many times how Manson used women for his own purposes; he hunted specifically for women who were vulnerable and needy and damaged, but not too damaged. Just the right mix of pathetic and emotionally fucked up yet still able to follow his instructions. He gathered these women around him to pimp them out for money, panhandle, dumpster dive for food, and have sex with him whenever he wanted. He also hit them, threatened them, and humiliated them when he wished. Guinn had the audacity to write this sentence: "For all his copycat, cobbled-together rhetoric and all-consuming interest, Charlie really was making the lives of his first three followers happier" (105). Really, Guinn? You think so? Wow. After I read that sentence, I realized the author is absolutely clueless and decided to abandon the book. If he thinks these emotionally disturbed and abused women were "happy" being treated basically like Manson's slaves, I have to question everything about this book. I also found it disturbing that the author referred to Manson as "Charlie." As if Manson is his favorite kid brother. What the fuck.
While I learned some interesting facts about the San Francisco area called Haight-Ashbury during the 1960s, overall this book isn't worth reading. Guinn provides no insight into the mind of Charles Manson and his followers. The author basically describes their activities, continually calls Manson "charismatic" as if that one personality trait explains his life-long anti-social behavior, and is too detailed about the things that don't matter. The words "psychopath" or "sociopath" aren't even in the index. I find that very odd as Manson is a famous psychopath and clearly exhibited psychopathic traits beginning as young as five years old. The book is written in what I would describe as "high school term paper" mode--a lot of information is vomited back onto the paper in a coherent, if not exactly interesting, fashion. If you're looking for a book about Manson, keep looking. Manson isn't worth the trouble. Unless you want to know music Manson listened to while in prison. Then this is the book for you.
I also got the impression that Guinn didn't actually talk to any of the people in the book. I know from reading some of the notes that he did interview many people, but it doesn't come across that way. The whole book reads as if he basically cobbled together chapters from other books and newspaper articles. I find it fascinating that although Guinn examined Manson's life with a microscope, he neglected the most relevant area: Manson's psychological state. Why? You mean the author never thought that would be interesting to investigate? Manson is not a genius criminal. He was a pathetic, illiterate, petty criminal who found his self-worth in bullying women and men weaker and more emotionally needy that he himself was. So what led him murder? The complete absence of any discussion/research into the pathologies of Manson and his followers is a huge, gaping hole in the book. Without it, this book is just an extremely detailed story of a bunch of pathetic, emotionally fucked-up idiots following a loser whose only talent is being able to manipulate the weak-minded and gullible.
August 22, 2021
Exceptionally researched and very well written. Jeff Guinn continues to be a knockout nonfiction author.
August 22, 2013
A VERY well-researched work on one of the most frightening men still on the planet. Jeff Guinn's Bibliography at the end of the book is quite impressive and draws from all types of sources, including interviews with family members (blood family, his sister and his cousin, as opposed to Manson's "Family" of whacked-out followers, some members of which he DID speak with) who have NEVER before been interviewed by anyone about their infamous relative.
If you're looking for an account of the Tate/LiBianca trials, look for "Helter Skelter". This book is all about Manson and the many people whose lives his tentacles touched - from Beach Boy Dennis Wilson to the bailiffs who had the unpleasant task of getting him in and out of the courtroom. Guinn puts Manson in the context of his times, showing how the man took various philosophies or systems (Scientology, Dale Carnegie) and twisted them together into a highly effective recruiting tool, one that not only drew people to him, but bound them to him and kept them there.
A master manipulator, Charles Manson, now in his 80th year, continues to both fascinate and repulse. Jeff Guinn's book guides the reader down an absorbing, twisted pathway toward one man's ultimate, violent destiny, while never forgetting the human detritus he left behind.
If you're looking for an account of the Tate/LiBianca trials, look for "Helter Skelter". This book is all about Manson and the many people whose lives his tentacles touched - from Beach Boy Dennis Wilson to the bailiffs who had the unpleasant task of getting him in and out of the courtroom. Guinn puts Manson in the context of his times, showing how the man took various philosophies or systems (Scientology, Dale Carnegie) and twisted them together into a highly effective recruiting tool, one that not only drew people to him, but bound them to him and kept them there.
A master manipulator, Charles Manson, now in his 80th year, continues to both fascinate and repulse. Jeff Guinn's book guides the reader down an absorbing, twisted pathway toward one man's ultimate, violent destiny, while never forgetting the human detritus he left behind.
January 7, 2023
A really solid Biography, overall. Reads a bit like a sophisticated Wikipedia page at parts, though, and I sort of wish the author had committed to a maybe a deeper exploration of why, exactly - beyond being emotionally vulnerable - Charles Mansons' followers were so committed to him, but overall really well done.
October 24, 2016
This is the best Charles Manson book I've ever read--I even liked it better than--gasp!--HELTER SKELTER--and one of the best true crimes. It's a sociological history as much as a biography.
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