Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

I mean really out there. It’s hard to describe this book. The title is accurate: it is a chaotic story. It starts from a conspiracy to conceal the true motive in the Charles Manson family murders and expands very far. I am pretty convinced it’s the truth.

I found this an odd slog. On the one hand, it's immaculately researched, and the sections about MKULTRA and some of the characters on the periphery of the story are interesting. I can understand how and why the author fell down this particular rabbit hole, but ultimately it's kind of all over the place, and the lack of focus makes it kind of hard to get a handle on the subject overall. I admire the author for not attempting to find a solid conclusion in all this mess, and not everything is a neat package, but I couldn't help but think it needed some more time with an editor.