Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Chaos: Charles Manson, the Cia, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill

10 reviews

scubtle's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual violence, and Suicide

Moderate: Drug use, Racism, Rape, and Emotional abuse

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

3.5

An incredibly detailed and interesting look at a moment in history we all know about but don’t really know about. At first I was like uh nice try buddy, this is totally outlandish. And then by the end I was like… okay you got me this seems suspicious! At the very least, this book has further convinced me that police and government agencies are completely inept, at its worst, this book has convinced me that all our government does is violence and then shoddy coverups and then gaslighting. I do feel like he often undermined his own legitimacy by constantly being like “lol I know this feels like a tinfoil hat conspiracy theory!!” He seemed self-conscious about what he was attempting, and I just think he could have just confidently shared everything he learned instead. I also think this was maybe not best experienced via audiobook, I felt very lost on names and threads of ideas almost immediately, I think reading it physically would help at least a little. All in all, I leave this feeling wowed by just how nuts this story is, even beyond the nuts story we already know.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Violence, Rape, and Police brutality

caidyn's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

Wow. Such a twisty book. It went down such a rabbit hole and leaves so many questions about what really happened. Will we ever know? Probably not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use and Death

Moderate: Rape

gilroi's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

4.25

 Recently, I watched American Graffiti with a friend. Afterward, both us found the film dissatisfying for a number of reasons. Discussing it, my friend pointed out that it had been released not long after the date it takes place in-universe; the action happens in 1962, and the film was released in 1973. Ten years feels like a very short period of time to hang a nostalgia picture on. What changed so much between the early 60s and the early 70s?

I posited: not much in reality, but the intervening decade required white people to reckon with the idea that America was not pure, and politics were inherent to every action one takes. Of course, this lesson is hard to stick with; isn't it easier to pretend there was a mythical time when the world was innocent, and nothing was political? To misquote a peddler of this misery: A softer, gentler time.

If you want to read a book that will tell you what really happened in the Manson murders, or the secret truth of the Manson trial, this book will not help you. Tom O'Neill refuses to twist facts to suit theories, and this is to his credit. His research is in-depth, he doesn't make definitive connections where he lacks the evidence, and he doesn't make knowing assertations to the very notable coincidences and connections he uncovers, either. O'Neill does his best to humbly and without bias report what his findings uncover, and he mostly succeeds where matters of humility and bias are concerned. He succeeds completely in his in-depth research of anything and everything related to the Manson Family before and after the murders, regardless of where his research takes him.

There is a nonzero chance that the Warren Commission, the Manson trial, and MK Ultra, have some limbs in common in a centipede of government corruption happily swept up and hidden by the US Government. There is a nonzero chance Manson was some kind of government informant, and this was actively covered up during the trial. There is a nonzero chance Manson was not actually some kind of master puppeteer, and really just drugged his followers to the gills to get their compliance and manufacture their consent. There is a nonzero chance that Charles Manson was actually a competent musician and / or lyricist. There is a nonzero chance Vincent Bugliosi is a lying sack of shit.

But can the book prove these things definitively? Tom O'Neill wisely admits that no, he can't prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt. He shows us his research-- his incredibly in-depth and informative research-- and ultimately lets us decide. (Well, he can and does prove that Vincent Bugliosi is a lying sack of shit, but those are my words, not his.)

So what does this book definitively prove? It proves that America before 1970 was not a world of innocence and dreams. Things were neither softer nor gentler. The CIA was a deeply corrupt organization that seems to have spent half its time covering up its own villainy; the FBI was just as bad; police forces were happy to help them when they weren't busy falling over their own shoelaces in displays of staggering incompetence. People in power knew they were in power, and would do whatever they liked to hide that fact.

This book will teach you about the horrifying abuses of the 60s, and how they interlocked because government was an atrocious boy's club that would not have blinked an eye at the murder, rape and abuse Manson trucked in, if he'd only been a government employee.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, and Violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

aliteraryenthusiast's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape

zoinkie's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Rape, Murder, Violence, Drug use, Trafficking, and Drug abuse

slimy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Oh my god. It doesn’t stop. The gas pedal is on the floor. This book has blown my mind. The clearest investigative journalism I’ve read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Animal death, Gore, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Rape, Violence, Drug abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug use, Addiction, Child abuse, and Hate crime

ipoppycat's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Sexual content, Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Murder, Self harm, and Violence

linklotz's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

4.5

oh my god i loved it and also by the epilogue i totally understood what o’neill said by falling down conspiracy theories because i certainly did reading what manson said in their interview 😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Suicide, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Antisemitism, and Torture

Minor: Pregnancy

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Rape, Abortion, and Domestic abuse