Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #219778 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 560 pages

Customer Reviews

The Inside Story
This is my favorite and most informative book on the subject of Charles Manson and his alleged crimes. Written by Ed Sanders of the Fugs fame, he manages to capture the feeling of alienated 60's youth 'looking for a leader.'
I often refer to this book as 'DUNE BUGGY MESSIAH' and even claimed it to be the subtitle untill it was pointed out to me it was not.
Buy this book...read it...share it...all hippies were not like Charlie, and to be informed educate thyself.
-Rauk Zenta- First Church of Zenta

A Sorry, Disappointing Read
I was very disappointed with this book. Not that I expected much from Ed Sanders, who is generally a very pompous, self-important writer, but I had hoped for some serious info on Charlie Manson. What I got here was more of Sanders posturing about what a great writer he is. The sobering fact is that he isn't. Save your money and don't waste your time looking for any insight into Charlie Manson in this one. I'm not sure why it was ever published.

Black Bird singing in the dead of night......
I'm not sure how anyone could ever dismiss Ed Sanders' "The Family," a detailed account of Charles Manson and the murders his Family committed during the summer of Woodstock, 1969. A superb companion book to Vincent Bugliosi's "Helter Skelter," Sanders' "The Family" is an alternative trip through the madness that defines one of the most infamous and horrifying crimes in American history.

While "Helter Skelter" is a factual, by-the-numbers recount, "The Family" is an attempt to get beneath the surface of these unimaginable crimes. Sanders, a pseudo hippie himself, well-versed in the howling of beatnik eras and the twang of Bob Dylan travels, had unparalleled leeway into the lives of Manson's followers before and during the criminal trials of 1970. He hung with the waifs at Spahn ranch before it burned to the ground. He camped with these very weird kids in Death Valley. And he caught wind of the numerous crazy rumors that floated around like so much LA smog while writing alongside the army of TV/print reporters covering the trial. His work is valid, and his opinions cut through much of the myth and legend of this case. It is also the first true book ever released on this case, having been published in 1971.

Sanders' flippant disregard for Manson's con, and the con of his worshipers, is refreshing. His style reminds me of the extraordinary ruminations of Evan S. Connell in "Son of the Morning Star" - a fantastic work dealing with another rather bloody historical event (Custer and Little Big Horn). Sanders refuses to accept the myth or the legend, and reveals the dirty, flea-bitten truth. His is an unconventional, creative approach, told from the eyes of a most intelligent mind.

But I still find much of Sanders' work to be extremely irresponsible. He recounts many of the urban myths surrounding this crime, including Manson's supposed alliances with Satanic cults, weird mysterious videotapes existing (yet disappearing) that reportedly show eventual victims with the Family, filmed sacrifices, CIA involvement, political connections stretching all the way to Washington D.C., and so on add nausea give me a break.

The Manson trial was a circus, and the conspiracy theories that spewed forth rivaled the theories surrounding yet another 1960s crime known as the JFK assassination. These were horrible times in American history, California Dreaming or not, and the simple fact of the matter is that Charles Manson and his family lived a counterculture lifestyle that was hip with middle class and upper-middle class culture during this era. They hung, ever-so-briefly, with the young in-crowd of Hollywood. But when the constant use of psychedelic drugs, combined with the unique isolation of Spahn ranch, began to take hold, Manson and his family entered a deadly alternative world having no touch with reality. The in-crowd slams the door in their face, the hope for rock and roll superstardom disappears, Manson becomes God, it's time to strike back at the rich and powerful piggies. It's such a sad and ugly story.

Sanders perhaps gets closer to the truth than any writer ever truly has with these crimes. It's all here, urban myths, unsolved crimes in the same neighborhood, animal bones, dirty laundry, uneducated white trash motivation spawned by years of institutionalization. It's Group Think at its worst formed by the hangover of one endless lost summer weekend.

"The Family" is my third book to read on Manson's pathetic crimes. I find it telling that after reading Sanders' influential work, I realize I now know all I ever really want to know.