The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion [Hardcover]

Ed Sanders (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 412 pages
• Publisher: Dutton; 1st edition (1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525103007
• ISBN-13: 978-0525103004
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,051,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wry Look at the Family Manson, December 25, 1999

By 

Robyn Dawson (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion (Hardcover)

I found this book to be very informative, and often a bit tongue-in-cheek....unusual, considering the subject matter.

Ed Sanders is able to convey the incredulity of these crimes through his descriptions ("Susan Atkins walked by the bedroom and waved at Abigail Folger. Folger waved back. 'Hi, death.'")

His descriptions of the murder scenarios are terse and almost callous at times ("all was chop"), but are somehow suitable.

Some of the information is incorrect; for example, he gets some of the Family nicknames mismatched with their real names, but overall, an incisive, thought-provoking look at the Tate-LaBianca murders, with a lot of detail left out of other published accounts.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blow-by-blow Account of Manson Murders, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion (Hardcover)

There is a ton of information here, almost too much. I understand Manson and his group moved around alot, but I really didn't need to know about every time they moved (they were nomadic alot of the time). The writing style is almost journalistic, with occasional anachronistic side commentary. This book, which covers the story up to (but not including) the trial(s), will tell you probably everything you ever want to know (or didn't want to know, as the case may be). Exhaustive and exhausting.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A VERY, VERY DETAILED ACCOUNT, August 5, 2006

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Family: The Story of Charles Manson's Dune Buggy Attack Battalion (Hardcover)

Of the several books addressing these horrible events, this is probably the best as to details and massive amounts of information. It is quite readable and well done. I must admit to not being a big fan of this particular genre of book, i.e. true crime, etc. but this event was so a part of our cultural make up at that time (and still is to a certain extent), I thought I would give it a try. I am glad I did...I learned much that I did not know before. Recommend this one highly.