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

As a survivor of 4/19, I have read every single book about it, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. I attended McVeigh's and Nichols's trials and witnessed McVeigh's execution. This book is an absolute read for the conspiracy theorists who believe the government was involved. It describes McVeigh's mindset, his very tumultuous relationship with his attorney (Stephen Jones), his absolute admission and how what he did has influenced The Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, KKK, etc.in their actions on January 6. It also shows Trump's relationship to these groups. Very well written and concise.

The analogy behind the reasoning in the mind of the Oklahoma City bomber with the Capitol rioters nearly thirty years later is quite frightening.

(Gonna do my best to keep this within the guidelines, but the topic makes it hard.) Alright, first, let me say, I am a total geek for political & “bad guy” communication. I literally have a degree in Communication Studies to match my passion of analyzing speech & its motivating power. And my dream job is to be a speech writer, work on a political communications team, or be an analyst at a federal 3-letter agency (FBI, CIA, DHS, DoD, DoS, etc.). So, this book really brought my inner nerd out because Jeffrey clearly laid out how Timothy McVeigh viewed the state of the country before taking matters into his own hands with his devastating action & how communication from right-wing figures like Rush Limbaugh, or publications like The Spotlight & The Turner Diaries, impacted his views on the state of the country. Although he's definitely a villain in the American story, McVeigh is one example of a much larger beast lurking in the shadows. (Well, not so much in the shadows anymore.) And I really don't want to get into a political debate, because this is not that. This is about communication & how it's been used to radicalize individuals to take action against their government. This is also not just an American problem. There have been similar right-wing/conservative movements in other nations across the world. One side has been using inflammatory language to stoke an increase in violence & they have only grown since McVeigh's time in the 90s. These homegrown threats must be called out as such & held accountable for their actions: not just the actions of the violent actors, but the actions of those who used language to fuel the spark of rebellion until it became a devastating inferno. Again, as a political, history & communication nerd, this book completely fascinated me. The argument that McVeigh could’ve been more dangerous if he’d found & connected to others who shared his viewpoints, immediately proves how dangerous the current right-wing extremist movement is. Today’s figures have social media, strong internet connection, etc. to strengthen their networks & plan events. McVeigh didn’t & he knew, at the time, his act was limited but he hoped to inspire others to rise up. In a way, he did… it just took a couple of decades. This book is firstly about McVeigh, a villain in the American story, but it’s clear his & the extremist views he held, remain a prominent part of society & it’s important to recognize it, name it, & work against it to smother the flame before vital institutions burn to the ground.

"Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism" is an in depth historical case study of the thinking of a "typical" extremist. It is based on conventional information resources (news, court records, etc.), plus all the information collected by McVeigh's formidable legal team (personal notes, communications, notes on interviews with numerous individuals, recordings, and much more). This latter material, which usually remains confidential, recently became accessible when it was donated to a University's holdings and made publicly available. The totality of the material available and an experienced author resulted in an excellent fact-based analysis of the extremist as well as the event. Even readers who have read widely on this topic should read this book. We see clearly how Timothy McVeigh came about (so to speak), and how a couple of individuals could conceive and execute a plan for so much carnage (worst terrorist attack ever till 9/11), and also how anti-government extremism was....... and continues to this day. This is a well written book. Authoritative. Very highly recommended.

Toobin is an excellent writer, has tackled HRC, the SCOTUS, Patty Hearst and OJ Simpson in the past and here he explains how Timothy McVeigh was furious at the outcome of the standoff in Waco in 1993 in which the FBI finally set fire to the compound and many people including small children died. McVeigh was seeking revenge for that event, and took some years to arrive at the solution which was to bomb a Federal Building in OK in which 168 innocent people including children died and hundreds were injured. These actions of his and others were the first indicators of what we saw on January 6, the same mentality, kill or harm anyone associated with the Federal government, and we also learn it is the US military which turn out people who become right wing fanatics.