The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten: Life Beyond the Cult

NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE CHARLIE SAYS Faiths perspective is far reaching and challenging useful to any of us who make it a practice to ask: yes but how does it affect women? After reading this wonderfully caring book the answer is passionately revealed. Holly Near At the age of twenty-one Leslie Van Houten was sentenced to death along with Charles Manson and several of his other disciples for the infamous murder rampage spanning two nights in August 1969. Leslie who was present at the Rosemary and Leno LaBianca murders cheerfully 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 sixty-nine after three trials and with no parole in sight Leslie has become a remarkable survivor of a living nightmare. This work originally published in July of 2000 presents the first in-depth look at how this girl-next-door became one of Mansons girls. Karlene Faith draws on her thirty-year friendship with Leslie whom she met while teaching in prison. To everyone who encountered Leslieincluding prison staff and television journalistsshe was not the demon typically portrayed by the media but rather a gentle generous spirit who mourned her victims. But why didnt 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 Leslies spiritual quest within the sixties counterculture and her immediate attraction to Manson. We see how he created a cult of true believers brainwashing his followers into obeying his every command. Leslies journey out of Mansons grasp is a riveting feminist and spiritual story of recovering ones self. Why this rehabilitated woman long punished for one mans madness has not been able to leave prison is another story Faith brings to light. Also included are Leslies heartfelt letters to the author during the decades of her imprisonment. Filled with accounts of political injustices this powerful book moves the reader to rethink the meanings and limits of guilt and punishment.