50 years after the Manson Murders, Chaos unearths long-kept secrets that will change everything readers thought they knew about the crime that ended the sixties.
A journalist's twenty-year obsession with the Manson murders leads to shocking new conspiracy theories about the FBI’s involvement in this fascinating re-evaluation of one of the most infamous cases in American history.
In 1999, Tom O’Neill was assigned a magazine piece about the thirtieth anniversary of the Manson murders. He worried there was nothing new to say. Charles Manson had ordered his teenage followers to commit seven brutal murders, and they’d gladly complied. But when O’Neill began reporting the story, he kept finding holes in the prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi’s narrative, long enshrined in the bestselling Helter Skelter. Before long, O’Neill had questions about everything from the motive to the manhunt. Though he’d never considered himself a conspiracy theorist, the Manson murders swallowed the next two decades of his career. He was obsessed.
Chaos follows O’Neill's twenty-year effort to rebut the ‘official’ story behind Manson. Who were his real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties? Why didn’t law enforcement act on their many chances to stop him? And how did he turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers? O’Neill's hunt for answers leads him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from the Summer of Love to the shadowy sites of the CIA’s mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with cover-ups and coincidences.
Featuring hundreds of new interviews and dozens of never-before-seen documents from the LAPD, the FBI and the CIA, Chaos mounts an argument that could be, according to Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. In those two dark nights in Los Angeles, O’Neill finds the story of California in the sixties: when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia-or dystopia-was just an acid trip away.
About the Authors
Tom O’Neill is an award-winning investigative journalist and entertainment reporter whose work has appeared in national publications such as Us Weekly, Premiere, New York magazine, the Village Voice, and Details.
Dan Piepenbring is an advisory editor for The Paris Review and a contributor to The New Yorker’s website.
Paperback | 528 pages
153 x 234 x 38mm | 666g
27 Jun 2019
Cornerstone
William Heinemann Ltd
London, United Kingdom
English
1785152084
9781785152085
Condition: Very Good
A secondhand book that does not look new and has been read but is in excellent condition. Very minimal damage to the cover, including very minor scuff marks along the edges of the back cover. No missing or damaged pages, no creases or tears, and no underlining/highlighting of text or writing in the margins. Very minimal wear and tear.