In 1969, the world was shocked by a series of murders committed by Charles Manson and his “family” of followers. Although the defendants were sentenced to death in 1971, their sentences were commuted to life with parole in 1972; since 1978, they have been regularly attending parole hearings. Today all of the living defendants remain behind bars. Relying on nearly fifty years of parole hearing transcripts, as well as interviews and archival materials, Hadar Aviram invites readers into the opaque world of the California parole process—a realm of almost unfettered administrative discretion, prison programming inadequacies, high-pitched emotions, and political pressures. Yesterday’s Monsters offers a fresh longitudinal perspective on extreme punishment.

This volume contains not only the complete verbatim transcript of the testimony given before the Senate Judiciary Committee on October 11, 12 and 13, 1991, but, as Nina Totenberg points out in her preface, "the important exhibits that were submitted - affidavits aimed at discrediting Hill, and the sworn testimony of the so-called "other woman," Angela Wright, who had worked for Thomas and, like Hill, claimed he made lewd and inappropriate remarks to her." Wright herself was never called to testify before the cameras. But she did give telephone testimony to the committee staff - as did her friend Rose Jourdain - and that testimony is included here. Although more that two years have passed since these hearings were held, public interest remains high. With their implications for attitudes toward race, gender and sexual harassment, the issues and emotions created by the hearings are still of vital importance to literate, thinking Americans. History, someone said, is what happens before you know it. Thus, many events come clear only in retrospect. This book will at last allow the general interest reader the opportunity to develop a calm and reasoned insight into those explosive and historic three days.