Member of the Family: My Story of Charles Manson, Life Inside His Cult, and the Darkness That Ended the Sixties

Dianne Lake's memoir recounts her years as the youngest member of Charles Manson's Family cult. At fourteen, with only a note from her hippie parents permitting her to leave, Lake became one of Manson's devoted followers. Over two years, she experienced manipulation, psychological control, and physical abuse as Manson's true nature and dangerous messiah complex emerged. She witnessed the group's descent into madness—from activities at Spahn Ranch and group acid trips to Manson's interpretations of the Beatles' White Album—though she did not participate in the group's crimes and was deliberately kept away from them. Lake was arrested alongside the rest of the Manson Family. She eventually provided testimony for the prosecution's case against them. With support from various people, including the police officer who arrested her and later adopted her, she found a path toward healing and built an ordinary life. The memoir includes 16 pages of photographs and offers firsthand insights into one of the twentieth century's most notorious criminals and the cult surrounding him.