Apocalypse In Oklahoma: Waco and Ruby Ridge Revenged (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The 1995 destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is the most serious domestic terrorist attack in American history. Through media accounts and court papers, Hamm (American Skinheads: The Criminology and Control of Hate Crime, Greenwood, 1995) documents events leading to the attack and points to Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols as the guilty parties. He sees the bombings as retaliation for the federal government's actions against Randy and Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. Hamm provides detailed biographies of McVeigh and Nichols and the influence of family, drugs, the military, and the gun culture on their actions. However, he differs from Kenneth Stern's A Force on the Plain (LJ 1/96) in seeing the two as operating outside the American militias and other far-right movements. This book is more scholarly than Brandon M. Stickney's "All-American Monster": The Unauthorized Biography of Timothy McVeigh (Prometheus, 1996) and is a valuable addition to a small but growing body of scholarly work on modern right-wing movements. Highly recommended to all libraries.?Stephen L. Hupp, Univ. of Pittsburgh-Johnstown Owen Lib.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

An academic's speculative take on the April 19, 1995, blast that leveled the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people (including 19 children) and injuring over 500 more. Drawing largely on contemporary news accounts of the tragedy and its aftermath, Hamm (Criminology/Indiana State Univ.) offers a plausible if not original explanation of what triggered the terrorist act. Noting that the FBI's use of deadly force to end standoffs at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., and Randy Weaver's backwoods cabin atop Idaho's Ruby Ridge outraged right-wing radicals, he goes on to review the outr‚ beliefs espoused by extremists of this ilk (militias, skinheads, survivalists, Identity Christians, et al.). Turning next to the defendants in the Oklahoma case, the author profiles Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in considerable detail. A decorated veteran of the Desert Storm campaign, McVeigh met Nichols while both were serving in the army. A disaffected loner who embraced the hate-filled antigovernment canons of the ultra-right, McVeigh apparently dominated his comrade-in-arms. By Hamm's account, Ruby Ridge and Waco gave the ex-soldier (made periodically delusional by an addiction to crystal methamphetamine) the push needed to target and destroy the Murrah Building with a homemade truck bomb. While the author skillfully marshals a wealth of circumstantial evidence suggesting the accused's guilt, he never quite manages to connect the solitary McVeigh (other than philosophically) with organized groups of potentially violent dissidents. Also troublesome is the verve and frequency with which the author potshots the FBI and even moderately conservative Republicans (whom he persists in lumping with die-hard reactionaries). Serviceable as a reconstruction of a national disaster, but it fails to substantiate the conspiracy theories that inform it. (illustrations, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern (March 20, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555533000
• ISBN-13: 978-1555533007
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #390,403 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Discovery, December 10, 2000

By	JD Cash "[e-mail]" (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

I must admit that I was late to discover this book. What a pleasant surprise. Dr. Hamm presents important and insightful facts into the terrible crime that far too many researchers overlooked. History will treat this book well. It is a must read for any person who wants to understand the motivations behind McVeigh and his "brotherhood." JD Cash

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Solid overview of Oklahoma City bombing, August 25, 2003

By	James G. Greenhill "Jim Greenhill" (Durango, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Despite the overwrought title, "Apocalypse in Oklahoma" is a sober look at the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and at Timothy McVeigh. The book is superior to "American Terrorist" (Lou Michel & Dan Herbeck) in that it portrays McVeigh even-handedly where "Terrorist" gets too close to McVeigh & is at times overly sympathetic towards him. "Apocalypse" is refreshing in resisting the temptation to get drawn into silly conspiracy theories. The book's greatest weakness is an unnecessarily negative, broad-brushed, ill-informed portrayal of the U.S. Army & soldiers. It is clear that Hamm lacks knowledge about the Army. As a soldier, I found his portrayal inaccurate, verging on offensive. If the characterization of the Army had been more accurate, I would have given the book more stars. Otherwise, the book is a solid broad description of the bombing & the events & personalities surrounding it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Apocalypse In Oklahoma, April 18, 2001

By	Shawn Eyre (Rochester MN USA) - See all my reviews

This book was poorly researched, and is lacking in factual content. The Ruby Ridge incident was described with many errors, and the fact that this book was written 5 years after the incident occurred, when many of the actual facts were known, and proven in court, the author should have had the facts on this issue straight. If you are thoroughly knowledgeable about what happened at Ruby Ridge, you can begin to realize that this book is biased, and full of untruths. From the point of the Ruby Ridge description on, I did not take the book as factual or objectively written.