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The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten

Life Beyond the Cult

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The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten

By: Karlene Faith
Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
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Summary

 At the age off twenty-one, Leslie Van Houten was sentenced to death, along with Charles Manson and his other disciples, for the infamous murder rampage spanning two nights in August 1969. Leslie, who was present at the Rosemary and Leno LaBianca stabbings, serenely accepted her sentence, wishing only that she had better served Manson in carrying out his apocalyptic vision of "Helter Skelter." When the United States temporarily suspended its death penalty, her sentence for murder conspiracy was converted to life in prison. Today, at the age of 51, after three trials and with no parole in sight, Leslie has become a remarkable survivor of a living nightmare.

This work presents the first in-depth look at how this "girl-next-door" became one of Manson's "girls." It also tells about Karlene Faith's thirty-year friendship with Leslie, whom she met while teaching in prison. To everyone who encountered Leslie - including prison staff and television journalists - she was not the demon typically portrayed by the media, but rather a gentle, generous spirit who mourned her victims. But why didn't this intelligent young woman see the evil in the "messiah" who had sexually exploited her, preached a racist ideology, and ordered her to murder? Faith pieces together the puzzle, starting with Leslie's spiritual quest within the sixties counterculture and her immediate attraction to Manson during a chance meeting. We learn of Manson's ability to look into her mind and commiserate with her turmoil. We also see his own need to control women and how his brainwashing techniques enabled his followers to embrace him as God, giving them little choice but to obey.

Leslie's journey out of Manson's grasp is a riveting feminist and spiritual story of recovering one's self. Why this rehabilitated woman, long punished for one man's madness, has not been able to leave prison is another story Faith brings to light. Filled with accounts of political injustices, this powerful book moves the reader to rethink the meanings and limits of guilt and punishment. Gender Studies Law Social Sciences Sociology True Crime Crime Murder Emotionally Gripping Exciting Cults Nonfiction
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im not quite sure how the author made such an interesting subject so boring and dull.

Boring

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An interesting story ruined by the fact the author has clearly never heard of Florence Nightingale Syndrome and has a feminist/anti-man agenda throughout the book.

More respect to the REAL victims should have been paid.

Biased

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One review for this book questions how the author made such an interesting subject so boring and dull. The answer to this is that the author wanted to present a unsensationalist account of what has happened to Leslie Van Houten. This doesn’t make her work boring it makes it considered and, in my opinion, interesting and engaging.

The second review seems more like trolling as it criticises the author for having a “feminist/anti-man” agenda, as if a feminist viewpoint was somehow invalid.

So I recommend this book. It raises lots of interesting points about how women that carry out crimes are viewed and treated by society putting this into the context of the way in which a patriarchal society wants women to be. It makes me wonder again about how Mara Hindley was treated by the British state and the tabloid newspapers. The Johnny Depp/Amber Herd trial came to a conclusion yesterday again highlighting the stereotypical behaviour that American society wants to see in a victim.

It’s not really a story

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