Tag Archives: 1990s

Stalling for Time

Posted on October 17, 2020 by smellincoffee

Stalling for Time: My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator242 pages© 2010 Gary Noesner Having read extensively about the Ruby Ridge and Waco debacles, I couldn’t help but be curious about the “other side’s” perspective: the state’s. How did the … Continue reading →

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Harvard and the Unabomber

Posted on July 23, 2020 by smellincoffee

Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist Original title: A Mind for Murder © 2003 Alston Chase 352 pages Ted Kaczynski was hunted fruitlessly by the FBI for eighteen years, until finally being done in by his … Continue reading →

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Waco: A Survivor’s Story

Posted on July 8, 2020 by smellincoffee

A Place Called Waco: A Survivor’s Story © 1999 David Thibodeau 381 pages On April 19th, 1993, the arrogance of power was made obvious when scores of people were killed in a outstandingly incompetent, if not deliberately malicious, attempt to … Continue reading →

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American Terrorist

Posted on June 19, 2020 by smellincoffee

American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing ©  2001, 2015 Lou Michel & Dan Herberck 426 pages   During a recreation period one day, a prisoner in an adjoining cage poured his heart out to McVeigh, telling him … Continue reading →

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Ruby Ridge

Posted on June 17, 2020 by smellincoffee

Every Knee Shall Bow / Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family © 1995, 2002  Jess Walter 416 pages “[….] people ought not to be murdered by their own government.” The inherent brutality of the police … Continue reading →

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How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry

Posted on June 1, 2018 by smellincoffee

Gates: How Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry-and Made Himself the Richest Man in America © 1994 Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews 560 pages   I recently watched Pirates of Silicon Valley, a questionably-acted movie based on the rise of  Bill … Continue reading →

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Columbine

Posted on November 29, 2016 by smellincoffee

Columbine© 2009 Dave Cullen417 pages Columbine. I remember it, of course.  I was in eighth grade when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold turned their high school into a bloody spectacle. That day on April 20th, 1999, is always referred to … Continue reading →

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Dreamland

Posted on August 19, 2016 by smellincoffee

Dreamland: Travels Inside the Secret World of Roswell and Area 51© 1998 Phil Patton336 pages “What would happen if the U.S. government opened its doors to us and let us see all that was going on? Depending on what is … Continue reading →

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The Ashes of Waco

Posted on June 12, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation© 1995 Dick Reavis320 pages What happened at Waco?  Dick Reavis had an itch to find out, and since no one else at his alternative newspaper was curious, he volunteered as man on the ground … Continue reading →

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Why Waco?

Posted on June 5, 2015 by smellincoffee

Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America © 1997 James Tabor 254 pages, including text of David Koresh’s manifesto on the “Seven Seals”     In February 1995, Federal forces arrived outside a large home owned … Continue reading →

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