Patrice H. (Flyer) reviewed on 10/12/2005 + 27 more book reviews

From Booklist
Before the Waco incident, the cause celebre for those who feel U.S. federal law enforcement agencies have become worse outlaws than their quarries was the case of Randy Weaver, a white separatist (not supremacist) living with his family on Ruby Ridge in remote northern Idaho. According to Bock, after a government stooge baited Weaver into an illegal gun sale, U.S. marshals and the FBI laid siege to his home and shot his 14-year-old son and his wife to death. A marshal died, too, but at trial, the jury acquitted Weaver and family friend David Harris of murder. Meanwhile, defense attorneys had exposed a swamp of arrogant government misconduct. Bock stands squarely with Weaver's defense, but his report is no intemperate partisan rant. It is a thoroughgoing account of the siege, the events that shaped Weaver and led to his running afoul of the government, the government's and major news media's characterizations of the affair, the trial, and the uncertain aftermath of an appalling case of law enforcement overkill. Better, it is unputdownably engrossing. Ray Olson

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