Customer Reviews

Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book is both disturbing and important. It traces the tragedy of Ruby Ridge, Idaho from the very beginning, even before Idaho. It profiles Randy and Vicki Weaver when they first meant and follows through their marriage, their children and their move to Idaho. It explores their different beliefs in depth and both their problems and triumphs throughout their marriage.

It explains how the U.S. Marshall Service and the ATF first noticed Randy Weaver and why they were interested in him. Did they initially set him up? It explains what the reaction of the FBI was when they were called to the scene. How the government agencies invovled escalated the problem to a new level. How the lack of communication within the government made a bad situation worse.

It follows the aftermath of the seige and the shootings into the evidence gathering stage and through the trial. It follows the survivors and what they have become, their tribulations.

This is a very important book for everyone to read. It is about lack of tolerance in others beliefs. About the governments miscommunications and lack of sharing information between departments. This has been going on for years, way before 9-11. It delves into the fact that government agencies don't like to admit they were wrong and will sacrifice the little guy to protect the big guy. It show that there is hard working decent people working for the government as well as complete self serving, intolerant, career mongers looking for nothing but advancement and the connections to insulate themselves from the decisions they've made.

Randy Weaver and his family thought differently than many. They wanted to be left alone. And they were pushed and pushed to the breaking point. Attacked and surrounded and attacked again. The Weaver's paid the price for their beliefs but the government agents that overstepped their bounds have never been brought to justice or even held accountable with more than meager 15 day suspensions. The courts felt the government wrong enough to award a monetary settlement to the Weaver's. When will the total truth come out?

This is an excellent book full of information and presented well. It is engrossing and pulls you in from the beginning. It reads well. I recommend it to everyone.

This book is very well-written and informative. Through reading it one begins to see the motivations for seemingly unexpicable actions. Both sides of the story--the government's and the Weaver family's--are told with objectivity. Before reading this book, I had only heard very simplified versions of what happened at Ruby Ridge, but now I feel like I have a much better understanding. Randy Weaver doesn't come out like a folk hero as in some books about Ruby Ridge. He is portrayed as a regular person who made choices that he regretted, but for which he did not deserve to lose his son and wife. The reprehensible nature of the government's actions are shown in full light, including the inexcusable animalistic actions of the sniper who fired unprovoked on a woman holding a baby in her arms. I appreciated that a section was included which followed up on where the family is today.

I was raised in a rural part of Idaho, and was 17 during the summer of the Ruby Ridge siege. At the time all I got from the local media was that a crazy mountain man who had warrants for his arrest was holding Federal officers at bay on a remote mountain hours north of where I lived.
Eleven years later I read this book. It gave me the true story, from the beginning, of what really happened during that 11 day span that became such a historic event in our great state.
What it came down to, even past the feds having it out for Randy Weaver, was a Terrible lesson in miscommunication. When word got back to Washington, it was said that Randy Weaver had government agents "pinned down" by his "compound". The fact is, hours before, Federal agents had trespassed on the property, surprised Randy, his son, their dog, and their friend Kevin Harris. The result was the family dog being shot in the back, 12 year old Sammy Weaver being shot in the back as he ran away yelling "I'm coming dad!" and a Federal Marshall shot to death in self defense (I don't think there is much doubt who shot first).

In the days that follow, more blood would be shed; (Vicki Weaver is shot to death in the head by a sniper while holding her baby). Information would be re-scripted, re-tooled, and eventually covered up in many cases. One of the most compelling parts of the story is knowing why they stayed holed up in their cabin that long. Anyone that had ventured out before had been shot at!

Another interesting note that I did not know till reading this book was the neo-nazi connection. Weaver was not a neo-nazi, as the media portrayed him to be. He did however, know a couple of them in his passings in the area. The money and time spent to set up Randy so he would squeal on the Neo Nazi's was ridiculous. When he simply said "no, I don't want to have any part of it, I just want to mind my own business and be left alone". Now you would think they would honor this and let him be, but no. They changed the rules of engagement so that they could ultimately and hopefull slaughter all involved...and for what? Because they had different religious beliefs? What possible threat did one quiet mountain family have againt anyone?

On a lighter note, it was nice to see the new experiences that the oldest daughter enjoyed when moving in with relatives back in Iowa. Getting to see her first movie on a theatre screen (which led her to get a job in the theatre soon after) and listening to rock music was something many of us take for granted. This book is a must read if you are of an open mind. Despite religious or polotical views, everyone should read this book. It may change you're outlook on many things, if only for the better. I only hope there was a lessoned learned somewhere by those responsible, after what happened on a remote Idaho Mountain in the summer of '92.

Notes on this second edition: Jesse Walter's "Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family" is the 2002 second edition of his 1995 "Every Knee Shall Bow: The Truth & Tragedy of Ruby Ridge & The Randy Weaver Family" which was the basis of the 1996 CBS TV two-part miniseries "Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy" later edited for VHS/DVD release as "The Siege at Ruby Ridge".

The 2002 edition does significantly update the story, reflecting developments after the 1994 DOJ OPR Ruby Ridge Task Force Report, the 1995 Senate Committee investigation and memoirs by participants (like Danny Coulson "No Heroes", 1999). The updates are more in the nature of additions to the story; Walter's original research was very careful and required very few corrections of fact, reflecting the professional journalism that gave this book consideration for the Pulitzer Prize. The section on the trial of Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris could stand as a book by itself.

added: the 2002 ed. includes an Index, lacking in the orginal edition

I thought this was an unbiased account of what happened at Ruby Ridge. Must admit its the only book I've read about this. But it brings up the interesting point of govt. intervention when this man really didnt do anything bad enough to have this happen to him.

It's really frightening to realize that our own US Government can be so screwed up. However, it's a fact of life, and as Americans, we need to be vigilant, and hold those in power accountable. That did NOT happen in this case. While I do not hold to the beliefs that Randy Weaver held, this is America, where every person has a right to their beliefs, as long as they're not hurting anyone else. In this case, he was set up by the government, and the tragedy ended in three deaths. I don't think we'll ever really know the full story of what happened, because every person sees it from their own point of view. But the documented facts of the case, of the government's mishandling/BUNGLING, are there for all to see. Regardless of whether you believe as Weaver did, you can't escape the fact, as Gerry Spence put it, "People ought not to be murdered by their own government."

This is an interesting and easy read. I knew almost nothing about what happened at Ruby Ridge, and though I generally don't read books of this genre, I thought I would check it out to add some variety to my reading list. It seemed to me to be

objective and well organized. It was interesting throughout, no boring parts.

It did make me upset with the government due to the way they treated the Weaver family, but not suprised. Now I understand a little better why Timothy McVeigh

was so pissed off!

Mr Walter tries to come across like he

is concerned with the Weaver's but his

dimwitted 'right-wing' Presidential

Candidate, Bo Gritz', remark gives him

away. Bo was the Populist Party's candi-

date, and the Populist Party is NOT ri-'

ght-wing. Populism is of the Far Middle

of the political spectrum. Wake up, Walt!