Helter Skelter (1974)

I want to understand how cultures bind themselves together. Specifically, I'm interested in the tribulations that countercultures face in surviving over time, and why so many degrade into cults. This “true crime” story by the Manson Family prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi satisfied none of my curiosities. The only thing I gained was a sense of the normative understanding of the Tate-LaBianca murders and court proceedings. Very little about the Manson Family practices or beliefs were explored.

I’m not saying Manson is innocent, but I inherently distrust prosecutors and should have known better than to read a book by one. I hear that more recent histories of the Manson Family actually critique the “Helter Skelter” narrative as their starting point, so maybe I’ll be better equipped to read one of those someday if I care enough.

Not Recommended. ( )

3.5 stars

In 1969, Charles Manson and a few of his “family” committed multiple murders two nights in a row. Vincent Bugliosi was the DA who got them convicted and sentenced to death. This book looked at the murders, the investigation, and the trials.

I listened to the audio, and unfortunately, this ended up being an abridged version of the book. As I ask in all my reviews of abridged audios – why? Why not record the entire book? Anyway, I read this when I was in high school (a few decades ago!), and it wasn’t as creepy as I remember. I can’t say for sure if the abridged version was the reason for that, but in part, I’m certain not seeing the photos was part of that. Charles Manson was a creepy creepy looking man. Since this was abridged, I still want to reread the entire thing. Overall, it appeared that the abridgement was done fairly well, though I’d much rather read the entire book. ( )

Helter Skelter is, in many ways, the gold standard for true crime.

Vincent Bugliosi worked the murder cases from the start, relentlessly investigating, then prosecuting. With this book, he provides one of the most intimate accounts of a criminal case ever published.

This book is heavy on details, but I found it all fascinating. Because this is written by a contemporary of the times, rather than by someone researching a crime from an earlier period, the emotions and experiences feel as tense and urgent as if this case were current. Through his writing, Bugliosi provides tremendous behind-the-scenes insight into the police investigation and drawn-out court proceedings.

Manson often claimed that, because he was brought up in the system, society, by default, created him. While this in no way excuses him, it does make for an interesting launching point in discussing our punitive system, particularly in how we treat our youth, which has changed little over the ensuing decades. ( )

Possibly because I read a more "conspiracy" oriented book about the Manson Family shortly before I read this one, but I felt there were some unanswered questions at the end of this book. Charles Manson and his family are obviously 100% guilty but there are several points where parole officers, judges and police are downright incompetent that are just glossed over. I understand that mistakes get made in the justice system but surely this many people making this many mistakes would have been an issue?! That said, it was an interesting (if sometimes unsettling) read and I see how it kickstarted the true crime genre. ( )

Charles Manson is the one of the most tedious and unimportant figures in history. His racism, his misogyny, his hatred of everyone more successful than him, his opportunism, his lust for violence - none of these were original. All he did was read between the lines of mainstream American society and reflected it back in a more direct, unrepressed form.

One of the great problems with this book, therefore, is that it refuses to see the extent to which Manson was, in repeating the evils of the system back to itself, a kind of perverse critique. Yes, he was an evil murderer who only cared about himself, but what kind of society would produce such a monster? The author, Vincent Bugliosi, never turns the lens around to look at himself or the world he inhabits to see the source of Manson's evil. There is a dogged conservatism to Bugliosi's narrative that refuses to see this truth.

While that is my main problem with this book, it is not the only one. For a start, it is unnecessarily long. Bugliosi was the prosecutor on the Manson case, and he gives us everything excruciating twist and turn of the legal trial, whether it is of interest or not (mostly not). What is more, Bugliosi clearly has a massive ego, for he constantly makes himself the hero of the story, showing up the incompetence of the police and wrestling with perceived legal injustices and tricks that might have allowed Manson to go free.

I am sure there are better books on Manson out there, but despite its bestseller status, this one simply does not pass the test of time. ( )