A review by vasingca
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties by Tom O'Neill

challenging dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

This is one of the most well research books I’ve ever read, with very few definitive conclusions to show for it. That’s partly what makes the Manson story so uniquely fascinating and also frustrating. It is easy to see why this took over 20 years to finish, even with all of the loose ends. I did feel that the story dragged at times, but in many ways that’s just the consequence of real journalism and research. I appreciate that the author didn’t force any conclusions where the evidence did not support them. It damages the narrative flow, but upholds the integrity of his work. I went into this book incredibly skeptical about the role of law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the crime, but now feel that I am more willing to consider the possibility, if not outright accept it as factual. All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone really interested in the 60s, the CIA, and true crime, but it is not for the faint of heart or the easily bored.