Please join us to launch Nicholas Tochka's new book The Musical Lives of Charles Manson: The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Invention of the Sixties - or, No Sense Makes Sense, newly published by Bloomsbury Academic.

Author Nick Tochka will discuss the book with Professor Paul Long, Professor in Creative and Cultural Industries at Monash University and co-founder and co-editor (with Dr. Holly Tessler of the University of Liverpool) of the Journal of Beatles Studies. Copies of the book will be available for $20. Followed by a short reception. The event will also be streamed live via Zoom.

Book Synopsis:

For over five decades, commentators have debated the meaning of Charles Manson and the Tate-LaBianca killings. Rock music links their narratives: from the aciddrenched singalongs at the Spahn Movie Ranch, to a bizarre theology centered on Beatles songs, to his commune's alleged links with Hollywood's elite, to an album, LIE: The Love and Terror Cult (1970). In this first comprehensive examination of the Manson Family's music, Nicholas Tochka writes with, against, and alongside the many authors - true-crime hacks, gonzo journalists, conspiracy theorists, and rock critics alike - who have told and retold the story of “the Manson murders.” Playing the truth games that these postwar Americans helped invent, The Musical Lives of Charles Manson presents a new take on the story of the commune - and on rock's role in fracturing the possibility of writing trustworthy histories after the Sixties.

Author Bio:

Nicholas Tochka is Associate Professor of Music (Ethnomusicology) at the University of Melbourne, Australia. His work examines the politics of music-making in the postwar world.

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Image: Book cover, Bloomsbury Academic, 2026.

Contact the host of Book Launch: The Musical Lives of Charles Manson