Reading
Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson. It's not about the murders, or even Manson himself, so much as it's about the social environment where Manson was able to recruit his 'family' from. The West Coast in the 60s was a weird, naive, hedonistic, anti-establishment, predatory place. Just ripe for a sociopath like Manson, schooled by pimps and an avid student of Scientology and How to Win Friends and Influence People, to emerge from prison and take control over the lost, drug-addled youths drifting through its streets, beaches, and parks. That he managed to fit in with the music scene and counterculture of the time suggests unflattering things about that culture, especially when it comes to how young women were treated.