Six nonfiction books that will give you nightmares

Claire Zulkey is a writer who lives in Chicago.  Her books include the novel An Off Year. She also edits the aptly named website, Zulkey.com.

At The Barnes & Noble Book Blog Zulkey tagged six nonfiction books that will give you nightmares, including:

Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

Jeff Guinn has a new book about Charles Manson that I’m just dying to check out, but before that came Helter Skelter, which is seen as the definitive account of the Manson Family murders. To be honest, what scared me most when I read the book (when I was home sick in high school, with mono) in the old days of paperback were the black-and-white photos of the crime scene, which are fascinating yet horrifying. I didn’t want to look, and yet…

Read about another book on the list.

Helter Skelter is among Jess Dukes's top nine books on the rise and fall of creepy cults.

--Marshal Zeringue