How Vincent Bugliosi’s 'Helter Skelter' Changed the World of True Crime

When prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi published Helter Skelter: The Real Story of the Manson Murders with co-writer Curt Gentry in 1974, the gripping account of the Manson Family murders did more than just tap into the country’s morbid curiosity; it reshaped the true-crime landscape. With the precision of a courtroom drama and the energy of a thriller, Bugliosi mixed legal prowess, psychological insight and immersive storytelling into something new. The book went on to become the best-selling true-crime title of all time, setting the standard for intense, investigation-driven stories built around real crimes and the motives behind them.

Before Helter Skelter, crime writing tended to be either dry and straightforward or over-the-top and sensational. Bugliosi, who died in 2015, changed that. His unique take on crime writing created a blueprint that many other future crime writers, filmmakers and podcasters would follow.

In the wake of the murders, Bugliosi believed that Charles Manson had become publicly equated with evil itself, and that the public had an appetite for learning about such things. “He has come to represent the dark and malignant side of humanity, and for whatever reason, there is a side of human nature that is fascinated with ultimate evil,” Bugliosi told the Los Angeles Times in 1994.

Instead of treating the 1969 murders as isolated acts, Bugliosi, the lead prosecutor in the Manson case, dug into the social, psychological and countercultural forces that helped shape Manson’s influence over his followers. This “why-dunnit” approach—looking at why crimes happen, not just how—became a staple of modern true crime, influencing everything from Capote’s successors to Mindhunter and Serial.

“Having the lead prosecutor of a case as huge as the Manson case not only offer details that you haven't heard about or that weren't publicly available, but to also have [Bugliosi] put into perspective the 1960s, how this could've happened and the different perspectives all wrapped in a really compelling narrative, that was groundbreaking,” Kate Winkler Dawson, a true-crime historical author and podcaster, tells A&E Crime + Investigation.

Helter Skelter was bigger than a bestseller; it marked a cultural moment. “There's just no replicating Manson—the fear, the location in L.A. and the star power, which is unfortunately a phrase I think you can use with Sharon Tate and that circle,” Winkler Dawson says. “[Focusing on] that case alone made Helter Skelter a book that was set up to be a huge seller. Then on top of that, when you have the prosecutor and the co-writer who put together such a great narrative, I think that's [unique].”

Bugliosi’s book proved that deeply researched, serious crime reporting could attract huge audiences. This opened the door for a future wave of books, documentaries and podcasts blending hard-hitting investigation with mass appeal.

As a result, publishers dramatically expanded their acquisition of true crime titles in the late 1970s and 1980s, as author Jean Murley discusses in her book The Rise of True Crime: Twentieth-Century Murder and American Popular Culture. A few popular titles from that era include Closing Time: The True Story of the “Goodbar” Murder by Lacey Fosburgh (1977), The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule (1980) and Zodiac by Robert Graysmith (1986).

Helter Skelter helped establish true crime as a major, profitable commercial genre, not just a niche category. The book also helped encourage the creation of large-format, heavily reported crime narratives instead of short, pulpy paperbacks since Bugliosi’s firsthand role in the Manson case gave readers rare access to how prosecutors build a case, find evidence and piece together a motive. That fresh insider perspective inspired future books written by detectives, lawyers and journalists embedded inside investigations.

Instead of laying out the crime as a finished story, Bugliosi built step-by-step suspense through the process itself: the investigation, the trial and the search for motive. That sort of structure then became the template for countless documentaries and serialized podcasts. Bugliosi’s experience as the lead prosecutor also gave the narrative a unique personal touch.

His closeness to the case also helped Bugliosi present a victim-focused account, which wasn’t the norm when Helter Skelter was published. The book helped set a precedent for it, Winkler Dawson asserts. “You could look at Helter Skelter as not just having somebody credible write a book, who obviously has insider knowledge, but also somebody who is invested in the victims,” she says. “It’s very easy to slip into glorifying the killer. You absolutely have to figure out how to put people in the position of understanding the victims’ point of view so they can sympathize with them.”

Helter Skelter chalks up the Manson murders to a dramatic motive: that Manson believed a race war was coming, and he wanted the killings to spark it. This interpretation was powerful in court because it tied Manson to the crimes even though he wasn’t physically present for them. It also gave the jury a simple, memorable story. But with that story, Bugliosi focused heavily on ideology while downplaying the fear, drug use and general instability that shaped life in the Manson Family.

Some experts now think Bugliosi’s explanation served as more of a prosecutorial strategy than an accurate reflection of what happened. They argue that Manson’s ongoing talk of a race war was nowhere near a coherent plan, and that the murders instead grew out of a chaotic mix of coercion, drugs and group pressure.

A stream of books published since 1974 challenge aspects of Bugliosi’s narrative. For example, Tom O’Neill’s 2019 book Chaos argued that Bugliosi manipulated witnesses and pushed far-fetched, false theories about Manson’s motives.

Though Helter Skelter’s portrayal of Manson’s motive may be debated, the book brought cult dynamics into the mainstream, made psychological manipulation a part of popular crime discourse and helped influence later depictions of charismatic criminals in media.

“It gave a level of clarity and depth of information that was truly frightening for people,” Winkler Dawson says. “I don't think it made anybody feel better about what happened with Manson’s crimes, but I think it really sparked an interest in the psychology of [a cult leader] like Charles Manson.”

A few thematically-similar books that have been published after Helter Skelter include Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright and The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and the People’s Temple by Jeff Guinn.