Reviews - Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

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Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

Tom O'Neill, Dan Piepenbring

3.88 AVERAGE

nicolespez's review against another edition

5.0

dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

my_latest_fixation's review against another edition

4.5

Given the exhaustive (and apparently ongoing) research and reporting that went into this book, it should probably be considered the definitive book about the Manson murders. I appreciated that it wasn't so much about the grisly details of the murder but attempted to situate The Family in its Californian cultural milieu and answer the question of how Manson was able to turn normal young people into killers.

Anyone who knows anything about US security agencies' counterrevolutionary activities in the 1960s and the history of psychological research into psychedelics and other substances won't be surprised by where the author finds himself as he digs deeper

If you found this book interesting, I suggest checking out: The Jakarta Method, How to Change Your Mind, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies. I also suggest Errol Morris's documentary, Wormwood, whose subject is mentioned by O'Neill.

coraliep97's review against another edition

3.0

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

While this was pretty entertaining, most of this was hearsay and speculation. Most people involved in the original murder case are now dead and unable to verify or refute the information presented.