|
American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing | 
 enlarge | Authors: Lou Michel, Dan Herbeck
Publisher: Harper
Category: Book
List Price: $26.00
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $25.99 (100%)
New (22) Used (117) Collectible (6) from $0.01
Rating:  65 reviews
Sales Rank: 686241
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 448
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6.8 x 1.2
ISBN: 0060394072
Dewey Decimal Number: 976.638053092
EAN: 9780060394073
ASIN: 0060394072
Publication Date: May 1, 2001
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read -> Recycle -> Reuse!
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
At 9:02 A.M. on April 19, 1995, in the largest terrorist act ever perpetrated on American soil, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by the explosion of a homemade truck bomb. One hundred and sixty-eight people -- including nineteen children -- were killed by the blast, and more than five hundred others were injured. Timothy J. McVeigh, an antigovernment activist, was tried and convicted of the bombing. But to Americans everywhere, the story has remained a mystery, held hostage by McVeigh's refusal to explain or even discuss the event and his involvement. With this book, that mystery is solved. American Terrorist will change, unmistakably and permanently, our understanding of the crime. Journalists Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck have been researching the Oklahoma City bombing -- and the Iife of Tim McVeigh -- since the week the tragedy occurred. They have interviewed more than one hundred and fifty people from every stage of McVeigh's life, from his childhood friends to the psychiatrist hired by the defense team to examine him before his trial. They have garnered the cooperation of McVeigh's father, mother, and sister Jennifer, and gained exclusive access to previously unpublished family photographs and personal effects. And, in April 1999, Michel and Herbeck secured an extraordinary coup: in more than seventy-five hours of interviews, they persuaded Timothy McVeigh to give the first complete, candid, no-holds-barred account of his story -- an account, given with no compensation or right of approval, that American Terrorist sheds light on every aspect of McVeigh's life. It describes his relationship with Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier and the consuming distrust of the government shared by the three. And in its pages every detail of the bombing itself is reconstructed, from the origins of the plot to the moment of detonation and McVeigh's aborted getaway. American Terrorist puts to rest conspiracy theories that have previously gone unresolved. It clarifies the role and responsibility of every person who has been implicated in the plan. And it explains, thoroughly and definitively, how a decorated war hero from rural New York State became the worst mass murderer in the nation's history. At once a powerful work of journalism and a uniquely American story, American Terrorist wiII help bring closure, once and for all, to a wound left too long open in our national psyche.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 60 more reviews...
 This is the best book written on McVeigh/Oklahoma City February 18, 2008
The authors have written a great book, which goes into extensive detail on the life of Timothy McVeigh but does not feel bogged down in too many facts. The reader will see McVeigh at various stages of his life, from what appears to be a normal, healthy childhood to becoming a standout soldier. At that point in McVeigh's life- the first Gulf War and its aftermath - he begins to unravel and the authors show how McVeigh evolved over time to eventually commit what was then the greatest act of terrorism in US history.
A Highly Disturbing Book. November 17, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
_American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & The Oklahoma City Bombing_, published in 2001 before McVeigh was put to death, by journalists for the _Buffalo News_ Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck, is a highly disturbing book which takes a look into the life, mind, and philosophy of the terrorist Timothy McVeigh. This book (despite possible flaws) remains one of the most important biographies written on McVeigh because the journalists obtained interviews with McVeigh himself and his family (particularly Timothy McVeigh's father Bill McVeigh). Timothy McVeigh (1968 - 2001) was a veteran of the Gulf War whose radical antigovernment philosophy and disgust over the events of Ruby Ridge and Waco may have pushed him to commit the terrorist act of bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, there may be some reason to believe that there was more to this bombing than originally believed; however, the authors do not discuss such possibilities as they rely entirely on the testimony of McVeigh who took sole credit for the bombing, along with fellow conspirator Terry Nichols. McVeigh has often been linked to the "antigovernment right" or "far right" and his actions were used by many in left wing "watchdog groups" to call for crackdowns on the militia and patriot movements by the government. However, McVeigh's views remain more difficult to categorize than this (as pointed out by fellow prisoner Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, in a private letter to the authors of this book which appears as an appendix in this book). While it is true that McVeigh was an ardent lover of firearms and the Second Ammendment (to the point of fanaticism and unhealthy obsession), charges of racism and the white supremacist angle remain more difficult to maintain. In his letter Kaczynski maintains that McVeigh saw more in common between the radical left and the radical right than was originally believed and Kaczynski describes McVeigh pretty accurately as "he is an adventurer by nature, and America since the closing of the frontier has had little room for adventurers." McVeigh's bombing was a horrendous affair resulting in countless innocent deaths (including the deaths of many children who were present in a day care center at the building) and was very likely an exceedingly poor attempt to get back at the federal government for their mistakes and wrongdoings at Ruby Ridge and Waco. Nevertheless, it is important to keep two things in mind. First, I believe there is some reason to suspect that there is more to this story than just Timothy McVeigh (perhaps which we will never know) and further that the actions of the government in recent times have been far worse, more calculating, and resulting in much greater bloodshed. Supposedly McVeigh was horrified by such atrocities committed by the government and sought to get back at them for what they had done. Unfortunately, his alleged way of getting back at them turned out to be largely ineffective and focused on innocents rather than those who were truly responsible. As such, his actions must be fully condemned.
The book begins in the Introduction, by explaining how the journalist authors came to be involved in reporting this story and their meetings with Bill McVeigh. The authors then turn to the early life of Timothy McVeigh. The disturbing thing about this is that his early life and boyhood were largely normal. In fact, the authors describe him as nothing more than "the boy next door". However, early on in his life, McVeigh's experiences caused him to develop a particular dislike for bullies and even a horror at killing. Following high school, McVeigh went through a funk where he may have read quite a bit and otherwise did a great deal of thinking. It was during this time that McVeigh developed his survivalist and antigovernment views. He was introduced to such views through such magazines as _Soldier of Fortune_ as well as his early readings of _The Turner Diaries_. McVeigh also developed an early interest in firearms and through his grandfather Ed learned how to use and care for them. McVeigh (uncertain of his direction in life) decided to enter the military believing that there he could further his survivalist skills and practice using firearms. However, from the very beginning, McVeigh may have developed some reason to regard the military as hypocritical and inefficient. McVeigh became very good at soldiering and frequently would win prizes for being the top gunner. Subsequently, when the First Gulf War broke out, McVeigh was sent to Iraq. It was in Iraq that McVeigh came to develop some further suspicions of the government as he came to see the Iraqi army largely outmatched facing a far more powerful U.S. Army. McVeigh also came to somewhat resent the authority of his superiors over the fact that they frequently relied on "by the book" instructions when it became obvious that such instructions were leading to further casualties. McVeigh also developed a certain respect for Iraqi culture, leading to his general respect for other cultures (noted by fellow convicted terrorist Ted Kaczynski). It was also in the military that McVeigh met Terry Nichols, a Michigan farmer who shared his antigovernment views and had radical opinions about the role of farmers and bankers and the government. Following his stay in Iraq, McVeigh was sent home to try out for the Special Forces, the elite of the elite in the Army. McVeigh was greeted at home as a war hero and then went on to try out for the Special Forces. However, McVeigh (who was not in the best of physical or mental shape following his stay in Iraq) did not make the cut for the Special Forces and decided to drop out. This was a further disillusioning experience for McVeigh and such experiences eventually led to him asking to leave the Army. When McVeigh left the Army he returned home to an extreme period of depression and disillusionment. McVeigh ended up living at his father's house along with his sister Jennifer (who shared his antigovernment views and who the authorities would later view with suspicion) and had to find work as a security guard. McVeigh grew increasingly dissatisfied with his life and the government and entered a period of despair and near suicidal depression. Eventually, McVeigh was to leave his family (his father and his sister) and begin his travels, telling his father only that "taxes are too high" before leaving. McVeigh began a journey which led him deeper and deeper into the antigovernment fringe and gun culture. McVeigh also met up with his old army buddies Mike Fortier (who was hopelessly addicted to illegal narcotics) and Terry Nichols (who along with his brother James had a long history of antigovernment hatred). It was while visiting with Terry Nichols that McVeigh told a group of farmers that the government had implanted a microchip in him before his going into war (a story which the authors believe to be confabulated, but to which there may be a greater significance). McVeigh became actively involved in gun shows, selling weapons and various political materials at them, and he became fascinated with gun and outlaw culture. It was however the events at Waco which supposedly pushed McVeigh over the edge, and he went to Waco to protest the government's actions and to give out political propaganda. McVeigh became increasingly paranoid and his letters to his sister indicate his increasingly erratic behavior as well as his indications that "something big was about to go down". This may have led to McVeigh and Nichols conspiring to blow up the building in Oklahoma. The rest of the book details the bomb and the subsequent explosion and loss of life as well as the subsequent arrest and trial of McVeigh. Despite McVeigh's own claims to the contrary, many including his own attorney came to suspect that there may have been more to this terrorist act than originally thought and suspected a larger conspiracy. The book ends by showing the reactions of McVeigh's friends and family and with McVeigh on death row. It was while in prison that McVeigh met such other notorious terrorists as Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and Ted Kaczysnki. The government was to put McVeigh to death in 2001. The book also includes a very interesting letter about McVeigh by Kaczynski sent to the authors which reveals certain aspects of McVeigh's philosophy.
This book is a highly disturbing one for what it shows about the life of Timothy McVeigh. McVeigh believed that the government had grown out of control and that its actions were criminal, so he decided to make the government pay for its actions. While McVeigh may have been right about the actions of the government, the way he chose to get back at it was futile and simply resulted in the deaths of innocents. Further, McVeigh's actions may have caused further crackdowns on the militia and patriot movements by the government and by left wing "watchdog groups". Nevertheless, I feel there is some reason to believe that there may be more to the story behind this bombing than just McVeigh. As such, I believe while this book offers a good portrayal of McVeigh and his beliefs, it may miss out on what really happened, which we may still not fully know.
 fascinating read December 4, 2005
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This story has appealed to me for a long time. So, needless to say when this book came out I had to purchase it. The book is especially strong on the post-army deterioration Mcveigh felt and his disillusionment with the government. The authors were also granted interviews with Mcveigh in prison which lend credence to the story. The fascinating part for me was generally prisoners deny their crimes and fight to the bitter end, as in the case of death row prisoners. Mcveigh seemed to be completely willing to die for his acts, and in fact relished it. It seems to be part of his endgame strategy. Great read about a intense individual.
Patriotism vs. Terrorism June 6, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
One of my students discussed this book in a paper and stated that he had really liked it, so I decided to read it as well. Although I knew some about the OKC bombing, I didn't really know much.
The book is written by two journalists who interviewed McVeigh, people who knew McVeigh, and people who were affected by what he did. The number of first-person accounts are staggering, and the information the authors gleaned from their interviews creates a very interesting picture of McVeigh, his life, the bombing, and his time in jail. As you read the book you don't get the feeling that the authors are attempting to sway your opinion of McVeigh - it's very even-handed and factual. Because of this I felt that the book was far longer than it needed to be. There were many sections that could have conveyed the point without the length.
I highly enjoyed reading this book and definitely suggest it to anyone interested in McVeigh's life. For any number of reasons, the book ends before he is executed, which I disliked. I would have liked to have heard about how people felt about the execution after it had taken place. Interviews on that topic may have brought up feelings that the authors may not have wanted to deal with though, which is completely understandable.
Book by Lou Michel: American Terrorist February 14, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you want a book about Timothy McVeigh this is the one to buy.
I like this one as it gives facts all about his life and the bombing and it lacks very few of the authors opinions! When I read about someone I like to read just the facts! I don't like someone trying to sway me in one direction with their opinions. The book, "American Monster" would evidently be nothing but opionins!
|
|
|
|
