In the summer of 1969, Los Angeles was living in the long glow of the counterculture — until two nights of murders shattered it beyond repair. Charles Manson never held the knife himself, but he held something more powerful: the total psychological devotion of young men and women who would kill on his word. We examine how Manson built his family, what he promised them, the ideology of race war he called Helter Skelter, and the murders of Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, and five others that made the whole country lock its doors. Fifty years on, we ask what made Manson possible — and what made his followers willing.

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