The Manson Women and Me

Monsters, Morality, and Murder

Nikki Meredith

• Publisher: Citadel Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780806538594
• eBook ISBN: 9780806538600
• Subtopic: Biographies de sciences sociales

In a series of prison interviews, a journalist probes the minds of the women who killed for Charles Manson in this "fascinating study of human behavior" (Kirkus).

In the summer of 1969, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel carried out horrific acts of butchery on the orders of the charismatic cult leader Charles Manson. But to anyone who knew them growing up, they were bright, promising girls, seemingly incapable of such an unfathomable crime.

Award-winning journalist Nikki Meredith began visiting Van Houten and Krenwinkel in prison to discover how they had changed during their incarceration. The more Meredith got to know them, the more she was lured into a deeper dilemma: What compels "normal" people to do unspeakable things?

The author's relationship with her subjects provides a chilling lens through which we gain insight into a particular kind of woman capable of a particular kind of brutality. Through their stories, Nikki Meredith takes readers on a dark journey into the very heart of evil.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• INTRODUCTION
• chapter one - THE FORMOSA CAFÉ
• chapter two - ABIGAIL FOLGER’S SMILE
• chapter three - “HEALTER SKELTER”
• chapter four - BANNED—TOOLS OF THE TRADE
• chapter five - UNFATHOMABLE REMORSE
• chapter six - WALLET ON THE BEACH
• chapter seven - MRS. TATE’S FURY
• chapter eight - LIVING WITHOUT HOPE
• chapter nine - ORPHANED BY THE HOLOCAUST
• chapter ten - MONDO VIDEO A-GO-GO
• chapter eleven - DISORDERED THOUGHTS AND DEMENTED MACHINATIONS
• chapter twelve - “I FELT LIKE A PREDATOR”
• chapter thirteen - FOLIE À FAMILLE
• chapter fourteen - FALLING IN LOVE WITH ANNE FRANK
• chapter fifteen - EVERYBODY CAN BE A KILLER
• chapter sixteen - “IS THERE ANYTHING WORSE THAN DYING IN TERROR?”
• chapter seventeen - THE EMPATHIC BRAIN
• chapter eighteen - UNFORGETTING RETRIBUTION
• chapter nineteen - DUES-PAYING MEMBER OF THE LITTLE WILDLIFE SOCIETY
• chapter twenty - “THEY WERE ON A TEAR”
• chapter twenty-one - DREAMING OF HITLER
• chapter twenty-two - THE NEED FOR A SCAPEGOAT
• chapter twenty-three - AN ABIDING FRIEND TO FAMILIES OF VICTIMS
• chapter twenty-four - THE AGONY OF MOTHERS
• chapter twenty-five - HOMECOMING PRINCESS
• chapter twenty-six - A GOOD SOLDIER
• chapter twenty-seven - SEARCHING FOR A CESSNA
• chapter twenty-eight - THE METAPHORICAL MICROSCOPE
• chapter twenty-nine - DECODING MANSON
• chapter thirty - BROKEN EMPATHY CIRCUIT
• chapter thirty-one - “LESLIE IS MY DAUGHTER”
• chapter thirty-two - ICH BIN EIN JUDE
• chapter thirty-three - BAD APPLES OR BAD BARREL?
• chapter thirty-four - A PSYCHEDELIC CITY-STATE
• chapter thirty-five - “EENIE, MEENIE, MINEY, MO”
• chapter thirty-six - MICHELTORENA HILL
• chapter thirty-seven - MULE CREEK PRISON
• chapter thirty-eight - EVERY FACET OF HER MOTHERING
• chapter thirty-nine - A LETHAL CONVERGENCE
• chapter forty - “YOU COULDN’ T FIND A NICER GROUP OF PEOPLE”
• chapter forty-one - PAT’S ANGER
• chapter forty-two - SCAPEGOATS—THE NEED TO BLAME
• chapter forty-three - “SHE DID APPEAL TO MY HUMANITY BUT I HAD NONE TO GIVE HER”
• chapter forty-four - THE HOLE-IN-THE-WALL GANG
• chapter forty-five - HEAVEN’S GATE
• chapter forty-six - A DIFFERENT PAT
• chapter forty-seven - THE TERROR OF BEING EXCLUDED
• chapter forty-eight - HATRED MORE POWERFUL THAN A MOTHER’S LOVE
• chapter forty-nine - THE SHADE TREES OF HOLLYWOOD HIGH
• chapter fifty - FUSED IDENTITIES
• chapter fifty-one - A DROP OF JEWISH BLOOD
• chapter fifty-two - A MAKE-BELIEVE DODGE
• chapter fifty-three - “A DAMN GOOD WHACKING”
• chapter fifty-four - THE SWASTIKA
• chapter fifty-five - YES, SHE WOULD KILL FOR HIM
• chapter fifty-six - INSATIABLE AND WARPED NEED FOR LOVE
• chapter fifty-seven - THE ULTIMATUM
• chapter fifty-eight - THE TRUTH IS, THE TRUTH DOESN’T MATTER
• chapter fifty-nine - NOT THAT KIND OF GIRL
• chapter sixty - WE ARE ALL RWANDAN
• chapter sixty-one - “YOU TOOK GOD AWAY FROM ME”
• chapter sixty-two - UNFORGETTING, UNFORGIVING
• chapter sixty-three - “I’D BE NICE TO A STRAY DOG IF IT NEEDED HELP”
• chapter sixty-four - THE MOTHERS WHO POISONED THEIR BABIES AT JONESTOWN HAUNT HER
• chapter sixty-five - STARLIGHT BALLROOM
• EPILOGUE
• Acknowledgments