Love and Terror: The Helter Skelter History of the Manson Murders book

A friend messaged me to tell me that a new book that was out, and that he and two other people associated with him contributed to the book. So naturally, when this friend makes a suggestion, especially when he says that it's intelligently written, I'm going to jump on it. 

I have to say that this is the most academic works published on the murders in the last few decades. It's significance is not about uncovering a new suspect, or solving a mystery, but asks a larger question: Why has America remain obsessed with Manson for more than half a century? In fact, when saying America as a whole, South America as well has an obsession with Manson. Here in South America, you can go into any counter-culture store and buy that Manson LIE album T-shirts, and run into people wearing them. There is a South American book out by Sebastian De Caro , whom is an Argentine film maker and actor,  and also a friend of mine, called Cielo Drive, which he served as a hopeful companion to "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" but not in the fictional sense of the film. His book cover makes for great poster art as seen here. 

I have a direct quote from Sebastian about his book so you get a better understanding: (which applies to Love and Terror) 

Sebastian: "I think this crime has had such a profound impact because of it's symbolism, rather than the obvious things that are visible at first glance. I believe these murders have struck a very sensitive chord worldwide, one that is related to something very bleak about the 1960's. In a way the hippie dream evaporated, and the following decade turned out to be very violent worldwide in general, and in the United States in particular. That country opened the 1960's with the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and closing it with the "Manson Family" murders. In the 1970's with the Watergate scandal, American society felt socially orphaned, not to mention countless student and racial protests. That's why, for me, the crimes happened in a very specific time and place (Hollywood) and there are many elements that converged there which gave it such great significance, beyond the morbid details. The person who approaches this story with real interest is not concerned with the number of knife wounds each victim received, but with the meaning of it all, what rhizome opens up through something so sinister." 

Back to Verhoeven's approach to her book, her answer is the murders became a cultural mirror reflecting anxieties about race, authority, celebrity, violence, apocalypse, and American identity itself, The result is a book that is less about Charles Manson, than about modern America. 

For those seeking crime related material, you're going to be disappointed. Verhoeven intentionally avoids re-telling the murders in detail. It's written from a historian perspective and at times, the analysis can feel more abstract than concrete. The book frequently references philosophy, historiography, and literary theory. It's cultural history. 

The deepest theme I have found so far is America's relationship with violence. Verhoeven suggests that American's became fascinated with Charles Manson partly because he reflected a broader natural violence such as the Vietnam war, racial conflict, political assassinations, and social upheaval. Manson becomes less an anomaly than a distorted reflection of America itself. 

Many writers have called the "Manson Murders" the end of the 1960's. Verhoeven complicates this idea. rather than ending the decade, the murders exposed the contradictions that already embodied the 60's...Such as Freedom vs Control, peace vs, violence, liberation vs domination, and idealism vs apocalypse. 

Two of the major themes of the book are Manson vs the murders myth. Verhoeven argues repeatedly that the murders became more than a crime, they became symbolism, legend, and a national nightmare. and the other is how the media creates reality, A recurring theme is that newspapers, television, books, documentaries, and films actually created Manson as a cultural figure. the media did not merely report events, it produced that image of Manson that American's remember today. 

For anyone researching Manson related material, be it podcasters, journalists, or the average researcher, this book should be among the essential texts such as Helter Skelter, Goodbye Helter Skelter, and The Family. 

In closing, I say to you what Linda Deutsch said to us when working on Making Mason. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and it was a good story."

You can get the book here