Customer Reviews

Ambush at Ruby Ridge

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dean Koontz wrote the forward for this book and I found it alone, is worth the price. Koontz's command of the language and his opinions were extremely well-written. Something that should be published on its own. As for Mr. Bock, he told it like it was. There was no elaboration of the information he reported. And there was no attempt to voice his own opinion until the very end. The additional cases he listed were terrifying in chronicling the abuses of the federal government. This should be recommended reading, no, mandatory reading, for everyone who believes their government is above reproach. Hats off to Mr. Koontz and Mr. Bock, I was greatly impressed.

Well written factual account of the standoff at Ruby Ridge which cost Vicki and Sam Weaver ther lives. This book should be required reading by everyone that thinks the government is fair and just. If this dooesn't make your blood boil, maybe you should check your pulse!

On August 21st 1992 A group of six U.S. Marshals dressed in camouflage and armed with fully automatic machine guns with silencers (Which would land an ordinary citizen in federal prision for about 30 years) attempted to serve a warrant on Randy Weaver for selling an illegal shotgun. In the process a U.S. mashall was killed and they shot Randy's 14 year old son in the back as well as his dog. In the stand off that followed Rady's wife was killed with a bullet to her head while holding her baby, Randy and a friend would also be shot.

"Ambush at Ruby Ridge" is a straight foward retelling of the events at Ruby ridge. It is a very fair and balanced accout of what happened it niether demonizes nor glorifies Randy Weaver and his religous and/or political belifes as so many others have done with regard to this incident. Never the less one is hard pressed to not be outraged at the heavy handed tactics used to bring a minor felon to trail and the censorship and propaganda tactics used to cover up the excessive use of force involved.

Ambush at Ruby Ridge is an excellent book esp. for any one interested in Police butality, goverment oppression or human rights violations.

It is interesting how a writer can dive into a gut-wrenching topic like this one and be able to have such a balanced, even scholarly approach. He must have been on Prozac. I would have like to hear more from Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, but, hey, Randy and his daughter have just released their "in their own words" book. I would get them both. In an email exchange with Randy some months before his new book was released, he told me that Bock's book came closest to telling the whole story. It looks like you'll have to add another item to your list.

Readers of Alan Bock's frequent essays in the Orange County Register are not surprised that Ambush at Ruby Ridge continues to recieve great reviews. This guy turns out well-reasoned, insightful and factually consistent work on a more-or-less daily basis. And he has done so for years.

A lot of folks give lip service to the notion of journalistic integrity; Bock leads by example. Not yet familiar with Alan Bock? Run "Alan Bock" on the search feature and read a few of the essays that come up. Is he not one of the best (and most underated) political writers of our era?

When one hears the words "white separatist," all the images of racism that have haunted our country over the years come rushing to the fore. After reading Alan Bock's even handed treatment about one white separatist's treatment at the hands of the federal government, your heart will go out to someone that, in any other context, might well repulse you and the horror of government abuses that he suffers will make you think we live in some third world dictatorship.

This is a book that should be required reading. Every American needs to see government at its most extreme, trampling over the rights and lives of people who just wanted to be left alone. Although the Weaver family is seemingly completely unsympathetic as a group of white separatists, they ultimately come across as angelic compared to the law enforcement officers who appear to be guilty of manslaughter to say the least, if not first degree murder.

This book covers the circumstances before, during and after, of the murder of three people at the hands of ATF/FBI agents. They also killed the same families dog and shot two other people. All this on a raid over a warrant on a petty charge that was entrapment from an undercover agent to begin with.

That Lon Horiuchi (the immoral scum that murdered Vicky Weaver as she held a baby in her arms) is not sitting on death row or at the least rotting for the rest of his life in prison is a travesty of justice. Sorry but I believe what this guy did had nothing to do with poor judgement or incompetence.

I recomend this book to all, but especially to all you moronic flag wavers who are under the delusion that America is free or that the US government, in particuarly those involved with law enforcement, are the good guys.

The photographic section in the middle of the book picturing Sammy Weaver's classmates with targets pinned on their shirts shocks one into the reality that "yes, this really did happen. A fourteen year old was murdered, his little arm shot completely off." The family dog's dead carcass has multiple tank marks from being repeatedly run over. Bock is fair in pointing out that the Weaver's had a different point of view, but hey, isn't that why our forefathers came to this country? It requires some concentration to follow all the documentary but what an amazing chronicle of the great injustice done to this family by Big Brother! Bock is very courageous and I wouldn't be surprised if the government bans the book. After all, the first thing Hitler did was to kill the real journalists. Refreshing in a time when journalists are afraid to speak out for fear of government retaliation. Direct coverage of the true events surrounding Ruby Ridge trials, great photographic section!<BR

This is a thorough, accurate accounting of the tragic events at Ruby Ridge. Now that an appeals court has decided that Lon Horiuchi, the FBI sniper who killed Randy Weaver's wife Vicki, can be charged and put on trial by local prosecutors, it is more important than ever to have the background information needed to put the trial in proper context. Alan Bock's fair-minded journalistic account is the best single source for Americans who want to know what really happened and what Mr. Horiuchi's role was. Highly recommended!

This is one of the best books I've ever read. The author is careful to present both sides of the issue, although it is clear to any thinking person that the government was way out of line. The followup sections on other government abuses (and murders) of innocent citizens is chilling, to say the least.