Charles Manson was an unlikely messiah. Freshly paroled, he stumbled into San Francisco in 1967 just as thousands of impressionable young people were streaming into town for the Summer of Love.
Posing as a musician-come-guru-come-Christ-figure, Manson built a commune cult of hippies, consisting mainly of troubled young women. But what made this group set out on the four-week killing spree that claimed seven lives? Former Journalism Professor, David J Krajicek, seeks to discover just that.
This book includes:
- Introduction into the counterculture of the sixties
- In-depth profiles of Manson's followers
- Breakdowns of each murder, including diary accounts, interviews and legal testimonies from the killers themselves
- An account of the events in Manson's own words
- Insight into Manson's manipulations and psychology
Set against events of the time - the sexual revolution, the civil rights movement, race riots, space exploration, rock music -this is the story of Flower Power gone to seed.
Can you predict killing sprees? What do mass killers have in common? Why do so many of them write manifestos online and what do these tell us?
These are some of the questions David J. Krajicek seeks to answer in Mass Killings, on a topic that is becoming increasing urgent and desperate. In recent decades, mass shootings worldwide have increased in their savagery and frequency. Nearly all mass killers are male - and many of them are bound together by misogyny, misanthropy, and racism. They do not just 'snap.' They plan their assaults for months or years, drawing up detailed battle plans, and accumulating weaponry. They document the process in journals or videos online, understanding that they are leaving evidence which will help the marquee lights of their futile crimes burn brighter and longer.
Krajicek shows the commonalities between mass shooters, and describes the psychopathic process that leads these troubled men to commit atrocities. Mass killers feed off each other's words and deeds, and it's crucial to be able to read the signals they give out to prevent future tragedies.
