Manson

Starred review from May 13, 2013
The notorious mastermind of the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders emerges as an all-American ghoul in this riveting biography. Journalist Guinn (Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde) tells how an ex-con distilled California's effervescing counterculture into the Manson Family freak show, recruiting a following of rootless teen waifs who worshipped him as Jesus Christ and did his bidding without question, whether in LSD-fueled orgies or killing sprees. The author's richly detailed but well-paced narrative fleshes out the demented logic behind the crimes: prompted by misfired drug deals, Manson conceived new murders in order to deflect attention from his involvement in previous crimesâand to instigate the "apocalyptic race war" he had prophesied to his followers. But Guinn, who unearths eerie photos of his subject as a clean-cut bridegroom, teases apart the twisted strands of normalcy in Manson's sociopathic charisma, which honed itself on fundamentalist Christianity, Dale Carnegie precepts, and starry-eyed self-promotion. (Manson's main goal, which brought him into the orbit of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, was to score a record deal.) Guinn's portrait is an absorbing true crime saga and a searching exploration of the anomie, broken homes, and crazed hopes that led lost souls to mistake Manson for the answer to their prayers. 16 pages of b&w photos. Agent: Jim Donovan, Jim Donovan Literary.

March 15, 2013

Edgar finalist Guinn reexamines the life of Charles Manson, interviewing Manson's sister and cousin, who have not previously spoken out, and gleaning new information from childhood friends, cellmates, and Manson Family members. Guinn argues that while Manson spouted incoherent race-war rhetoric, the killings were in fact related to his failed ambitions to be a rock star. Many readers will be interested in grappling with the psyche behind the 1969 killings, a signal event in American cultural history; bound to get the considerable attention the 100,000-copy first printing anticipates.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2013
The one gesture Guinn makes toward anything like an interpretive biography of permanent-celebrity criminal Charles Manson consists of regular citation of all the other front-page mayhemriots, assassinations, bombings, Vietnam War atrocitiesgoing on while the ex-con put together the Family and eventually directed the nine gruesome murders for which he and a half-dozen minions drew death sentences (all commuted when California's supreme court abolished the death penalty). Guinn indulges in no psychological or sociological analysis but makes like Sergeant Joe Friday, relaying just the facts, though those include, besides the firmly established ones, many that are just most likely. In Guinn's hands, the story of a lifelong loser who yet succeeded in gaining what he may have wanted mostfamebecause he was also a world-class user of others retains both all its creepy fascination and a full measure of mystery. Well, Guinn asserts at one point, Charlie had charisma, if anyone ever did. Evidently. A fine, plain historical true-crime book.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

Starred review from June 15, 2013
Guinn (The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral--and How It Changed the American West, 2011, etc.) paints a striking, full-length portrait of one of American history's most notorious sociopaths. By 1967, 32-year-old Charles Manson had spent more than half his life in reform schools, jails and prison. Released onto the streets of San Francisco during the Summer of Love, armed with a practiced street rap--a mishmash of Bible verses, Dale Carnegie quotations, Scientology precepts and rock-'n'-roll lyrics--a philosophy of free love and even freer drugs and crude psychological insights gleaned from fellow pimps and con men, the petty hustler attracted a small following among the city's naive, confused youth. Moving his "Family" to Los Angeles in pursuit of a music career, Manson tightened his hold on his followers and led them in increasingly bizarre escapades that culminated in several murders, most infamously the Tate-LaBianca killings, designed to kick off "Helter Skelter," a race war that would end with the Family ruling the world. Guinn takes readers on a head-spinning ride through Manson's deeply disturbed childhood, his criminal career and his brief tenure as satanic guru to the damaged disciples, mostly women, he held in thrall. Against the backdrop of the roiling '60s, the author offers inside information on life within the cult, miniportraits of its various members, and stories about the dope dealers, rock musicians, motorcycle gang members, Hollywood glitterati, record-industry honchos and hangers-on who brushed up against the Family. He concludes by effortlessly unpacking the murders, the manhunt and the trial that riveted the nation. Spared the gas chamber by California's abolition of the death penalty, Manson remains incarcerated. A handful of deluded supporters maintain a Facebook page devoted to proving his innocence and to spreading his environmental rants. A compulsively readable account of a murderer who continues to fascinate.

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