All-American Monster: The Unauthorized Biography of Timothy McVeigh
Author: Brandon M Stickney
At 9:02 A.M. on April 19, 1995, the serenity of America's heartland was destroyed when a massive explosion leveled one side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, and the reality of terrorism shocked the nation. Damage from the blast covered many city blocks; 168 men, women, and children were killed; and an estimated 500 were injured. On April 21, Timothy McVeigh was formally charged as a suspect in the bombing. More than a year after the bombings, as the wheels of justice grind slowly toward a trial, the nation, in its shock and horror, still asks: Who is Timothy McVeigh? Why would anyone commit such a horrible act? What turned a seemingly ordinary small-town boy - a decorated former soldier and war hero - into an alleged mass murderer and the most hated man in America? Journalist Brandon M. Stickney answers many of the compelling questions surrounding McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, and puts this critical information into the broader perspective of McVeigh's childhood, his educational and military service, and his efforts to find meaning and purpose in life. In this thoroughly researched and sensitively written biography, the author, a reporter and native of the western New York area where McVeigh was born and raised, draws on his own personal experience, available documents, and numerous interviews with McVeigh's family, friends, and associates to offer intimate details of McVeigh's life - factors that contributed to his startling transformation from all-American boy to "All-American Monster."
Journal of Psychohistory
The raging part of McVeigh often made him seem like two people, similar to people who have multiple personality disorders...
Publishers Weekly
A reporter for the Lockport, N.Y., Union-Sun and Journal, Stickney is well suited to write a biography of accused Oklahoma City bombing suspect and Lockport native McVeigh, since he is a lifelong resident of the area. He utilizes that advantage in this admirable search for the influences that shaped the personality of his subject. Stickney reveals a young man of average abilities and no particular distinction except for a fascination with guns and comic books, distraught by the divorce of his parents and the exposure of widespread corruption among government officials in his home county. McVeigh served in the Army and participated in Desert Storm but failed to stay the course in training for the Special Forces. After leaving the service, he was drawn into the orbit of the radical right. It is clear that Stickney considers McVeigh and his friend Terry Nichols guilty of the bombing, but he admirably retains his focus on the formative factors in his subject's development. Photos not seen by PW. (Sept.)
Booknews
Stickney, a reporter, answers many of the questions surrounding McVeigh and the Oklahoma bombing and puts this information into the broader perspective of McVeigh's childhood, education, and military service. Utilizing little-known information and an exclusive interview with McVeigh's younger sister, Stickney speculates about McVeigh's thoughts, feelings, and motivations in connection with the bombing. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Book review: Learning in Real Time or Exploiting Software
Your Father's Voice: Letters for Emmy about Life with Jerem...and without Him after 9/11
Author: Lyz Glick
On September 11, 2001, Jeremy Glick boarded United Flight 93 only because a fire at Newark Airport had prevented him from flying out the day before. That morning, he called his wife, Lyz, to tell her the plane had been hijacked and that he and a group of others were going to storm the cockpit, an effort that doomed Glick and his fellow passengers, yet doubtless saved lives on the ground and instantly became known worldwide as a heroic moment of resistance. But Lyz wanted the couple’s daughter, Emmy, only three months old when the plane crashed, to learn much more of her father’s story than just the ending.
Your Father’s Voice narrates Lyz’s struggle to come to grips with her husband’s death in a series of letters from Lyz to Emmy that give a wrenching but clear-eyed account of Lyz’s first years without Jeremy.
Through it all, Lyz pragmatically details the challenges of a single parent raising a daughter in the aftermath of horrific tragedy, and urges Emmy to listen for what Lyz can still hear when the wind is right: her father’s voice.
Publishers Weekly
This unflinching and emotionally powerful portrayal of Jeremy Glick's life and role as one of the passengers on United's flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pa., on 9/11, takes the form of a series of letters to the Glicks' daughter, who was three months old when Jeremy died. Out of her grief, Lyz has produced this beautiful book memorializing her husband, who became a media hero for his role in the probable attack on the hijackers. She relates their precious last words when he called from the plane and describes the ways Jeremy's unique background prepared him well for that day's terrible challenges. Jeremy was a huge and powerful man (a judo champion, too), and a tender, caring father who deeply loved his high school sweetheart and their tiny daughter. With this book, Lyz Glick gives their daughter (and readers) an honest look at the daily trials she continues to face: unwelcome media attention, repeated political tributes and group meetings with the coroner. Lyz's epistolary account will comfort others dealing with loss; by book's end, it's clear she's begun the daunting task of moving on, but never forgetting. Photos. (Sept.) Forecast: Glick's book is bound to receive media attention, as its publication date coincides with the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
No comments:
Post a Comment