Charles Manson was born in 1934 to his fifteen year old mother in Ohio. She had filed a paternity suit against Colonel Walker Henderson Scott Sr in Kentucky in 1937, where she received judgment in the affirmative. He was not actually a Colonel in the military, that was just his name, and he was known to be a con artist. He was also entirely too old to be having sex with a fifteen year old girl. He was born in 1910, she in 1919, so he was already nine years older than her from the word go. Charlie stayed with relatives and babysitters while his mother was out drinking or incarcerated. He got into all kinds of shenanagins as a child, including setting fires at school, theft, skipping school, etc. He was sent to a Catholic school for troubled boys, where he was beaten. He ran away, was returned, and ran away again. He was sent to prison, where he also got into shenanagins, before getting out to start his cult. He targeted people who were insecure and felt ostracized. They did a lot of drugs, including LSD, during which time he spewed his principals at them and essentially brainwashed them. He was really into the idea of a race war, and the cult really should be classified as a doomsday cult for that reason. He was sure that this race war would end civil society, though he wasn't really part of civilized society. Of course, most people know about the murders he keyed his cult members up to commit, and the trials and imprisonments afterwards, so I won't mention much about it other than to say that they were really awful and I feel terrible for their families. (Not really so for Roman Polanski who is a creep in his own right.) I've followed his story though the years, and all his shenanagins and girlfriends in prison, as well as his death. I have also been aware of his followers bids for parole. The whole story is crazy.

I read this book a while back, and I have no idea why I didn't mark it as read or review it. I have found several books like this while working on my downsizing project for my move, and I am trying to catch myself up on my comments and ratings. If you happen to follow me or are my friend on here, sorry for flooding your feed with my past due reviews, haha. Anyway, I really like Jeff Guinn and his work, so I assumed that I would like this book as well. I did. I did not learn a lot of new information, because I have read pretty extensively on Charles Manson and The Family. It was nice to refresh my factual knowledge. The book is well researched and comprehensive, so if you are looking for a good, informative book about Charlie and his followers, this is a good selection.