American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Dan Herbeck (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"American Terrorist is the closest we'll get to the official testimony of Timothy McVeigh." -- The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"American Terrorist unfolds as the warped reflection of teh American Dream." -- Fort Worth Star Telegram

"An important contribution to history." -- New York Daily News

"Compelling. It gets inside the mind of a monster..." -- The Daily Oklahoman

"In calm, unadorned prose, the authors methodically reconstruct...McVeigh's swift journey into ...hell." -- The Buffalo News

"Probably the best recounting of the biggest true crime story in modern times, told by two crack investigative reporters." -- Minneapolis Star Tribune

"The book is history. Michel and Herbeck have done us all a service." -- New York Newsday

"The chill lasts long after you put the book down." -- Denver Rocky Mountain News

"This impeccably reported book...represents good journalism." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Review

"The book is history. Michel and Herbeck have done us all a service." (New York Newsday )

"Probably the best recounting of the biggest true crime story in modern times, told by two crack investigative reporters." (Minneapolis Star Tribune )

"American Terrorist is the closest we'll get to the official testimony of Timothy McVeigh." (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette )

"The chill lasts long after you put the book down." (Denver Rocky Mountain News )

"An important contribution to history." (New York Daily News )

"In calm, unadorned prose, the authors methodically reconstruct...McVeigh's swift journey into ...hell." (The Buffalo News )

"Compelling. It gets inside the mind of a monster..." (The Daily Oklahoman )

"American Terrorist unfolds as the warped reflection of teh American Dream." (Fort Worth Star Telegram )

"This impeccably reported book...represents good journalism." (Cleveland Plain Dealer )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Harper; First Edition edition (April 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060394072
• ISBN-13: 978-0060394073
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,256 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tim McVeigh: Ideologue or Psychopath?, May 15, 2001

By A Customer

This book, an unbiased review of Tim McVeigh's life, is outstanding!!! But, if you need to come away from this book with the view of Tim McVeigh as a highly disturbed, demonic psychopath, don't buy it! You won't find closue or peace in the pages of AMERICAN TERRORIST. Ever since the bombing, Americans have been looking for the monster in Tim McVeigh. Was his lonely childhood the root of his evil? The divorce of his parents? His inability to form relationships with women? Or his failure to make the Green Berets in his beloved Army? No! In this book McVeigh explains why he detonated his truck bomb killing 168 people. Simply enough, he hated the government, wanted revenge for the botched FBI and ATF raids on Ruby Ridge and WACO, and wanted to 'wake Americans up.' Americans celebrate our Founding Fathers who, like McVeigh, where revolutionary ideologues. Just because McVeigh's ideology conflicts with that of most Americans, doesn't make him a psychopath. To the contrary, he comes across as a chillingly likeable guy. So, if your looking for your own peace or for some inner turmoil in McVeigh that might possibly explain the Oklahoma City bombing, you might want to keep looking.

41 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be prepared to get emotionally upset., May 22, 2001

By	Felix Matathias (Manhattan, NY, USA) - See all my reviews

I have been living in the US for the past 5 years. It is in the nature of someone that comes from abroad to scholasticaly observe the new society that he lives in, compare the new culture with the culture of the homeland, and in general try to understand the laws of the new society that are formed by the people and the government.

This book taught me how superficial my understanding of the American culture was. This book is not only about McVeigh. This book is primarily about the gun culture in the United States and the antigovernment groups, their beliefs and their living habitat. I had never imagined that there are so many people in this land that share such antigovernement feelings. For the first time I understood what really gun owenership is all about. These are not simple matters. These matters run deep through the very formation of this society.

For most of the people McVeigh is a monster. This book does NOT follow this path. The authors try to follow mcVeigh from the time he was in the Army through his discharge, his frustration, his Gulf War experiences, the unemployment he faced afterwards, his reaction to the Waco incident, his involvement in the gun shows, his friendships. They authors try to understand how MvVeigh reached to the point of the bombing, step by step, trying to give a psycological explanation of what happened into the mind of this hero of the Gulf War. They do not justify what he did but they do not demonize him either. The authors themselves try to understand.

Anyone who thinks that MvVeigh is just a sick person or he does not have any logic or that he is just a monster must understand that this is only part of the story. America must understand why McVeigh was lead to the point of bombing a building full of innocent people. McVeigh was not always like that. America must understand what happened to him, what caused all the trouble. This is the only way that America can defend itself from this happening again. All the metal detectors in the world will not help a bit

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brutally Honest and a Lack of Remorse, April 4, 2001

By A Customer

Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck's, American Terrorist, is not only the most illuminating book on the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Murrah building, but stands as one of the few books about a terrorist incident where the perpetrator expounds point by point on his crime. The authors were able to spend over 78 hours interviewing McVeigh, and countless days with over 150 others regarding the bombing. McVeigh's confession is brutal in honesty and lack of remorse. I could not put this book down. Not only is it well written, but the facts of the case spill freely. There will never be another book on the OKC bombing with this much detail, or McVeigh's own words. This is a book that all in the field of counter terrorism, as well as a public who have been patiently waiting for the truth, should read.