Chaos
Charles Manson, the CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties
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Chaos
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Narrated by:
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Kevin Stillwell
About this listen
As featured on The Joe Rogan Experience
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Chaos written by Tom O'Neill with Dan Piepenbring, read by Kevin Stillwell.
A journalist's twenty-year obsession with the Manson murders leads to shocking new conspiracy theories about the FBI’s involvement in this fascinating re-evaluation of one of the most infamous cases in American history.
In 1999, when Tom O’Neill was assigned a magazine piece about the thirtieth 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 bestselling 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 twenty-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 Stephen 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 sixties: when charlatans mixed with prodigies, free love was as possible as brainwashing, and utopia-or dystopia-was just an acid trip away.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2019 Tom O’Neill and Dan Piepenbring (P)2019 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
‘Riveting … Sensational revelations … True crime fans will be enthralled.’ PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
'[Full of] scandalous findings … to me it seems only too plausible. O’Neill's intricately sinister ‘secret history’ often sounds incredible; that doesn't mean that it's not all true.' OBSERVER
What listeners say about Chaos
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- William Dean mallen
- 14-08-20
Fascinating
Captivating story from start to finish the research an details for the listener is excellent
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 24-04-20
mind blowing
I couldn't get enough, I know it took 20years to write this book but I really hope we get a follow-up. I just know there's more information and twist and turns, O' Neill's readers are dying to read/hear!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Matt Mewis
- 28-05-22
interesting
I listened to this after Tom appeared on Joe Rogan's show.
it was an interesting listen. My only other references to the crime are from popular culture and mainstream generalisations.
What worked for me was the depth of reporting and the exploration of leads. What didn't work for me was the ending. It didn't satisfy somehow. Yes it was refective and after a 13 year journey I'm not surprised, it just felt chaotic, ironically.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- artful
- 17-02-23
fascinating
thought provoking and horrifying. Although it eschews conspiracy theorising, the connections O'Neil reveals are highly disturbing.
Well worth your time.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 15-12-22
Interesting and confusing.
The story is extremely interesting but the storytelling makes it a little bit hard to fathom.
And the fact that the author doesn’t read the audio book takes down the experience.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Sam
- 30-11-23
Amazing amount of evidence
For a long book with lots of evidence it never felt to drone on which made it good to listen too
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- KirstyOlive
- 26-04-24
What a wild story!
I can see why it took the author down a year's long rabbit hole researching this story. Wow! Finished this book in 2 days it was so interesting I couldn't stop listening.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-12-20
Connects the dots to so many layers of history
While I agree that it's sometimes hard to follow all the names without Googling people, it's worth the time. So fascinating. Helped answer some questions I've had about the politics of this period for a long time. Agreed with others, watch the JRE episode with the author. He's an amazing journalist. This work is incredible. Also, why is Chapter 7 missing from my audiobook? Had to buy the Kindle version to get it. WTH?
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- Mongan
- 19-05-20
Amazing
Not one for a conspiracy but this book opens up some doors. Some amazing research has been done. It's a bit of masterpiece in that regard.
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- G
- 02-06-20
Best book I have ever read
The book was very well executed and the narrator's voice was good, the story was amazing and also at the same time not surprising at all. unfortunately corruption has, and will always be around. A MUST READ!! (Thanks JRE podcast for recommendation)
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