Tragic, outrageous, sad, scary that is the story of Charles Manson and the murders committed by him and the murders committed he commuted through his "family". Frank Guinn's portrayal of the life and times of Manson manages to be objective and captivating at the same time. Guinn's work is well-researched and he never lets his own opinion take over. I consider this work on Mansion the most well-rounded and informative book on the life of Charles Manson and all the unfortunate people he brought under his spell ( )

Very good and informative. I worried that this long book would be dry and boring but it was nothing of the sort. Mostly focused on Manson but the reader gets to know all of the main participants in the family and others.

I definitely recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the topic or in true crime in general. ( )

Manson by Jeff Guinn is a 2013 Simon & Schuster publication.

After reading Jeff Guinn’s chilling book about Jim Jones, which was published after this one, I was so impressed by his work, I added this book to my library wish-list- but I couldn’t seem to muster the emotional courage to read about Manson, right away, so the book fell down the list.

I recently learned Guinn had a new book coming out, which reminded me that I had never gotten around to reading this one. So, I took a deep fortifying breath and got started on it.

Guinn really digs deep in his biographies so that the reader gets a full picture of how someone like Charlie developed into the person they became, which means we begin with his childhood- which was far from charmed.

As a result, Charlie started getting into trouble at an early age- and naturally ended up in prison- it was as though he was in his element and preferred to stay there. Unfortunately, he was paroled…

Manson was a combination of a narcissist and con man- eventually spiraling out of control in what I feel was a perfect storm- the sixties, communes, the blurred lines that saw people like Manson and his ‘family’ hanging out with Didi Lansbury, living at Dennis Wilson’s home, brushing elbows with music industry people, while his ‘family’ lived under the rule of a maniac cult leader, who was desperate to keep them under his thumb.

As time passes, and the window of opportunity closes on Manson’s dream of being the biggest rock star in the world, he starts losing his grip over his ‘family’ and obviously things begin to go horribly awry.

Guinn does an incredible job of bringing that period of history to life, showing how it was the exact moment in time for someone like Charlie to flourish. It’s a mind boggling, emotionally conflicting and chilling tale- but at the end of the day, Guinn strips Manson of his mystique, exposing who he really was all along.

One of the chapter headings says- The Wrong Man in the Right Place, at the Right Time- which couldn’t be more apt. The 1960s was already a brewing storm and Manson simply capitalized on that. He was nothing but an opportunistic, sociopathic con-man- pure and simple…

He cost people their lives, both literally and figuratively, and in truth it’s sad that he managed to stay in the public eye for so long-something that most assuredly pleased him- and kept some people tied to him for years.

As to the presentation and execution of the book, this one didn’t quite reach the same level of excellence as ‘The Road to Jonestown”, but it comes in a close second. There were a few things I took issue with. On occasion I picked up on a note of sarcasm and wasn’t sure if it was due to the author’s personal feelings about the topic being discussed, or if it was aimed at Charlie’s twisted view of it. I chose to give Guinn the benefit of the doubt in those areas.

Other than that, I didn’t feel the author opined very often, mostly just presenting the facts and allowing the reader to interpret them from there. It is not the author’s place to make judgments on those on the fringes of Manson life- such as the celebrities that he rubbed elbows with on occasion, for example. I prefer this approach, myself, and do not like attempts to blame others for someone’s crimes, or attempt to lead readers to any like minded conclusion- so I was happy with the author’s presentation on that front.

There was some material inserted here that didn’t really have anything to do with the topic at hand and I wondered why it was necessary to include it- other than to simply remind readers of what else was going on at the same time the Manson cult was operating, killing, and on trial.

Sometimes it is still hard to believe all that really happened, but this book serves to remind us there is pure, narcissistic evil in the world, and we might do well to remember that…

Overall, another outstanding piece of true crime by this author. His portrait of Charles Manson was spot-on. The book is organized and well-researched, hard to read at times, but impossible to put down.

*Charlie died after this book was published- and is still referred to in the present tense. ( )

This was probably one of the best biographies I have ever read. Very well researched (and documented/cited), and gave a LOT of history about the culture/time of things happening while events in Manson's life played out. I wish Guinn would write more biographies like this; I am so impressed with how thorough and clear the story was. I read this in an ebook format and am definitely going to buy it in an actual book format and read it again. Definitely a must-read - took me a while to get started (I was distracted by other books), but once I got into it, I was hooked. ( )

This was a surprisingly good book, a biography rather than a true-crime story. The murders are included, in relatively brief descriptions, but some of the most interesting parts of the books deal with Manson's childhood--especially the conflict between his fundamentalist Christian grandmother and rebellious mother; Manson's years of incarceration; and the stupid crime that resulted in his mother and uncle going to prison, leaving little Charlie to grow up under lousy circumstances. To what extent those circumstances contributed to Manson's becoming a "manipulative sociopath" is a question that the book does not really try to answer.

There are strong chapters on Charlie in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood during the Summer of Love, finding impressionable young followers, using people who could do something for him and casting off the others; on the "Family" mooching off gullible, successful people, particularly Beach Boy Dennis Wilson; and the accelerating chain of events that lead Manson to order the murders at Roman Polanski's house, and the copycat crimes the following night. The book has some remarkable insights, such as that Manson's ability to mentally control people had as much to do with what he learned from a Dale Carnegie course he took in prison as to the use of sex, drugs and fear; and the origin of the "crazy Charlie" act that became such a part of his personna.

Guinn draws on previous sources, including Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter and Joan Didion's The White Album, without quoting extensively from them. Along the way, he provides fascinating social commentary, about a society that produces men like Manson, and about how the crimes associated with Manson became such an indelible part of our collective memory of the 60s.

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