Person
Every book Tom O'Neill recommended on podcasts
Tom O'Neill appears as a guest on podcast episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience to discuss his exhaustive, multi-year investigative research into the Manson family murders and the broader cultural landscape of the late 1960s. During his extensive discussions, O'Neill references a variety of historical and literary works that inform his understanding of true crime, intelligence operations, and investigative journalism. He analyzes Vincent Bugliosi's prominent true crime book Helter Skelter, examining the core narratives presented at trial regarding the motive behind the murders and pointing out discrepancies in how previous arrests were handled. To provide historical context on government oversight and covert programs, O'Neill discusses John Marks's pioneering book The Search for the Manchurian Candidate, which investigated the CIA's MKULTRA project. Furthermore, O'Neill touches upon David S. Lifton's Best Evidence to reflect on early influences that sparked his interest in complex historical mysteries, and he references Joan Didion's collection The White Album to capture the immediate psychological and cultural shockwaves the Manson murders delivered to contemporary witnesses and victims alike.
Books recommended by Tom O'Neill
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Best evidence
Best Evidence by David S.
Discussed“there's a great book called best evidence by David liftin that book got me down a dark road when I was in my 20s”
Where to get it
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Helter Skelter
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry is widely regarded as the definitive true crime account of the 1969 Manson Family murders, written by the lead prosecutor of the case.
Discussed“it's an important lie that Vince Puleo see presented not just in at trial but also in his book a trial”
Where to get it
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The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate"
The Search for the Manchurian Candidate by John Marks is an investigative history examining the Central Intelligence Agency's covert mind-control experiments known as MKULTRA.
Discussed“he wrote the first book about MKULTRA that came out in the mid to late 70s called the search for The Manchurian Candidate”
Where to get it
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The White Album
The White Album by Joan Didion is a seminal collection of essays capturing the cultural and political fragmentation of American society during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Discussed“it's like Joan Didion wrote in her book The White Album that the morning she learned about the murders and she knew most of the victims”
Where to get it
Books Tom O'Neill wrote
Appearances
| Episode | Podcast | Date | Books |
|---|---|---|---|
| #1459 - Tom O'Neill | The Joe Rogan Experience | 2020-04-16 | 8 |
Other mentions (1: passing, ad reads, own books)
“popularly known as Manchurian candidates after a book that was written 1962 and later became a movie and then a movie again the people would be through drugs and hypnotism”