Member of the Family
My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties
Ratings1
Average rating4
15
My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties
Ratings1
Average rating4
In this poignant and disturbing memoir of lost innocence, coercion, survival, and healing, Dianne Lake chronicles her years with Charles Manson, revealing for the first time how she became the youngest member of his Family and offering new insights into one of the twentieth century’s most notorious criminals and life as one of his "girls." At age fourteen Dianne Lake—with little more than a note in her pocket from her hippie parents granting her permission to leave them—became one of "Charlie’s girls," a devoted acolyte of cult leader Charles Manson. Over the course of two years, the impressionable teenager endured manipulation, psychological control, and physical abuse as the harsh realities and looming darkness of Charles Manson’s true nature revealed itself. From Spahn ranch and the group acid trips, to the Beatles’ White Album and Manson’s dangerous messiah-complex, Dianne tells the riveting story of the group’s descent into madness as she lived it. Though she never participated in any of the group’s gruesome crimes and was purposely insulated from them, Dianne was arrested with the rest of the Manson Family, and eventually learned enough to join the prosecution’s case against them. With the help of good Samaritans, including the cop who first arrested her and later adopted her, the courageous young woman eventually found redemption and grew up to lead an ordinary life. While much has been written about Charles Manson, this riveting account from an actual Family member is a chilling portrait that recreates in vivid detail one of the most horrifying and fascinating chapters in modern American history. Member of the Family includes 16 pages of photographs.
Reviews with the most likes.
This book is equal parts of jaw-dropping and heartbreaking.
I was born in the late 70s, was a child of the 80s, and a teen of the 90s. I read “Helter Skelter,” “In Cold Blood,” and “Stranger Beside Me” in high school. My childhood and teen years were marked by true crime books, Waco, OJ, Murrah building bombing, Andrew Cunanan, and numerous child abductions and abuse. In many ways, I was aware of the dark side of humanity by the time I became an adult and as a woman, I've learned how to keep myself as safe as possible.
So this book really nailed home that idea of how innocent and naive were people in the 60s. How drop-ins, mass concerts, and communes weren't bad things full of potential predators but rather a way of rejecting the establishment.
So many times in reading this I wanted to yell at her parents. I wanted to demand why they didn't protect their daughter, why they didn't see the potential darkness in their irresponsibility. But that's looking at historical events with current eyes. They didn't see anything wrong because they were not as aware of the evil lurking in the shadows as we are today.
The recollection of Dianne and her time in the sixties-in communes and with Charlie Manson was equal parts triggering, painful, and hurtful. This book really nailed down for me what happens when naivete and evil intersect.
If you've read “Helter Skelter,” if you're interested in cults or the 60's this is a must-read book.
