American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing

American Terrorist is a fair and unbaised account of Timothy McVeigh and the events surrounding the Oklahoma City bombing. The authors are reporters doing a reporting job--presenting the facts--and not editors doing an editor's job--presenting opinions. The reader learns what is probabaly as close to the truth as we will get on McVeigh's actions and feelings.
In this sense, the book "undemonizes" McVeigh and helps the reader to understand why he acted as he did, while at the same time making clear the horrific nature of his deed. It is a book which I think deserves a wide reading. Most people have written him off as an evil person and have failed to make any effort to understand the root causes of his action. In hating him and ultimately killing him, we have failed to take advantage of an opportunity to examine our government and the violence and arrogance it displays regularly.
For someone like me, who was living out of the country at the time of these events, the book also was an eyeopener. McVeigh's mild submission to the police officer who arrested him on relatively minor charges was especially interesting, as was his view that his defense attorneys (especially Jones) handled the case ineptly.
Further, I found myself asking why McVeigh turned violent. One scene in the book was particularly disturbing. When McVeigh was in boot camp, the drill instructor was constantly yelling at the recruits, "kill them all, kill them all. Let God sort out the results". This, of course, is what McVeigh ultimately did. This statement has become the mentality of modern warfare with its emphasis on killing civilians. McVeigh's phrase to describe children and non-Federal employees who were killed--"collateral damage--is precisely the phrase used by the American military in Vietnam to describe the killing of Vietnamese women and children in that war. Thus violence truly begets violence. By training McVeigh to kill we created the kind of individual who would engage in such an act.
In sum, it is a largely factual book, but one which leads to thoughtful considerations on the part of the reader.

The bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is one of the most horrifying acts in American history. It is hard to comprehend how anyone could willingly create such an ocean of destruction and grief. Timothy McVeigh was responsible for the bombing, and the authors of "American Terrorist" have penetrated the veil of mystery that surrounded him. Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck spent many long hours interviewing McVeigh in prison. They carried out extensive research for their book that took place over several years. The picture that emerges from their writing is often very unsettling, because it strikes so very close to home. McVeigh was not a terrorist from a foreign land, but an American. He served his country with distinction during the Desert Storm campaign, and yet he could kill more than a hundred fellow Americans with a truck bomb. This book goes into McVeigh's past, and describes much of his life. It helps us to understand how he ended up in Oklahoma City on that fateful day in 1995. There is much about Timothy McVeigh that can never be understood, but the authors have done an admirable job of looking into his mind and heart. By looking into that heart, a door is opened into an abyss. There is the hope that something good can come from that looking; something learned that might help prevent such horror in the future. The suffering and pain of the victims is very often stressed within this book. At the end of "American Terrorist", there is a section that lists the names and ages of those that were murdered in Oklahoma City. That moving list of very real people shows the actual legacy that Timothy McVeigh left for the world: a legacy of death and sorrow. Timothy McVeigh's story is a journey into the true heart of darkness.

Was "American Terrorist" the best work of non-fiction I've ever read? Hardly! Was it a page turner? I didn't think so...as a matter of fact I read the second half first and the first half second, skimming many pages that I found redundant. I think the authors did an excellent job journalistically. But this book is no "All the President's Men". It gives the readers the facts in a straightforward yet bland manner. It made me angry, sad, confused and frustrated because to commit such a crime is something that I can't comprehend.
I read this book before the FBI screw-up and it was interesting to go back a re-read certain parts after the "missing documents" were found. "American Terrorist" is not for everyone, however I don't feel that the book in any way gives positive publicity to McVeigh, nor do I think the authors wrote it to make a buck.
Timothy McVeigh was executed this morning. He is now a historical figure. This book will also serve as a historical reference. Let's all go on with our lives and pray that nothing like this ever happens again.

I had my doubts about buying this book. I work in Germany for the military and our military bookstore refused to carry it so I decided I would order it. I found what Timohty McVeigh did so wrong I cannot put it in words but I wanted to have a little insight to why he did it. I felt this book did that. I believe the authors told the story as best as it could be told and from alot of perspectives not just Mr. McVeigh's. The book was well organized and well presented and also paid respect to the victim's and their families also making me feel their pain and loss. Had Timothy McVeigh received one cent from this book I would have not bought it but he did not so I am glad that I had bought it. Please be warned that when people see you reading this they will believe you support what McVeigh did or his cause. I had to explain to several of my co-workers that I did not and that is is a part of history and I wanted to understand what happened as much as I could. What could make someone want to do this without regard to life? You will have a better insight after you read this and understand how wrong it was for it to happen..

I think "American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & the Oklahoma City Bombing" by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck is an important book for Americans to read. It is very unbiased and straight-forward, and it helps explain just what happened to lead to the greatest domestic terrorism incident in our history. I think it will help the nation heal. As others have stated, it won't leave you with a feeling that McVeigh was a psychopath. That's the most disturbing part of the the entire book. He wasn't.

The book follows McVeigh's life all the way from his birth and innocuous childhood, through his military career, and to the fateful day when he placed a truck bomb outside the Oklahoma City Federal Building and murdered hundreds of people. It's an interesting journey. Following a regular guy who went way off the tracks and did such a horrible thing from beginning to finish is...sobering. I found the information about how he planned the bomb with Nichols the most interesting. It's hard to believe a regular guy could sit in his friend's house and plan it that way, but it makes sense.

I've recommended this book to friends, and they often recoil. "I don't want to read about that freak." I think people should read about that "freak" because there's no other way to begin the healing. Knowing what happened is the first step.

This book was constructed through interviews with McVeigh on death row and interviews with many other people involved who knew McVeigh. It's probably as close as we'll ever get to understanding what caused him to do what he did. It is well written. Although it will make you cringe and recoil at points because of the drastic nature of the events, I think it's an important book.

Sometimes when you read a historical account of an event, you run across an item within that shakes the whole foundation of the work. As I was reading this book, I began to wonder if McVeigh, during interviews with the authors, hadn't put the "rubber peach" on them more than once and that they accepted what he told them with little question or further research. One particular stands out. McVeigh related a story of how he went to Area 51 and stared down the security force, took pictures and defied anyone to do anything to him. The problem is that the "Area 51" McVeigh visited was near Roswell New Mexico and the real one is near Groom Lake, Nevada. In fact, there isn't ANYTHING near Roswell where such an event could have transpired.

Amazing book! I could not put it down. I felt sorry and sad for the innocent victims. I felt compassion for a boy who did not have a stable home and was unable to bond to anyone. I felt sad because we lost a perfectly capable young man and soldier. He had been deeply lonely and in need of professional help, which led to his irrational anger. I was ashamed of living in a society where the best remedy we had was to strap him to a gurney and kill him.
Absolutely outstanding account!

"American Terrorist" succeeds in transcending the media circus surrounding Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bombing and the highly-publicized criminal proceedings following his arrest. Authors Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck succeed in giving depth to McVeigh as a person, digging deep into McVeigh's childhood, his distinguished stint as a soldier in the U.S. Army, and his eventual disenchantment with what he saw as unchecked tyranny in American politics. By the end of the novel, you may even find yourself sympathizing with (or, at the very least, developing a more comprehensive understanding of) McVeigh as a man and the actions he took: the Oklahoma City bombing was a legitimate political statement made by an individual disgusted with a government whose own questionable policies and actions (specifically at Ruby Ridge, ID and Waco, TX - look it up) warranted a swift and devastating response. The fact that Michel and Herbeck manage to compose a novel that straddles both sides of the fence as successfully as this one is a testament to their skill as journalists.

It is also worth nothing that American Terrorist was written with considerable input from Timothy McVeigh, so if you are looking for a memoir/manifesto from the man himself this is as close as you will ever get.

Bottom line: Nothing should stop you - read this book.

One of my students discussed this book in a paper and stated that he had really liked it, so I decided to read it as well. Although I knew some about the OKC bombing, I didn't really know much.

The book is written by two journalists who interviewed McVeigh, people who knew McVeigh, and people who were affected by what he did. The number of first-person accounts are staggering, and the information the authors gleaned from their interviews creates a very interesting picture of McVeigh, his life, the bombing, and his time in jail. As you read the book you don't get the feeling that the authors are attempting to sway your opinion of McVeigh - it's very even-handed and factual. Because of this I felt that the book was far longer than it needed to be. There were many sections that could have conveyed the point without the length.

I highly enjoyed reading this book and definitely suggest it to anyone interested in McVeigh's life. For any number of reasons, the book ends before he is executed, which I disliked. I would have liked to have heard about how people felt about the execution after it had taken place. Interviews on that topic may have brought up feelings that the authors may not have wanted to deal with though, which is completely understandable.

If you want a book about Timothy McVeigh this is the one to buy.

I like this one as it gives facts all about his life and the bombing and it lacks very few of the authors opinions! When I read about someone I like to read just the facts! I don't like someone trying to sway me in one direction with their opinions. The book, "American Monster" would evidently be nothing but opionins!