A cautionary retelling of the Weaver family case recounts the incidents that led up to Vicki and Sammy Weaver's deaths and the four-month trial that exposed a government abuse of power. 50,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo. Tour.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
“A stunning job of reporting.” (New York Times Book Review )
“The most comprehensive, even-handed and best written account of Ruby Ridge currently in print.” (Washington Times )
"Tightly reported...an even-handed...excellent, minute-by-minute account." (The Portland Oregonian )
"A meticulously researched account of the Ruby Ridge incident." (People magazine )
“A brilliant, cautionary tale of the dangers of conspiracy thinking—by people and by governments.” (Dennis Prager, talk show host and author of Think a Second Time )
"Jess Walter's careful chronicle of what happened in and around that cabin in...northern Idaho...is remarkably complete." (Salt Lake City Tribune ) --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
“The most comprehensive, even-handed and best written account of Ruby Ridge currently in print.” (Washington Times )
"Tightly reported...an even-handed...excellent, minute-by-minute account." (The Portland Oregonian )
"A meticulously researched account of the Ruby Ridge incident." (People magazine )
“A brilliant, cautionary tale of the dangers of conspiracy thinking—by people and by governments.” (Dennis Prager, talk show host and author of Think a Second Time )
"Jess Walter's careful chronicle of what happened in and around that cabin in...northern Idaho...is remarkably complete." (Salt Lake City Tribune ) --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
From the Publisher
The complex and controversial story of the Weaver family and what happened at Ruby Ridge, a tragic incident later used by paramilitary groups as an incendiary example of government abuse of power--told by an award-winning journalist with exclusive interviews and never-before-published photographs.
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More About the Author
Jess Walter is the author of five novels, most recently 'The Financial Lives of the Poets' -- Time Magazine's #2 novel of 2009. He was a 2006 National Book Award Finalist for 'The Zero' and won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for best novel in 2005 for 'Citizen Vince.' His work has been translated into 20 languages. He lives with his family in Spokane, Washington.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sober, even-handed & compelling,
By
This review is from: Every Knee Shall Bow (Mass Market Paperback)
An excellent account of the shootout and standoff at Ruby Ridge that's all the more powerful because Jess Walter plays it straight down the middle, neither out to get the government nor out to belittle Randy Weaver. What we get instead is a sober laying out of the facts through great use of detail and a strong narrative. I went into the book a little skeptical and underinformed about Ruby Ridge and emerged horrified at what happened, particularly by the behavior of the feds. But Walter doesn't try to make Weaver a pure hero either, showing his eccentricities and willingly raising questions about his handling of the situation such as whether Weaver used his children as a buffer between himself and danger. The obligatory court section of the book is saved from the boring recitation of trial that often characterizes non-fiction, true crime books by an excellent portrait of lawyer Gerry Spence and very nice detail on the jury's lengthy deliberations. Walter ties Ruby Ridge, Waco and Oklahoma City together very nicely without overdoing it. He's a master of understatement, leaving the reader to form his own conclusions. He includes a very good, concise history of the Aryan Nations/militia/freemen/patriot radical right-wing movement. This is a must-read for any student of the radical right-wing movement, especially anyone open-minded enough to be willing to accept that the government has made some horrific, perhaps criminal errors ... and that some of those errors have fanned the flames of hatred more effectively than any racist demagogue.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping,
By
This review is from: Every Knee Shall Bow : The Truth & Tragedy of Ruby Ridge & The Randy Weaver Family (Hardcover)
This book is probably the best known of all the books about this case.It is the book the 1996 Mini-series starring Laura Dern and Randy Quaid was based on. It is well researched and put together.
The book makes a fair attempt to stay neutral, but I think it was a bit too critical of the Weavers and too sympathetic towards the government on a couple of points.That does not at all diminish its value for someone seeking to learn about this case.Its an invaluable resource.The coverage of the trial is astounding. It spans several chapters and is intricately detailed. The whole trial is covered from the pretrial preparations to the day Randy walked out of jail. At the end of the book, I felt like I had just been on a long journey through these tragic events .I felt emotionally wrung out. I have been following this case for a long time and already knew a lot about the case but I ended up feeling even more saddened and outraged at what happened to the Weaver family, and I think reading this would make the majority of people marginally sympathetic to the Weavers, no matter how much we disagree with their religious beliefs.If you want to hear the story reported from both sides, this is the book for you.
18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Final Word,
This review is from: Every Knee Shall Bow (Mass Market Paperback)
This excellent book may well be the definitive work on the tragedy of Ruby Ridge. I was prepared for another diatribe; either Randy Weaver the martyr or Randy Weaver the lawless, racist scum. Instead, Jess Walter has written a very even-handed chronicle that left me terribly sad.If Walter's facts are right, (and they're certainly believable,) this was a story without unalloyed heroes or villains. He takes us through the Weaver family's odyssey from fundamentalist Christians to - well, whackos. He takes us through the story of how the U.S. Marshalls sent to bring in an everyday, minor fugitive found the case spinning out of their control, leaving them on a mountaintop with two people and a dog dead, and the whole world watching. And he explains the inexplicable; how on earth a law enforcement officer could be in a blind with a .308 and orders to shoot on sight. This is one of the few really essential books I've read this year.
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