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Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed—and Why It Still Matters
In the early morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh drove into downtown Oklahoma City in a rented Ryder truck containing a deadly fertilizer bomb that he and his army buddy Terry Nichols had made the previous day. He parked in a handicapped-parking zone, hopped out of the truck, and walked away into a series of alleys and streets. Shortly after 9:00 A.M., the bomb obliterated one-third of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people, including 19 infants and toddlers. McVeigh claimed he'd worked only with Nichols, and at least officially, the government believed him. But McVeigh's was just one version of events. And much of it was wrong.
In Oklahoma City, veteran investigative journalists Andrew Gumbel and Roger G. Charles puncture the myth about what happened on that day—one that has persisted in the minds of the American public for nearly two decades. Working with unprecedented access to government documents, a voluminous correspondence with Terry Nichols, and more than 150 interviews with those immediately involved, Gumbel and Charles demonstrate how much was missed beyond the guilt of the two principal in particular, the dysfunction within the country's law enforcement agencies, which squandered opportunities to penetrate the radical right and prevent the bombing, and the unanswered question of who inspired the plot and who else might have been involved.
To this day, the FBI heralds the Oklahoma City investigation as one of its great triumphs. In reality, though, its handling of the bombing foreshadowed many of the problems that made the country vulnerable to attack again on 9/11. Law enforcement agencies could not see past their own rivalries and underestimated the seriousness of the deadly rhetoric coming from the radical far right. In Oklahoma City, Gumbel and Charles give the fullest, most honest account to date of both the plot and the investigation, drawing a vivid portrait of the unfailingly compelling—driven, eccentric, fractious, funny, and wildly paranoid—characters involved.
In Oklahoma City, veteran investigative journalists Andrew Gumbel and Roger G. Charles puncture the myth about what happened on that day—one that has persisted in the minds of the American public for nearly two decades. Working with unprecedented access to government documents, a voluminous correspondence with Terry Nichols, and more than 150 interviews with those immediately involved, Gumbel and Charles demonstrate how much was missed beyond the guilt of the two principal in particular, the dysfunction within the country's law enforcement agencies, which squandered opportunities to penetrate the radical right and prevent the bombing, and the unanswered question of who inspired the plot and who else might have been involved.
To this day, the FBI heralds the Oklahoma City investigation as one of its great triumphs. In reality, though, its handling of the bombing foreshadowed many of the problems that made the country vulnerable to attack again on 9/11. Law enforcement agencies could not see past their own rivalries and underestimated the seriousness of the deadly rhetoric coming from the radical far right. In Oklahoma City, Gumbel and Charles give the fullest, most honest account to date of both the plot and the investigation, drawing a vivid portrait of the unfailingly compelling—driven, eccentric, fractious, funny, and wildly paranoid—characters involved.
450 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
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About the author
Andrew Gumbel
24 books19 followersJournalist who has worked as foreign correspondent for The Guardian, Independent, The Los Angeles Times and The Atlantic.
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April 26, 2016
The Boston Marathon has been around for 116 years. It began in 1897, when William McKinley was President and people were rushing to the Klondike – for gold, not chocolate-coated peppermint bars. It’s one of the most famous sporting events in the world. And now, until the end of our lives at least, it will be inextricably linked to the bombings two weeks ago. Someone will speak of the marathon, and in the next breath, whisper softly of the tragedy. That’s the way of tragedies. I’m sure you no longer think of a blue, inverted-five-petal flower when you hear the word Columbine.
It’s fitting, then, that Andrew Gumbel’s and Charles Rogers’s book on the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is titled simply: Oklahoma City. Because honestly, when I hear the words Oklahoma City, I associate them with a scooped-out building, excavated by an explosive-laden Ryder truck driven by an anti-government zealot.
(The city, of course, is much more than that one event. I give a lot of credit to the Oklahoma City Thunder for creating a more positive word-association. Interestingly, the Thunder organization takes new team members on a tour of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which speaks volumes of the bombing’s impact).
I’m not exactly sure what spurred me to pick up this book over a month before another bloody American April. But it had something to do with the notion that I’d been alive during a terrible event and barely batted an eye (the bombing took place a week before my fifteenth birthday). Wanting to learn things I should have remembered, I picked up this book.
It wasn’t a great choice. And I’ll be honest, it’s not entirely the book’s fault. I was looking for one thing, this book delivers another. I guess that’s the important takeaway: this is a conspiracy theory book.
I suppose that’s imprecise.
Technically, the Oklahoma City Bombing, carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, is already a conspiracy. But Gumbel & Rogers think the conspiracy extended beyond those two, its tendrils snaking deep into the militia movement. Moreover, they allege that the U.S. Government, through its law enforcement agencies, cut short their investigations – perhaps to hide their failures in not preventing the attacks; perhaps to give the American public the impression that they had things in hand.
The two authors acknowledge their task – to challenge a strongly established historical narrative – is a bit “presumptuous” (to use their own words). It is also not quite convincing.
To be sure, Gumble & Rogers are not crackpots. Leafing through the source notes, you see that they reviewed official reports, documents, and transcripts, and did their own interviews. They do not seem to rely on sketchy websites devoted to alien-facilitated anal-probes.
Still, the path of the “hidden history” is fraught with peril. And that peril begins right away, on the first page, as the authors open with a vignette featuring two Air Force bomb disposal experts ordered to Oklahoma City shortly before the bombing. The two servicemen are told little of their mission, stay in a “nondescript” hotel, and leave after the bombing. Theimplication straight-up allegation here is that these two men had been ordered to OKC to stop the bombing.
This allegation is never tracked down, never given substance, but rather left dangling, a handhold for anyone (ironically enough, given the subject) who mistrusts the government.
The difficulty for the reader going forward – especially one coming to the subject for the first time – is that the authors intertwine their speculation, their inferences, their meaningful coincidences, right into the fabric of the official story (uncovered not just by law enforcement, but through the process of trial-by-jury and the defendants’ own admissions). This leaves you wondering where the line between fact and supposition exists. The blurring of that line left me uncomfortable throughout.
This melding of accepted story and proposed story is especially disconcerting when it comes to the description of the bombing itself. Instead of Timothy McVeigh driving alone into OKC in his Ryder truck, Gumbel & Rogers give him an accomplice. This theory rests on the slender reed of highly suspect eyewitnesses.
The explosion of McVeigh’s bomb – and its aftermath – are disappointingly described. In a book ostensibly dedicated to the victims, those victims – along with heroic first responders – take a narrative backseat. The authors’ portrayal of the manmade hell at 200 NW 5th Street is curiously cool and distant. Instead of giving us some idea of the men, women and children who worked in the building, who lived and died there, the authors instead focus on odd bits of minutiae, such as the fact that the ATF illegally stored weapons in the building.
(This is the kind of unfocused mudslinging that drives me nuts. Who cares if the ATF didn't follow best practices vis-à-vis utilizing a proper armory? Their misdemeanors did not contribute, cause or worsen the actual terrorist attack. Yet the mere mention of this contributes to a general murkiness regarding government agencies that McVeigh himself would have appreciated).
Oklahoma City is stronger during its recounting of the trials of McVeigh and Nichols, if for no other reason than the authors are forced to stick with one story. It was interesting to read about the contrast in defenses. McVeigh’s attorney, Stephen Jones, was stunningly ineffective, while Nichols’s attorney, Michael Tigar, managed to save his life.
Amidst all the hearsay and theorizing about John Does and the Aryan Nation, a portrait eventually emerges of the two bombers. McVeigh comes across as a crew-cut Mr. Ripley, a human barnacle who leeched off his friends and slept with their wives. A man who’d risked his life in the Gulf, come back home, and turned his back on his country; a man who didn't blink at blowing up a daycare. He is fascinating in the way that “evil” is always fascinating. Nichols is far more familiar. A shy, humble loser with a troublesome mail-order bride from the Philippines. The perfect toady for someone with a strong personality.
As I mentioned already, I was looking for the story of Oklahoma City. Instead, I wound up with a book proposing an alternate reality, one where further conspirators are still on the loose. Judged on those terms alone – rather than my expectations – I still don’t think Oklahoma City is a success.
Certainly, the authors have done a thorough job with their investigation. But they never can produce a smoking gun. Some hard bit of evidence that can’t be ignored. Instead, their evidence is circumstantial, and requires you to squint at times. They have doom-laden coincidences; they have suspicious connections between varied actors; they have proof of investigative roads not taken; they have incredibly shaky eyewitness statements. I’m just not sure how much it all means.
I know this: I don’t discount what the authors have proposed and I don’t accept what they have proposed. I think, perhaps, the truth to be somewhere in between, with others having knowledge of the plot without being directly involved in carrying it out. In the end, I still believe McVeigh and Nichols were probably the two main actors, with McVeigh dragging Nichols behind.
It’s a question that won’t ever really be answered, because no one can ever accept a final explanation for something this inexplicable. The search for the truth is a search for justice, to be sure. It is also part of the healing.
It’s fitting, then, that Andrew Gumbel’s and Charles Rogers’s book on the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is titled simply: Oklahoma City. Because honestly, when I hear the words Oklahoma City, I associate them with a scooped-out building, excavated by an explosive-laden Ryder truck driven by an anti-government zealot.
(The city, of course, is much more than that one event. I give a lot of credit to the Oklahoma City Thunder for creating a more positive word-association. Interestingly, the Thunder organization takes new team members on a tour of the Oklahoma City National Memorial, which speaks volumes of the bombing’s impact).
I’m not exactly sure what spurred me to pick up this book over a month before another bloody American April. But it had something to do with the notion that I’d been alive during a terrible event and barely batted an eye (the bombing took place a week before my fifteenth birthday). Wanting to learn things I should have remembered, I picked up this book.
It wasn’t a great choice. And I’ll be honest, it’s not entirely the book’s fault. I was looking for one thing, this book delivers another. I guess that’s the important takeaway: this is a conspiracy theory book.
I suppose that’s imprecise.
Technically, the Oklahoma City Bombing, carried out by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, is already a conspiracy. But Gumbel & Rogers think the conspiracy extended beyond those two, its tendrils snaking deep into the militia movement. Moreover, they allege that the U.S. Government, through its law enforcement agencies, cut short their investigations – perhaps to hide their failures in not preventing the attacks; perhaps to give the American public the impression that they had things in hand.
The two authors acknowledge their task – to challenge a strongly established historical narrative – is a bit “presumptuous” (to use their own words). It is also not quite convincing.
To be sure, Gumble & Rogers are not crackpots. Leafing through the source notes, you see that they reviewed official reports, documents, and transcripts, and did their own interviews. They do not seem to rely on sketchy websites devoted to alien-facilitated anal-probes.
Still, the path of the “hidden history” is fraught with peril. And that peril begins right away, on the first page, as the authors open with a vignette featuring two Air Force bomb disposal experts ordered to Oklahoma City shortly before the bombing. The two servicemen are told little of their mission, stay in a “nondescript” hotel, and leave after the bombing. The
This allegation is never tracked down, never given substance, but rather left dangling, a handhold for anyone (ironically enough, given the subject) who mistrusts the government.
The difficulty for the reader going forward – especially one coming to the subject for the first time – is that the authors intertwine their speculation, their inferences, their meaningful coincidences, right into the fabric of the official story (uncovered not just by law enforcement, but through the process of trial-by-jury and the defendants’ own admissions). This leaves you wondering where the line between fact and supposition exists. The blurring of that line left me uncomfortable throughout.
This melding of accepted story and proposed story is especially disconcerting when it comes to the description of the bombing itself. Instead of Timothy McVeigh driving alone into OKC in his Ryder truck, Gumbel & Rogers give him an accomplice. This theory rests on the slender reed of highly suspect eyewitnesses.
The explosion of McVeigh’s bomb – and its aftermath – are disappointingly described. In a book ostensibly dedicated to the victims, those victims – along with heroic first responders – take a narrative backseat. The authors’ portrayal of the manmade hell at 200 NW 5th Street is curiously cool and distant. Instead of giving us some idea of the men, women and children who worked in the building, who lived and died there, the authors instead focus on odd bits of minutiae, such as the fact that the ATF illegally stored weapons in the building.
(This is the kind of unfocused mudslinging that drives me nuts. Who cares if the ATF didn't follow best practices vis-à-vis utilizing a proper armory? Their misdemeanors did not contribute, cause or worsen the actual terrorist attack. Yet the mere mention of this contributes to a general murkiness regarding government agencies that McVeigh himself would have appreciated).
Oklahoma City is stronger during its recounting of the trials of McVeigh and Nichols, if for no other reason than the authors are forced to stick with one story. It was interesting to read about the contrast in defenses. McVeigh’s attorney, Stephen Jones, was stunningly ineffective, while Nichols’s attorney, Michael Tigar, managed to save his life.
Amidst all the hearsay and theorizing about John Does and the Aryan Nation, a portrait eventually emerges of the two bombers. McVeigh comes across as a crew-cut Mr. Ripley, a human barnacle who leeched off his friends and slept with their wives. A man who’d risked his life in the Gulf, come back home, and turned his back on his country; a man who didn't blink at blowing up a daycare. He is fascinating in the way that “evil” is always fascinating. Nichols is far more familiar. A shy, humble loser with a troublesome mail-order bride from the Philippines. The perfect toady for someone with a strong personality.
As I mentioned already, I was looking for the story of Oklahoma City. Instead, I wound up with a book proposing an alternate reality, one where further conspirators are still on the loose. Judged on those terms alone – rather than my expectations – I still don’t think Oklahoma City is a success.
Certainly, the authors have done a thorough job with their investigation. But they never can produce a smoking gun. Some hard bit of evidence that can’t be ignored. Instead, their evidence is circumstantial, and requires you to squint at times. They have doom-laden coincidences; they have suspicious connections between varied actors; they have proof of investigative roads not taken; they have incredibly shaky eyewitness statements. I’m just not sure how much it all means.
I know this: I don’t discount what the authors have proposed and I don’t accept what they have proposed. I think, perhaps, the truth to be somewhere in between, with others having knowledge of the plot without being directly involved in carrying it out. In the end, I still believe McVeigh and Nichols were probably the two main actors, with McVeigh dragging Nichols behind.
It’s a question that won’t ever really be answered, because no one can ever accept a final explanation for something this inexplicable. The search for the truth is a search for justice, to be sure. It is also part of the healing.
June 9, 2012
This book is a muddled mess. A rubble pile of names, dates, and cross cut chronology, I could have made better sense of it if it included 1) a list of all the law enforcement, right wing radicals, and witnesses that were profiled and interviewed; and 2) a timeline of events as authors hypothesize them side by side with the timeline presented by McVeigh’s prosecutors. Of course, wrapping things up into a nice little linear narrative arc is what more mainstream nonfiction authors would do (or a prosecutor trying sell a case to a jury) but doing so censors exactly the information Gumbal and Charles are trying to convey. Namely, 1) Oklahoma City bombing involved far more conspirators than McVeigh’s prosecutors presented and that they knew this but let it go to secure a fast and assured conviction for public relations purposes; and, 2) jockish posturing between law enforcement agencies effectively neutered the investigation, creating blind spots not unlike the ones in the lead up to 9/11. But they never come right and say these things, a habit of investigative journalists I find disingenuous. If you have a position, a thesis, you state it openly. I understand the intention of letting reader decide matters for themselves, but if the conclusion you are pointing towards have such profound legal and ethical implications, stopping short puts you dangerously close to mere innuendo. Which, I have to believe, is the opposite of the authors intentions. That being said, the book is very well researched and not a “conspiracy theory” screed. It is just organized poorly. The subject matter and the people therein where so fascinating I couldn’t put it down.
December 4, 2022
This is a most interesting account. I gave it three stars because it is somewhat disjointed and not nearly so well-written as Jess Walter's Ruby Ridge. Timothy McVeigh was undoubtedly guilty, but because of the inexcusable deception and errors of federal agency personnel, notably the arrogant actions of FBI Director Louis Freeh, potentially important information, witnesses, and promising leads were never pursued. It was a story of conviction and death penalty at any cost. We will never know the whole truth of this horrendous tragedy. Disclaimer: I am a death penalty absolutist and oppose it in any circumstance.
January 11, 2019
I think this book raises some interesting questions about the way the investigation of the OKC bombing was handled, about inter-agency rivalry among law enforcement, and about some of the other conspirators involved, but I hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who doesn't already know a lot about this subject.
The narrative jumps around so much, introducing characters quickly without a lot of context, rattling off names of investigators, local law enforcement, prosecutors, meth-heads, neo-nazis, survivalists etc. I could see an expert really liking this book, but as someone trying to get an overall picture of what happened, I often found myself confused by how this or that person fit in, or allegedly fit in with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the two co-defendants. To make things more confusing, many characters had multiple aliases. So one paragraph, you're talking about Timothy McVeigh in April 1995, then you're talking about Tim Tuttle in 1993, then you're talking about Terry Nichols in 1991, then you're talking about Terry Nichols' wife from the Philippines, then you're talking about his ex-wife, then you're wondering if the ex-wife is important for the main plot or if she's just a tangent meant to humanize the main source of the author's narrative. Then you're talking about Nichols' brother. Then you're hearing about some guy who is influential in right-wing militias who maybe had an influence on McVeigh, but you're not sure. Then there's the guy on death row who tried to blow up the same building in the '80s. Then there's the underground pamphleteer. Then there's Waco and Ruby Ridge. Then there's another guy who McVeigh met at a gun show. Then there's this compound on the Oklahoma/Arkansas border where possibly McVeigh stayed for a while and met these three guys who you're not sure are important enough to commit to memory. But oh wait several pages later they're referred back to, and what was that guy's first name again? Then you're talking about some FBI agent special investigator who has this feud going with the DOJ over Ruby Ridge, and he gets fired and then there's a new agent, and then FEMA overstepped and then a new person is running the whole thing, and apparently that's a problem because this other agent later said that nobody thought that agent was qualified to run anything. Then you're talking to McVeigh's sister who is being questioned. Then you're talking about when McVeigh was in the army back in '91. Now you're hearing about eyewitness accounts about another guy who rented the Ryder truck. Wait who is Bob Kling? And who is Roger Moore? and who is Straussmeyer? And how does Elohim City fit in? etc etc etc. It's not that this information isn't important, I just wasn't impressed with the narrative structure. It all made me feel like this guy:
So my impressions at the end of this book are that there are probably a bunch of unanswered questions, and I'm certainly open to the argument that the investigation was botched, and that prosecutors were more interested in securing a conviction than finding the truth or doing justice, but even after reading this, I don't feel qualified to speculate on answers because all I've done is read a jumble of confusing names, timelines, and innuendo pointing to something shady, possibly. Were the ATF, FBI, local law enforcement, or some other party improperly storing military grade weaponry at the building prior to the explosion? It sort of seems like it, but it wasn't clear to me how that has anything to do with the bombing. Did people know about the bombing beforehand? The authors imply they did, but I didn't feel convinced by the evidence they produced. Was there a 3rd plotter who has never been brought to justice? Perhaps? Idk.
So I heartily recommend this book to anyone who already knows a lot about the OKC bombing and wants to dig into the details. If you just want a general sketch of what happened so you can intelligently talk about this episode in history, I don't think this is a great book for that. Wikipedia is probably better. Or I think netflix has some documentaries about it.
The narrative jumps around so much, introducing characters quickly without a lot of context, rattling off names of investigators, local law enforcement, prosecutors, meth-heads, neo-nazis, survivalists etc. I could see an expert really liking this book, but as someone trying to get an overall picture of what happened, I often found myself confused by how this or that person fit in, or allegedly fit in with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, the two co-defendants. To make things more confusing, many characters had multiple aliases. So one paragraph, you're talking about Timothy McVeigh in April 1995, then you're talking about Tim Tuttle in 1993, then you're talking about Terry Nichols in 1991, then you're talking about Terry Nichols' wife from the Philippines, then you're talking about his ex-wife, then you're wondering if the ex-wife is important for the main plot or if she's just a tangent meant to humanize the main source of the author's narrative. Then you're talking about Nichols' brother. Then you're hearing about some guy who is influential in right-wing militias who maybe had an influence on McVeigh, but you're not sure. Then there's the guy on death row who tried to blow up the same building in the '80s. Then there's the underground pamphleteer. Then there's Waco and Ruby Ridge. Then there's another guy who McVeigh met at a gun show. Then there's this compound on the Oklahoma/Arkansas border where possibly McVeigh stayed for a while and met these three guys who you're not sure are important enough to commit to memory. But oh wait several pages later they're referred back to, and what was that guy's first name again? Then you're talking about some FBI agent special investigator who has this feud going with the DOJ over Ruby Ridge, and he gets fired and then there's a new agent, and then FEMA overstepped and then a new person is running the whole thing, and apparently that's a problem because this other agent later said that nobody thought that agent was qualified to run anything. Then you're talking to McVeigh's sister who is being questioned. Then you're talking about when McVeigh was in the army back in '91. Now you're hearing about eyewitness accounts about another guy who rented the Ryder truck. Wait who is Bob Kling? And who is Roger Moore? and who is Straussmeyer? And how does Elohim City fit in? etc etc etc. It's not that this information isn't important, I just wasn't impressed with the narrative structure. It all made me feel like this guy:
So my impressions at the end of this book are that there are probably a bunch of unanswered questions, and I'm certainly open to the argument that the investigation was botched, and that prosecutors were more interested in securing a conviction than finding the truth or doing justice, but even after reading this, I don't feel qualified to speculate on answers because all I've done is read a jumble of confusing names, timelines, and innuendo pointing to something shady, possibly. Were the ATF, FBI, local law enforcement, or some other party improperly storing military grade weaponry at the building prior to the explosion? It sort of seems like it, but it wasn't clear to me how that has anything to do with the bombing. Did people know about the bombing beforehand? The authors imply they did, but I didn't feel convinced by the evidence they produced. Was there a 3rd plotter who has never been brought to justice? Perhaps? Idk.
So I heartily recommend this book to anyone who already knows a lot about the OKC bombing and wants to dig into the details. If you just want a general sketch of what happened so you can intelligently talk about this episode in history, I don't think this is a great book for that. Wikipedia is probably better. Or I think netflix has some documentaries about it.
April 28, 2012
"It was the FBI's finest hour!" at least that is what they thought. In light of the world's worst terrorist attack prior to 9/11, we still have a lot to learn and you would have thought we would have learned plenty by now.
On April 19, 1995 at 9:02am, security as we thought we knew it would completely change forever in the lives of 168 people who died that morning going about what they did every day. In Oklahoma City, at the Murrah Federal Building, Timothy McVeigh would take a Ryder rental truck, park it in a handicap spot, light a fuse containing home made bombs and walk away. Two men were convicted in this plot against the government, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. But were they really the only ones involved?
In the book, Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed - and Why It Still Matters by Andrew Gumbel and Roger Charles, the readers are given information in a unique way. Challenging the official account of a major historical event can seem presumptuous, even fool hardy. Journalists, and authors, after all, do not have subpoena power, forensics laboratories, or polygraph kits. They can not interview 18,000 witnesses or run down 43,000 leads, as the Oklahoma City investigators did.
What they do have, in this case, is the opportunity to review the government's work from start to finish. This book is based on records that have been unearthed for the first time, including the complete archive of documents shared with the defense teams in the two federal trials and in Terry Nichol's state trial in Oklahoma. They also have a voluminous body of writings from Nichols, who did not utter a word for ten years after his arrest but agreed to discuss the case with the authors in great detail.
This book does not pick sides in any way but merely showcases where investigators went wrong and the suspects that were never questioned or leads that were not brought to trial. The book lets the reader decided what went wrong and why were only two people arrested and convicted when it appears that so many more were accountable for their actions in this case.
I received this book compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and it really brought back for me as a reader and reviewer, what I didn't realize. How the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had a bomb squad out looking for a device outside the Federal Court House just minutes before the explosion but would later deny they did. Did they have advanced warning something was going to happen?
How twenty four eye witnesses saw other people with Timothy McVeigh both in the Ryder Truck but also driving three other vehicles around the Murrah Building. "Not one of the witnesses who saw McVeigh that morning were called to testify at trial, because the government determined that every one of them was wrong to say he was not alone. If only one person had seen it, or two or three...but twenty four? That's pretty powerful." (pg 37).
This book is truly an eye opener for me and I'm sure for anyone who reads it. For me the main question is from 1995 to 2001, why have we not learned much from one terrorist attack to the next. Is this leaving us open for another attack in the future? History teaches us that we need to learn from our previous mistakes to avoid future ones, and I ask you have we learned enough? I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who is interested in these types of books. I think there is a lesson in there for all of us!
On April 19, 1995 at 9:02am, security as we thought we knew it would completely change forever in the lives of 168 people who died that morning going about what they did every day. In Oklahoma City, at the Murrah Federal Building, Timothy McVeigh would take a Ryder rental truck, park it in a handicap spot, light a fuse containing home made bombs and walk away. Two men were convicted in this plot against the government, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. But were they really the only ones involved?
In the book, Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed - and Why It Still Matters by Andrew Gumbel and Roger Charles, the readers are given information in a unique way. Challenging the official account of a major historical event can seem presumptuous, even fool hardy. Journalists, and authors, after all, do not have subpoena power, forensics laboratories, or polygraph kits. They can not interview 18,000 witnesses or run down 43,000 leads, as the Oklahoma City investigators did.
What they do have, in this case, is the opportunity to review the government's work from start to finish. This book is based on records that have been unearthed for the first time, including the complete archive of documents shared with the defense teams in the two federal trials and in Terry Nichol's state trial in Oklahoma. They also have a voluminous body of writings from Nichols, who did not utter a word for ten years after his arrest but agreed to discuss the case with the authors in great detail.
This book does not pick sides in any way but merely showcases where investigators went wrong and the suspects that were never questioned or leads that were not brought to trial. The book lets the reader decided what went wrong and why were only two people arrested and convicted when it appears that so many more were accountable for their actions in this case.
I received this book compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and it really brought back for me as a reader and reviewer, what I didn't realize. How the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had a bomb squad out looking for a device outside the Federal Court House just minutes before the explosion but would later deny they did. Did they have advanced warning something was going to happen?
How twenty four eye witnesses saw other people with Timothy McVeigh both in the Ryder Truck but also driving three other vehicles around the Murrah Building. "Not one of the witnesses who saw McVeigh that morning were called to testify at trial, because the government determined that every one of them was wrong to say he was not alone. If only one person had seen it, or two or three...but twenty four? That's pretty powerful." (pg 37).
This book is truly an eye opener for me and I'm sure for anyone who reads it. For me the main question is from 1995 to 2001, why have we not learned much from one terrorist attack to the next. Is this leaving us open for another attack in the future? History teaches us that we need to learn from our previous mistakes to avoid future ones, and I ask you have we learned enough? I rate this book a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who is interested in these types of books. I think there is a lesson in there for all of us!
September 4, 2012
This is a very interesting read. Did Timothy McVeigh bomb the federal building and kill 168 people? Yes. Did he do it with on
ly the help of Terry Nichols? That is the rub. This book does not argue McVeigh's responsibility. What this book shows is the absolute incompetence of the FBI and other Federal agencies. There are the same people that now run Homeland Security. It shows attorneys on both side playing games instead of searching for justice. Andrew Gumbel writes a fascinating scarey tale. Even since 9/11 the justice system is still busy hiding from each other. Looking for the credit in cracking a case. It is just sad. We, the American public need to wake up to what is going on in the Government before it is to late.
ly the help of Terry Nichols? That is the rub. This book does not argue McVeigh's responsibility. What this book shows is the absolute incompetence of the FBI and other Federal agencies. There are the same people that now run Homeland Security. It shows attorneys on both side playing games instead of searching for justice. Andrew Gumbel writes a fascinating scarey tale. Even since 9/11 the justice system is still busy hiding from each other. Looking for the credit in cracking a case. It is just sad. We, the American public need to wake up to what is going on in the Government before it is to late.
March 25, 2013
I am sorely tempted to place this book in the "fiction" category. In the rare instances where the authors relied only on the facts, it was an interesting read. In their efforts to find various links to potential co-conspirators, the writers failed miserably and have made a confusing story more so by their disjointed plot. Oliver Stone will likely be proud, however, as it is very reminiscent of his movie JFK.
July 22, 2012
Although it is confusing and hard to follow at times that is precisely the point. Fascinating autopsy of the flawed investigation and a great chronicle of the bombing and the investigation that followed. Raises a lot of troubling questions. Hard to put down.
September 19, 2022
FINALLY. I'M DONE.
It took me until the end of the book to understand that this book is about how the FBI fucked up and pushed for a narrative that would benefit them, even if it meant not doing their due legal diligence.
I havent read anything that has demonstrated to me that the FBI deserves to exist. I found some books on Epstein (my descent into True Crime is at hand) and this should be another oppprtunity to prove how worthless these goverment agencies (and by extension the courts) are in regards to dealing with anything from cults (Waco), domestic terrorism (Oklahoma City) to child sex traffickers (Epstein).
I dont think the book did a good job of demonstrating who was responsible for what, and there were SO many names I couldnt keep up. Since I listened to this on audio (I liked the narrator), I wouldnt see this but a chart that has everyone's name and affiliation would be great and a chronological timeline of when things happened would work too.
Luckily there are at least two other books about McVeigh (one written by his lawyer!) that I can check out. Because I honestly think the white supremacist stuff was the most interesting.
Also! McVeigh was on death row with the Unabomber! (Whom has a manifesto I plan to read).
Anyway, maybe I would recommend this if you just want all your bases covered about the Oklahoma City bombings and/or you hate the FBI.
It took me until the end of the book to understand that this book is about how the FBI fucked up and pushed for a narrative that would benefit them, even if it meant not doing their due legal diligence.
I havent read anything that has demonstrated to me that the FBI deserves to exist. I found some books on Epstein (my descent into True Crime is at hand) and this should be another oppprtunity to prove how worthless these goverment agencies (and by extension the courts) are in regards to dealing with anything from cults (Waco), domestic terrorism (Oklahoma City) to child sex traffickers (Epstein).
I dont think the book did a good job of demonstrating who was responsible for what, and there were SO many names I couldnt keep up. Since I listened to this on audio (I liked the narrator), I wouldnt see this but a chart that has everyone's name and affiliation would be great and a chronological timeline of when things happened would work too.
Luckily there are at least two other books about McVeigh (one written by his lawyer!) that I can check out. Because I honestly think the white supremacist stuff was the most interesting.
Also! McVeigh was on death row with the Unabomber! (Whom has a manifesto I plan to read).
Anyway, maybe I would recommend this if you just want all your bases covered about the Oklahoma City bombings and/or you hate the FBI.
May 7, 2024
Never has a right wing terror plot been so LGBT! I found this book really interesting on a topic I feel like isn't often talked about past the reason you can't buy very much fertilizer without being put on a watchlist. This breaks down McVeigh's movements prior, during, and after he bombed the Murrah building as well as the investigation, trial, and other right wing paramilitary groups McVeigh affiliated with. I will say that this book felt fairly unorganized, and while I understand that McVeigh moved around a lot in the years before the bombing and affiliated with dozens of people (each with their own proclivities towards violence and white supremacy) the call backs and foreshadowing did feel confusing at times.
March 20, 2020
Some conspiracy theories are true
The most convincing "conspiracy theory" I've ever read. Like any good defense attorney, the authors don't try to make up one version of who might be the rumored John Doe number two, they simply poke holes in the idea that there was no such person, period. Detailed, engrossing account of the guilt of McVeigh and Nichols, as well as the federal egos and competitiveness that blocked a complete conclusion to the investigation.
The most convincing "conspiracy theory" I've ever read. Like any good defense attorney, the authors don't try to make up one version of who might be the rumored John Doe number two, they simply poke holes in the idea that there was no such person, period. Detailed, engrossing account of the guilt of McVeigh and Nichols, as well as the federal egos and competitiveness that blocked a complete conclusion to the investigation.
March 29, 2023
I certainly learned a lot about the bombing from this book that I never knew before. It seems like the Department of Justice was having a major identity crisis given the mismanagement of this case, along with the fiascos at Ruby Ridge and Waco, all in the span of a few years in the mid-1990s. That being said, this book felt much too conspiratorial, a problem I have come across now in a number of books about mismanaged American tragedies. Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong places, but I would love to find a more journalistic, objective portrayal of impactful events like the OKC Bombing without having to sift through a bunch of jumbled personal views from the author.
July 17, 2025
Very thoughtful and well researched book on this tragic event. Some of the descriptions of the deaths and injuries were difficult to read. The book itself seemed to finish rather abruptly with a lot of unanswered questions. I was grateful for the afterword which summarized some of the loose ends.
March 13, 2024
I’m pretty sure the definitive book has yet to be written on this. Decent framework, but missing the nice roof and windows and other necessities to tie things together.
April 17, 2024
The author is clearly left leaning which makes this book interesting. Questioning a narrative is usually something associated with the right. I would like to read a book written from a right leaning author and the official report to have a clearer picture of what happened on that horrific day.
I personally have no clue as to what happened. However, it does make me pause when both sides are left questioning the official record.
I personally have no clue as to what happened. However, it does make me pause when both sides are left questioning the official record.
April 10, 2023
Definitely learned more about the OKC bombing and the conspiracies surrounding it. I was kinda lost at times but overall I thought it was very detailed on both accounts from the convicted men & from the FBI side.
April 7, 2025
Great review with tons of references to a tragic event that clearly succumbed to politics over investigation. A problem that the FBI has increasingly had (starting with J Edgar and getting worse as it has gotten more "politicians" concentrated in Washington. I you want a through review of what happened in Oklahoma City this would be your book.
February 12, 2020
This is a disturbing look at not only the crime, but the investigation and conduct of the law enforcement agencies as well. Riveting and well written and worthwhile reading.
October 3, 2012
Col. Charles and Mr. Gumbel have sifted through enormous amounts of evidence for the reader's sake, then delivered an excellent documentary book. This book ably challenges the notion that evidence of more than one criminal actor should be ruled out. Challenging the handling of evidence regarding extra criminal actors is in no way a "theory" book. It is an evidence documentary, a fact book, a report on an investigation, and it undertakes more work and risk than most journalists are willing to take on these days. Congratulations to the publisher for making a way for true investigative journalism.
Anyone who understands the scope and power of prosecutorial discretion will appreciate the public service provided by a book that checks Justice's work, especially given the conflicts of interest inherent in bureaucracies.
The flattening of a federal building and destruction of so many innocents is not a case for compromise, or for sacrificing objective follow up against bureaucratic pressures.
Anyone who understands the scope and power of prosecutorial discretion will appreciate the public service provided by a book that checks Justice's work, especially given the conflicts of interest inherent in bureaucracies.
The flattening of a federal building and destruction of so many innocents is not a case for compromise, or for sacrificing objective follow up against bureaucratic pressures.
January 30, 2013
Backed up by mountains of research material, the authors explain how the FBI botched the investigation of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. They insist that the FBI figured out who did it first, then compiled the evidence to support that conclusion, in the process ignoring evidence collected that might have resulted in a less-than-satisfactory verdict in the government's cases against Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. The existence of John Doe number two is a prime example of how the FBI slanted the evidence in a way to imply that John Doe number two did not exist, in opposition to many witnesses's sworn statements to the contrary. Time and time again, the government chose to simply ignore evidence that did not support the case they were building against McVeigh and Nichols, according to the authors. The book was well-written and well-documented and should be fascinating reading for anyone interested in the case, or anyone who thinks there are conspirators out there that were never charged.
October 29, 2012
My deepest condolences to the victims of the OK City Bombing, their families and friends and also to the survivors of this horrific event. The author of this book, Andrew Gumbel, provides more information on possible alternate suspects and scenarios as well as info on Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols and their inner circles.
That said, the most fascinating part of the book for me was the insight into the far right extremists, gun show circuit, and the inner workings of the FBI and the court system with regard to this attack.
My goal in reading this book was to find out more about McVeigh and Nichols which this book did and didn't accomplish.
Worth reading.
That said, the most fascinating part of the book for me was the insight into the far right extremists, gun show circuit, and the inner workings of the FBI and the court system with regard to this attack.
My goal in reading this book was to find out more about McVeigh and Nichols which this book did and didn't accomplish.
Worth reading.
December 29, 2012
Very well researched. However, it reads as though the authors put the pages in front of a fan prior to binding. From one page to the next they jumped ahead/back several years, switched characters, pursued different themes, and created a high disorganized mess of otherwise great reading. If they had followed a chronological path and organized various items into meaningful chapters, it would have been great.
October 5, 2012
I had always wanted to revisit this tragic incident in our nation's history because the plot and the men who carried it out remained much of a mystery to me. This book was well researched and answered many of my questions about the bombing and subsequent investigation. It also posed a few unanswered questions that were a bit troublesome. Altogether it was a very interesting read.
November 17, 2012
Were McVeigh and Nichols the only ones involved in the Murrah building bombing in 1995? There remains many unanswered questions due, in part, to some fumbling investigations by the FBI, ATF and police forces. The threats are still there. Scary to think about.
May 6, 2020
Although I was an adult when the Oklahoma City bombing happened, I didn't know much about it before reading this book. I still don't think I understand WHY it happened, but maybe nobody does. There are mentions of McVeigh's connections to the radical right and possibly the Aryan Nation, but the book doesn't explore that much. I was hoping to learn more about the "reasoning" behind the bombing.
Judging from the book, it seems as though we may not know much about the plot behind the bombing. It was disturbing to learn how fragmented the federal government's investigation of the US radical right is. It isn't really in the purview of the book, but I would like to know if any of this has improved in recent years. The book also showed that the rivalry and hiding of information between various law enforcement branches, as is often depicted in TV cop shows, is very real. How can we combat this issue, since it is obviously hindering the fight against crime.
The investigation is very complicated, and there are lots of players. The book sometimes reads like a play-by-play, and it is hard to keep track of. The book would have really benefited from a list of players with a brief description of who they were because people would come in and out of the narrative and I often had trouble remembering how they were connected or even what agency they worked for.
Reading this during the COVID-19 pandemic was unnerving. Am hoping that agencies are more coordinated for public health than they were for this investigation, but I am pessimistic these days.
Judging from the book, it seems as though we may not know much about the plot behind the bombing. It was disturbing to learn how fragmented the federal government's investigation of the US radical right is. It isn't really in the purview of the book, but I would like to know if any of this has improved in recent years. The book also showed that the rivalry and hiding of information between various law enforcement branches, as is often depicted in TV cop shows, is very real. How can we combat this issue, since it is obviously hindering the fight against crime.
The investigation is very complicated, and there are lots of players. The book sometimes reads like a play-by-play, and it is hard to keep track of. The book would have really benefited from a list of players with a brief description of who they were because people would come in and out of the narrative and I often had trouble remembering how they were connected or even what agency they worked for.
Reading this during the COVID-19 pandemic was unnerving. Am hoping that agencies are more coordinated for public health than they were for this investigation, but I am pessimistic these days.
November 25, 2024
this book is like a fancy extra dense fudge brownie with a bunch of add-ins… it’s great and has a whole lot to offer but it takes a bit of time and effort to chew 😅
the structure gets better as the book goes on, but it feels like reading different tidbits one after another, usually without connection or transition between each piece. i felt like i needed to get out a notebook to keep track of the timeline and all of the names (which, after reading, i would actually recommend doing this, because there were multiple points where i felt lost on who was who, but that could just be me).
the information was great! skeptical without sounding like a reddit conspiracy thread or your grandfather’s poorly made facebook infographic. it introduced topics i wasn’t familiar with beforehand, which i’d now like to research further— something that all good history-esque books should do! like i said, it feels like falling down a rabbit-hole, but in a fun informational way.
also, a surprise ted kaczynski cameo and a random homoerotic excerpt?? cmon, what’s not to like?! but in all seriousness, a ted kaczynski mention and homoerotic theories are like the cornerstone of this genre of book. the gay bread and butter of criminology analysis. the main difference here is that the ted kaczynski mention was completely relevant and that homoerotic excerpt kinda give me whiplash. like what? you couldn’t have eased me into that?
anyways, i think i’ll be getting a copy of this for my home collection to annotate and highlight. take that for what it’s worth! take care ^_^
the structure gets better as the book goes on, but it feels like reading different tidbits one after another, usually without connection or transition between each piece. i felt like i needed to get out a notebook to keep track of the timeline and all of the names (which, after reading, i would actually recommend doing this, because there were multiple points where i felt lost on who was who, but that could just be me).
the information was great! skeptical without sounding like a reddit conspiracy thread or your grandfather’s poorly made facebook infographic. it introduced topics i wasn’t familiar with beforehand, which i’d now like to research further— something that all good history-esque books should do! like i said, it feels like falling down a rabbit-hole, but in a fun informational way.
also, a surprise ted kaczynski cameo and a random homoerotic excerpt?? cmon, what’s not to like?! but in all seriousness, a ted kaczynski mention and homoerotic theories are like the cornerstone of this genre of book. the gay bread and butter of criminology analysis. the main difference here is that the ted kaczynski mention was completely relevant and that homoerotic excerpt kinda give me whiplash. like what? you couldn’t have eased me into that?
anyways, i think i’ll be getting a copy of this for my home collection to annotate and highlight. take that for what it’s worth! take care ^_^
July 13, 2022
I don't really know how to describe why I didn't like it? The prologue made me think it would be something different, like how the government fails to treat or talk about soldiers who come back with PTSD and use the violence they learned for something as awful as the Oklahoma City bombing. While the book does touch on the fact that the guy who committed this awful act was applauded for violence and killing while in war and was seen as the awful and violent killer he is when he killed so many innocent people when he came back, I had trouble following what this book was trying to get at. I know it's about the failures of the system during the trial and how documents were lost and how people didn't trust the ATF after Waco. I just wish that it had been easier to follow or that it had been even a little more engaging? Sorry if that sounds mean, I know that it's a non fiction and information and writing are limited to facts. I just got slightly confused going from one topic to the other, especially with so many people involved. It could just be because I listened to it on audiobook. It felt like the same things got repeated while there was little focus on the holes of the case. Overall not my favorite true crime I have read recently, but it was worth the read and I came out knowing more about the Oklahoma City bombing (which I will admit I knew nothing about before).
November 25, 2024
Surprisingly good, despite some messiness inherent to the subject.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the FBI was terrible at investigating bombings in the ‘90s—just ask Richard Jewell—but the unprecedented size of the Murray bombing (and scope of connections to the right-wing underground) made it especially difficult for a sprawling mess of agencies to get their heads around.
It also didn’t help that the bombing was of intense national concern, with media reporting on developments by the hour and potentially contaminating any number of witnesses.
Still, the book does a convincing job laying out the many witnesses, connections, and rumors that point to other assistance in the bombing beyond McVeigh and Nichols. But investigating further would have been politically messy and complicated prosecution, leading all parties involved to stop running down leads and switch to re-examining witnesses until they stopped offering up spurious details.
Not quite as good as Dave Cullen’s Columbine, but certainly in the neighborhood.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the FBI was terrible at investigating bombings in the ‘90s—just ask Richard Jewell—but the unprecedented size of the Murray bombing (and scope of connections to the right-wing underground) made it especially difficult for a sprawling mess of agencies to get their heads around.
It also didn’t help that the bombing was of intense national concern, with media reporting on developments by the hour and potentially contaminating any number of witnesses.
Still, the book does a convincing job laying out the many witnesses, connections, and rumors that point to other assistance in the bombing beyond McVeigh and Nichols. But investigating further would have been politically messy and complicated prosecution, leading all parties involved to stop running down leads and switch to re-examining witnesses until they stopped offering up spurious details.
Not quite as good as Dave Cullen’s Columbine, but certainly in the neighborhood.
September 5, 2023
Wendy Painting cites this book throughout Aberration in the Heartland of the Real, and I believe Roger Charles worked with her while she was writing the book.
This is probably the most grounded and well-written look at the Oklahoma City bombing and really sheds light on the myriad of characters who somehow escaped culpability for their parts in the conspiracy.
While Aberration doesn't shy away from pointing towards government involvement in the attack, the culprits here are a vast network of white supremacist terrorists (certainly larger in scope than McVeigh, Fortier, and Nichols) and regular old government incompetence.
Like many deep political events, where the educated mainstream perspective points the finger at government incompetence for failing to stop the attacks, one has to wonder if more than simple negligence and incompetence is at work here.
This is probably the most grounded and well-written look at the Oklahoma City bombing and really sheds light on the myriad of characters who somehow escaped culpability for their parts in the conspiracy.
While Aberration doesn't shy away from pointing towards government involvement in the attack, the culprits here are a vast network of white supremacist terrorists (certainly larger in scope than McVeigh, Fortier, and Nichols) and regular old government incompetence.
Like many deep political events, where the educated mainstream perspective points the finger at government incompetence for failing to stop the attacks, one has to wonder if more than simple negligence and incompetence is at work here.
September 3, 2020
Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed--and Why It Still Matters lays out a really unnerving and compelling array of evidence that Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols probably had additional co-conspirators who never saw the inside of a courtroom. At the very least, it seems that a lot of people in militia circles knew “something” was going to happen on the second anniversary of the Waco inferno. This is not a conspiracy-theory book; the authors dismiss most of the speculation about assistance from foreign governments and/or the U.S. government allowing the attacks to happen — although there are troubling stories suggesting that some people in U.S. law enforcement also expected “something” to occur on April 19, 1995. Detailed, thorough, and stunning.
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