The Musical Lives of Charles Manson

In taking on Manson lore, Nicholas Tochka joins a dune buggy army of novelists, filmmakers, true crime writers, scholars, hacks, and creepy fans. Into this mix he brings a brilliant account of Manson’s musical life, and an even more brilliant reflection on the confounding synchronicities of historical narrative. * Erik Davis, author of Blotter: the Untold Story of an Acid Medium (2024) * Tochka expertly sifts through over half a century of Mansonalia to give a definitive account of Manson’s mad game, sad game and the culture that played host to it. * Jacob Bloomfield, author of Drag: A British History (2023) * The Manson murders spelled the end of the sixties — but they also launched countless new stories, all spun in the hope of closing the gap between those unreal events and any 'truth' that could adequately explain them. In this daring book, Nicholas Tochka steps into a swirl of mystery and conspiracy, following that endless deferral of truth that transforms crime into myth. I believed every word of it. * Benjamin Piekut, Professor of Music, Cornell University, USA *