I love listening to the Joe Rogan Experience as much as the next American male, and to say that we share a wide overlap of mutual interests is an understatement. I tend to have liked pretty much every book Joe Rogan has recommended on the JRE podcast.
However, I was never into the non-fiction books on the likes of Ted Bundy, Charles Manson et al., so when he recently had the author of another “Manson Family” book, I initially lost interest.
But then they started talking about the following: The CIA, MK Ultra, Operation Midnight Climax and dosing people with LSD to turn them into Manchurian Candidates.
Now I was listening—after all, that stuff is interesting. And as it turns out, there is a very strong case to make that Charles Manson was likely involved with the CIA and their crazy undercover work with LSD and using unsuspecting agents to do their bidding.
It was stranger than the plotline from Call of Duty Black Ops! Which was awesome, by the way.
It also talked about the new movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which was perfect timing, as the movie just came out right before the book was published, so that is likely still fresh on a lot of people’s minds.
On top of it all, the backstory on the author and how it took him over 20 years to write the book is an entertaining podcast unto itself. Dealing with the people still alive, being sued by publishers, and the interviews and uncovering of documents is unreal.
In any event, if you like what Joe likes, or like non-fiction books that are well-researched and well-written, or the murder mystery genre in general, then this is a good read for you.
Highly recommend.
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
Blurb from the back of the book: Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order -- their crimes lit a flame of paranoia across the nation, spelling the end of the sixties. Manson became one of history's most infamous criminals, his name forever attached to an era when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia -- or dystopia -- was just an acid trip away.
Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents. When a tense interview with Vincent Bugliosi -- prosecutor of the Manson Family and author of Helter Skelter -- turned a friendly source into a nemesis, O'Neill knew he was onto something. But every discovery brought more questions:
• Who were Manson's real friends in Hollywood, and how far would they go to hide their ties?
• Why didn't law enforcement, including Manson's own parole officer, act on their many chances to stop him?
• And how did Manson -- an illiterate ex-con -- turn a group of peaceful hippies into remorseless killers?
O'Neill's quest for the truth led him from reclusive celebrities to seasoned spies, from San Francisco's summer of love to the shadowy sites of the CIA's mind-control experiments, on a trail rife with shady cover-ups and suspicious coincidences. The product of two decades of reporting, 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 Steven Kay, strong enough to overturn the verdicts on the Manson murders. This is a book that overturns our understanding of a pivotal time in American history.
Top Reader’s Comment:
“I've been fairly obsessed with the Manson case for years, particularly its implications regarding the covert operations being carried out at that time. I thought I knew about as much as anyone out there...and then I read this book. This work is about so, so much more than the Manson Family. The author apparently sacrificed a lot to conduct decades of research, but I hope he knows that from my perspective anyway it was infinitely worth it.
This book goes as long as any book I can thin of in shedding light on the secret influences of that most revolutionary of decades called the 60s. I dislike using words like "important" when talking about books. It sounds pompous to me. But, there's no way around it. I think this book is important reading for people to understand this nation's history, particularly the history of its intelligence agencies and how they acted (act?) from the shadows to shape the nation. This isn't a partisan issue. It's a real shame that the subject has been turned into a "pro-Trump" or "anti-Trump" talking point. This stuff crosses the aisle. Though, I guess I should add I actually sometimes find myself sympathetic to things like COINTELPRO and CHAOS...because whether or not they were "good" or "evil" really depends entirely on whether or not there actually was a concerted Soviet campaign to undermine U.S. culture from within.
If that effort really existed, then COINTELPRO and CHAOS, ugly as they were, might have helped save the nation. If there was actually no Soviet/revolutionary influence and the hippies were just hippies, then those programs are irredeemably evil. As with anything, the answer likely lies in the middle.
But, surely I am rambling...I thought this book was absolutely fantastic. I'm going to move on to Days of Rage now and then read this one again. It's very rare I read a book twice cover to cover. That's about as high praise as I can think of.”