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Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Tom O’Neill (Author), Dan Piepenbring (Author), Kevin Stillwell (Narrator),

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Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Chaos written by Tom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring, read by Kevin Stillwell.

A journalist’s 20-year obsession with the Manson murders brings shocking revelations about the most infamous crimes in American history: carelessness from police, misconduct by prosecutors and even potential surveillance by intelligence agents. What really happened in 1969?

In 1999, when Tom O’Neill was assigned a magazine piece about the 30th anniversary of the Manson murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Weren’t the facts indisputable? Charles Manson had ordered his teenage followers to commit seven brutal murders and in his thrall, 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 best-selling 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.

Searching but never speculative, Chaos follows O’Neill’s 20-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 Steven 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 '60s: when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing and utopia - or dystopia - was just an acid trip away.

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Product details

Listening Length	16 hours and 14 minutes
Author	Tom O’Neill, Dan Piepenbring
Narrator	Kevin Stillwell
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	27 June 2019
Publisher	Penguin Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B07L41HPFV
Best Sellers Rank	1,271 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 3 in Communication & Media Studies 3 in Media Studies (Audible Books & Originals) 4 in 20th Century U.S. History

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Top review from Australia

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Wade Lanont

Magnifico

Reviewed in Australia on 15 July 2020

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Awesome read, came as described. I highly recommend.

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Top reviews from other countries

Jeff Suwak

Fantastic

Reviewed in the United States on 8 July 2019

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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.

291 people found this helpful

supergran

Bought as a gift.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 November 2020

Verified Purchase

Bought as a gift for someone else because they asked for it. Not my kind of book but they enjoyed it.

Carolyn

A long, tedious read for me.

Reviewed in Canada on 12 August 2019

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(I am shelving this book as unfinished and unrated for now. As I have eye surgery scheduled for this week and next I need to switch to something shorter and less demanding in time and details. It is almost 600 pages of small print.)

Well, I went back to the book and found it tedious, and was feeling I had spent the entire 20 years of the author’s painstaking research and interviews tagging along behind him or listening in. I feel 20 years older than when I started the book. If there is anything about too much information, this seemed to be a prime example. Trashing the reputation of the victims was revealing but unfortunate.

I remember the murders and trial and read the book Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi when it was first published, and so was anxious to continue. Those familiar with the horrific murders have already learned that the Polanski mansion where the Manson murders took place was previously the residence of Terry Melcher, record producer and son of Doris Day. Melcher knew Charles Manson.

What Tom O'Neill reveals in his 20 years of meticulous research and interviews is that Polanski's home became a hangout for famous celebrities and big-time drug dealers. Some of these drug dealers knew Charles Manson. A-list actors, other celebrities and criminals wandered through the mansion almost at will. Sharon Tate, the beautiful actress and pregnant wife of Roman Polanski was subjected to abuse, and the mansion became known in some circles as a place of orgies, rape, heavy drug use and other depraved activities. The author quotes the saying, " Live weird, die weird."

It is evident that O'Neill rejects Bugliosi's conclusion about the motive, and feels this was not a random act by an unknown gang of hippies. He cites legal misconduct, poor police investigation, mind control experiments and cover-ups. What were the connections between the uneducated, illiterate Manson and some of the rich and famous celebrities and hardened criminals who frequented the Polanski home? How was Charles Manson able to exert such control over former peaceful hippies? He suggests some tenuous connection between the CIA drug-induced mind control experiments and the power Manson exerted over his followers.

As the author claims, there are some details written about the case which were wrong, but I don't feel I learned much new which was relevant.

8 people found this helpful

peter braithwaite

Manson Murders - a lot we never heard about

Reviewed in Canada on 18 July 2020

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I lived through the Manson Murders time period & am about the same age of many of the Family. I remember reading about the incidents at the time; mostly we heard the Helter Skelter theory, but there is so much more. The author details a lot of incidents & relationships we never heard about at the time. A bit of an eyeopener. And gets one thinking.

6 people found this helpful

Deniss Velikodnijs

Collection of gossip and rumors

Reviewed in Canada on 23 July 2020

Verified Purchase

I was really looking forward to this. But was I ever disappointed. Just a collection of rumors and gossip and nothing else. He is trying to make it pump up as some sort of Revelation about the Hollywood and government conspiracy. Yes there was and still is a lot of drugs in Hollywood, I could have told him that. And yes all those drug dealers and users are connected. And of course government is investigating it all. Slow clap!
When at some point he was quoting a hair dresser who cut some c list celebrities hair as his source I should have given up.

4 people found this helpful

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Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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