Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer [Paperback]

Douglas & olshaker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

When Federal Agents raided a remote Montana cabin to apprehend Theodore J. Kaczynski, the alleged Unabomber, they discovered what amounted to a one-room bomb factory. Now bestselling author John Douglas, the former FBI Unit Chief who originated the Unabomber profle, reveals the remarkable inside story behind the bureau's eighteen-year manhunt, the elusive Kaczynski, and his dramatic arrest. Douglas' expert knowledge and firsthand experience bring all aspects of this fascinating case to vivid life: the bomber's first calculated, daring attempts to severely injure his targets; his chilling turn to murder; the FBI's frustrating attempts to build an investigation; the controversy surrounding the Unabomber's manifesto; and the unexpected twists that brought the FBI to the outskirts of Lincoln, Montana. Go behind the scenes of one of the most painstaking, dangerous -- and secretive -- FBI investigations of our time, as John Douglas delves into the mind, methods, and madness of America's most-wanted serial killer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Patricia Cornwell bestselling author of The Body Farm "John Douglas is the FBI's pioneer and master of investigative profiling, and one of the most exciting figures in law enforcement." -- Review

From the Publisher

When Federal Agents raided a remote Montana cabin to apprehend Theodore J. Kaczynski, the alleged Unabomber, they discovered what amounted to a one-room bomb factory. Now bestselling author John Douglas, the former FBI Unit Chief who originated the Unabomber profle, reveals the remarkable inside story behind the bureau's eighteen-year manhunt, the elusive Kaczynski, and his dramatic arrest. Douglas' expert knowledge and firsthand experience bring all aspects of this fascinating case to vivid life: the bomber's first calculated, daring attempts to severely injure his targets; his chilling turn to murder; the FBI's frustrating attempts to build an investigation; the controversy surrounding the Unabomber's manifesto; and the unexpected twists that brought the FBI to the outskirts of Lincoln, Montana. Go behind the scenes of one of the most painstaking, dangerous -- and secretive -- FBI investigations of our time, as John Douglas delves into the mind, methods, and madness of America's most-wanted serial killer.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671004115
• ISBN-13: 978-0671004118
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #880,329 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars MISUNDERSTANDING THE UNABOMBER, July 7, 2001

By 

Russell Errett (Alhambra, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer (Paperback)

Douglas may present a clear chronology of events relating to the investigation of Unabomber. However, that is the sole limit of the books's worth. The remainder of the book is a staging ground for Douglas' brand of psycholinguistics, the analysis of a person's patterns of expression and thought in order to provide a psychological profile of the person. Instead of accomplishing that, though, in any meaningful way, Douglas perpetrates a sort of freehand poetic literary criticism on the so-called Manifesto. He completely fails to gain any insight into Unabomber's own statement of policy in "Industrial Society and Its Future". On page fifty-three, Douglas boils down his view by claiming simply that the Unabomber's fixation on wood and nature "...probably served as his rationale for setting the bombs off, his substitute for whatever deeper psychological problems had actually caused him to commit the crimes. A lot of violent terrorist activity is the result of political beliefs, but at the same time, I've never seen a violent terrorist yet who I didn't feel had deep psychological problems and a serious character disorder." Oh, yeh. Lest we forget, Douglas goes on: Unabomber "diabolical" too.

Douglas essentially claims that the Unabomber's activity is irrational and eludes sensible thought. That is Douglas' most egregious fundamental flaw. If he's serious in that claim, then he is less insightful than he himself seems to think he is. On the other hand, Douglas' apparent perspicasity in his craft leads me to think that he has another goal in mind: distributing disinformation to the segment of the citizenry who haven't yet bothered to read, consider, and ponder Unabomber's veritable position. That can be accomplished only by directly encountering "Industrial Society and Its Future", not the perverted and oblique interpretation of it which Douglas works so stridently to champion under a charade of sophisticated psychoanalysis.

Basically, and to his credit, Unabomber provides an analysis of the sociology of technology. His central point is that being human and organization-dependent technology are inherently antagonistic and mutually exclusive entities. This basic tension provides the battleground for a choice: remaining human or allowing everyone to be psychologically, physiologically, and anatomically re-engineered in increments to fit the needs of the aloof and impersonal organizations that determine the course of industrial society; instead of allowing humans to put an upward limit on the intrusion into the psychological sphere that is demanded by the ever-increasing velocity and volume of conveniences that ultimately, and ever more quickly, become indispensable for the functioning of society and any given individual's participation therein. (E.g., ATM, FAX, refridgeration, pharmaceuticals, genetic recombination, etc.)

A careful reading of Unabomber's own words is very much worthwhile. He's talking about us, you and me, not some creature on another world.

And let us not forget what Douglas carelessly sweeps under the rug: Theodore Kaczysnki was arrested in the course of the execution of a speciously expedited search warrant that originated by his brother, David, ratting him out. The government's role in the story should be considered under the optic of a triple treachery: the government policing agencies, fraternal back-stabbing, and Douglas' attempt to obfuscate the truth about Unabomber's quite rational motivations as articulated in "Industrial Society and Its Future". Read Unabomber before you read anything about him.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unabomber, August 27, 2010

By 

Paula DeFrees (Cedar Park, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer (Paperback)

great book...scares the bejeebers out of you to think that a human being with such a brilliant mind could live like this and think up misery to invoke on others...

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars John Douglas's manifesto on criminal profiling, November 18, 2005

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer (Paperback)

I felt like I was reading the notes for a book about the Unabomber, not a real book with a beginning, middle, and end. Usually true crime books make a sequential pass through the crimes (in this case 16 bombings) and end with the arrest, and sometimes the trial of the perp. Not so "Unabomber" where the author seems more interested in proving that his profile of the bomber was correct, rather than describing the hunt for the criminal. The 16 bombings are described in Appendix 1, "An Overview and Chronological Summary," rather than in the text of the book.

A manifesto on criminal profiling certainly wasn't what I expected from "Unabomber," but that's what I got.

Potential purchasers should also note that the book itself is only 150 pages long. Appendices and an advertisement for "Mindhunters" by John Douglas take up the latter 150 pages.

The book proper is padded out with stories that have little to do with the 'alleged' Unabomber, ('alleged' because "Unabomber" was published before Theodore Kaczynski was tried and convicted). These stories are interesting, especially the case of George Metesky, the 'Mad Bomber' of the '40s and '50s, who had a grudge against New York City's Consolidated Edison (Con Ed).

(George Metesky is the only bomber I've felt the faintest amount of sympathy for, maybe because I spent so many years working at an electric utility!)

The author also spends quite a bit of print defending the legitimacy of profiling as a forensic 'art.' His team's profile of Theodore Kaczynski (disgruntled genius with ties to academia) was accurate, although the Unabomber task force neglected it in favor of another profile (blue collar aviation worker). Neither profile was essential to the capture of Kaczynski. His own relatives recognized his style of writing in the Unabomber manifesto that was published by the "New York Times" and "Washington Post," and they turned him in to the FBI.

If you'd like to read the unabomber's manifesto yourself, the full text is included in Appendix 3. It's 96 pages long and very dull.