Domestic Politics

Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism

Filed Under: Books Read

Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism

by Jeffery Toobin
Published by Simon & Schuster Audio on May 2, 2023
Format: audiobook
Genres: Nonfiction, 20th Century U.S. History, Politics & Social Sciences, Domestic Politics, Nationalism, True Crime


Synopsis

Timothy McVeigh wanted to start a movement.

Speaking to his lawyers days after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Gulf War veteran expressed no regrets: killing 168 people was his patriotic duty. He cited the Declaration of Independence from memory: “Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” He had obsessively followed the siege of Waco and seethed at the imposition of President Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban. A self-proclaimed white separatist, he abhorred immigration and wanted women to return to traditional roles. As he watched the industrial decline of his native Buffalo, McVeigh longed for when America was great.

New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin traces the dramatic history and profound legacy of Timothy McVeigh, who once declared, “I believe there is an army out there, ready to rise up, even though I never found it.” But that doesn’t mean his army wasn’t there. With news-breaking reportage, Toobin details how McVeigh’s principles and tactics have flourished in the decades since his death in 2001, reaching an apotheosis on January 6 when hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol. Based on nearly a million previously unreleased tapes, photographs, and documents, including detailed communications between McVeigh and his lawyers, as well as interviews with such key figures as Bill Clinton, Homegrown reveals how the story of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing is not only a powerful retelling of one of the great outrages of our time, but a warning for our future.

Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics

Filed Under: Books Read

Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics

Of Bears and Ballots: An Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics by Heather Lende
Published by Algonquin Books on June 30, 2020
Pages: 288
Format: ebook
Genres: Domestic Politics, Nonfiction, Politics & Social Sciences
See it @ Goodreads


Synopsis

In the same year that Donald Trump was elected president, Heather Lende was one of the thousands of women inspired to take a more active role in politics. Some of them, like Lende, had never run for office before but now felt called to serve. Lende’s entire campaign for assemblywoman in Haines, Alaska (pop. 2500) cost less than 1000 dollars. The competition was actually stiff—there were nine candidates for three open seats—but Heather prevailed.
This is the true story one woman’s term on the Haines Borough Assembly. Everyone knows everyone in Haines and as the longtime obituary writer for the local newspaper Heather is deeply ensconced in her community. Still, it is a year of downs (Lende was a target of a vicious whisper campaign and recall) and ups (she found her voice and survived the recall). We follow her as she keeps true to her principles and votes against hiring her daughter’s good friend as the town manager, and takes a stance that alienates her husband’s customers at the hardware store they own. And we are there, too, when she learns to compromise to get things done. Some votes—like funding a new outhouse without state management and allocating money on bear proof trash cans—seem pure Alaska; other issues, like the seizure of 100,000 marijuana plants, tie into national issues such as the legalization of marijuana. Whatever the agenda item, the background is the natural beauty and isolation of Alaska, the quirky and amusing cast of Haines characters, including Lende’s large and loving family, and her keen appreciation of what all of us owe one another in this gorgeous crazy world. Of Bears and Ballots is illuminating, relevant, and highly entertaining.

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands

Filed Under: Books Read

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America’s Wildlands

The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands by Jon Billman
Published by Grand Central Publishing on July 7, 2020
Pages: 368
Format: ebook
Genres: Domestic Politics, Environment, Nature, True Crime
See it @ Goodreads


Synopsis

For readers of Jon Krakauer and Douglas Preston, the critically acclaimed author and journalist Jon Billman's fascinating, in-depth look at people who vanish in the wilderness without a trace and those eccentric, determined characters who try to find them.
These are the stories that defy conventional logic. The proverbial vanished without a trace incidences, which happen a lot more (and a lot closer to your backyard) than almost anyone thinks. These are the missing whose situations are the hardest on loved ones left behind. The cases that are an embarrassment for park superintendents, rangers and law enforcement charged with Search & Rescue. The ones that baffle the volunteers who comb the mountains, woods and badlands. The stories that should give you pause every time you venture outdoors.
Through Jacob Gray's disappearance in Olympic National Park, and his father Randy Gray who left his life to search for him, we will learn about what happens when someone goes missing. Braided around the core will be the stories of the characters who fill the vacuum created by a vanished human being. We'll meet eccentric bloodhound-handler Duff and R.C., his flagship purebred, who began trailing with the family dog after his brother vanished in the San Gabriel Mountains. And there's Michael Neiger North America's foremost backcountry Search & Rescue expert and self-described "bushman" obsessed with missing persons. And top researcher of persons missing on public wildlands Ex-San Jose, California detective David Paulides who is also one of the world's foremost Bigfoot researchers.
It's a tricky thing to write about missing persons because the story is the absence of someone. A void. The person at the heart of the story is thinner than a smoke ring, invisible as someone else's memory. The bones you dig up are most often metaphorical. While much of the book will embrace memory and faulty memory--history--The Cold Vanish is at its core a story of now and tomorrow. Someone will vanish in the wild tomorrow. These are the people who will go looking.