THE FAMILY: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion

by Ed. Sanders ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 21, 1971

Mr. Sanders, a Los Angeles Free Press contributor (founder of the Fugs), and an avid researcher, spent l(apple) years taking down 10,000 pages worth (is that really the right word?) of recorded evidence with his Rapidograph about Charles Manson shortened (it sometimes doesn't seem that way) to 400 odd. The facts are well known: a degenerate ""sociopath,"" Manson was in and out of prison for years and when released in 1967 became a ""very positive field"" for young girls he recruited into his family and for all his ""sleazo inputs"" -- namely scientology, nudity, group gropes, Christ-satanism, the Beatles, male chauvinism and murder. He literally patterned himself on Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land and led his family on from disgusting rituals -- the drinking of dogs' blood or command performances in which his young women performed fellatio on the infants they were encouraged to produce -- to the murders and the Sharon Tate household is described at some length here. Author Sanders writes a king of tasteless wringing prose (""programmed zombi-spore""; ""acidassin vampire""; ""virginity incarnadine"" -- that's Doris Day) and while muttering horrible dictu, he seems to be enjoying every ugly minute of it.

Pub Date: Oct. 21, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION