Live From the Gates of Hell : An Insider's Look at the Anti-Abortion Movement [Hardcover]

Jerry Reiter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2000

'Something big, something really big is coming', the leader of extremist group Rescue America warns reporter Jerry Reiter. It is the first hint of new terror to come in Pensacola, Florida-already 'ground zero' for the nation's Culture War. As Reiter goes there to cover the murder trial of the first doctor slain in the holy war over abortion, he meets radicals from the Ku Klux Klan, Operation Rescue, and a militia man with duffel bags filled with semiautomatic weapons. Each person Reiter interviews offers up a different part of a frightening puzzle pointing to a plot with the potential to be the nation's worst act of domestic terrorism. The trail of blood that Reiter uncovers both takes him back to the mysterious circumstances of the first slaying, and down a road that will eventually lead him to become a reluctant informant for the FBI. With help from the FBI he will later witness a merger between militias and militant anti-abortionists that will send chills down your spine. Reiter's own life is changed forever by his experiences in the nation's culture war and his subsequent role as a leader in a movement called 'The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice'. Where he comes out at the end of the journey will surprise both pro-life and pro-choice people. Reiter, a founding member and activist in the Christian Coalition, shows that there are shockingly close (albeit indirect) ties between radicals and respectable conservatives, including such national figures as Pat Robertson, Pat Buchanan and the 'compassionate conservative' philosophy of George W. Bush. For instance, the legal defence for anti-abortion assassin Paul Hill is provided by an attorney working full-time in Robertson's legal machine, the ACLJ, the religious right's version of the ACLU. And by the end of the book, the reader will know where the religious right went wrong.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...reading [this book] is as necessary an experience as it is a creepy, unsettling one." -- Buffalo Beat, October 19, 2000

From the Author

This book is available from your public library or used at a good price. --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 270 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1 edition (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573928402
• ISBN-13: 978-1573928403
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,189,279 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

This book is available from your public library or used at a good price. It is now nine years old and there are more current books and websites on the topic.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Book!, October 10, 2000

By 

J. Jerome (Cleveland, OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live From the Gates of Hell : An Insider's Look at the Anti-Abortion Movement (Hardcover)

I could not put this book down when I read it. It is told in such a fast-moving way that I could not wait to see what was going to happen next the weekend I read it. The book shows what scary characters are out there behind the scenes in the culture war, which Reiter shows us is now very clearly a shooting war. When the book covered the section on what motivated Paul Hill, who opened fire on three unarmed senior citizens, I was blown away by the insights. Live from the Gates of Hell gave me the kind of view I would have had if I was a fly on the wall of the radical gatherings, and the stuff about the militias merging with the militant anti-abortionists is shocking. Like a lot of people, I'm on the fence when it comes to abortion, but that's not what this book is about. It's about people who use intimidation and sometimes violence to get their way, and there is an important lesson here for all of us who sometimes get frustrated with the way things are. The characters in this real-life story become three-dimensional as we read their words and hear their explanations of what motivates them. The story has a plot line like a novel would, and that makes it so much more interesting than a book trotting out the old abortion arguments would be.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Action Packed, November 21, 2000

By 

Chris (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live From the Gates of Hell : An Insider's Look at the Anti-Abortion Movement (Hardcover)

This story moves along like a Mack truck but when the dust cleared I suddenly realized I had learned some things I did not know before. I never saw a connection between the radicals in the little fringe groups and the more respectable conservatives, from Pat Robertson and George W. Bush to Pat Buchanan and Rush Limbaugh. As a writer myself, I admired the good pacing of the story and the way Reiter shares his up-close anecdotes. "Live from the Gates of Hell" is a bit like a good Grisham novel in that you want to keep turning the pages. Maybe because Reiter was a journalist, he could pull it off as he mixed important facts with personal observations. Many others have tried but without as much success as Reiter. I think anyone who likes a good dramatic story will enjoy this true life thriller.

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Suspenseful & Incredible, October 20, 2000

By 

"camlyndc" (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live From the Gates of Hell : An Insider's Look at the Anti-Abortion Movement (Hardcover)

I've been recommending this book to everyone I know---it's non-fiction, but reads like a suspense novel. Regardless of which stance you take on abortion, the insights will turn your preconceptions upside-down and may even make you reconsider which "side" you take. With a solid background working for the Religious Right, Jerry Reiter is the perfect guide to the underground antiabortion movement which flourishes across the U.S. today. Everyone should read this book before heading off to the polls this year---what it has to say about George W. Bush and the politics of the Republican party may make you change your vote! Highly recommended to anyone who is involved in the politics of abortion, as well as to all thinking people!