Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness

by Dean Kuipers

Dean Kuipers takes us behind the scenes of the Animal Liberation Front and its punk-anarchist sibling the Earth Liberation Front, two of the most notorious and violent environmental groups and one of the FBI's biggest domestic terrorist priorities--even in the wake of 9/11. Kuipers tells us the story of ALF and ELF through Rod Coronado, an eco-terrorist and animal rights activist who has served jail time on several convictions in connection with his radical activities. From his teenage association with the Sea Shepherd and Earth First! through the federal manhunt that transformed him into a folk hero, Coronado's story parallels a movement that has led to over 1,200 acts of sabotage, $1 billion in damages, and a legal showdown that will define America's relationship to environmentalism. Neither a biography nor a polemic about animal rights, Operation Bite Back tells the outlaw tale of a man who acted on well-defined principles to carry out a campaign of political sabotage, putting his life on the line for an environmental movement that ultimately couldn't afford to be identified with his extreme actions.

Genres: Nature, Biography, Nonfiction, Environment

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2009

Reviews

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite aspects of being a die-hard bibliophile is finding just the right book to read at the time that I would be most receptive to its subject matter. I received an arc of this book several years ago but, due to the various exigencies of daily living, it sat on my to-read stack untouched and gathering dust until I rediscovered it while cleaning a few weeks back. What a timely rediscovery this was! While it's been said so many times that it has become a cliche, I find a lot of truth in George Santayana's statement that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." As the movement to address climate change gathers steam and activists once more take to the trees in direct actions to confront those who value profit over the well-being of our landbase, understanding the motives, tactics, successes and failures of those whose footsteps we are following is essential if we are to avoid their mistakes and advance the movement.

When I moved to Eugene, Oregon, at the turn of the century I was a young and naive firebrand from North Idaho whose activism had been honed in the conflicts against the Aryan Nations white supremacists that inhabited my hometown and the logging industry that had kept the region employed since most of the mines had been tapped out. I had first heard of the ALF and ELF through my family's dinner table conversations- my mother had been employed for a time doing worker's compensation evaluations for injured loggers and this was where I had first heard of activists spiking trees to protect the endangered spotted owl in old growth forests. My father was employed by a government agency that had frequently been the target of activists, I remember one night when he had just returned from a round up of wild horses in Utah only to learn that a band of activists had released the herd back into the wild shortly after he had left. Even at my young age I remember being satisfied at this news, thinking that wild creatures deserve to be free and that the land was better off as home to these herds rather than as more grazing land to be stripped by cattle. As I grew older and found myself finding peace among the company of centuries-old trees away from the noise of the city, my resolve to protect these forests solidified and I made myself many promises. Around this time I also became aware of the resistance of environmental activists in Eugene, particularly the action on June 1st, 1997, where activists climbed into a stand of the town's oldest trees that were to be cut down to make way for a new shopping center. My mind was made up, Eugene was where I needed to go to lend myself to these efforts.

What I found when I arrived was a community tearing itself apart with paranoia and fear. Comrades were rotting in prison for refusing to cooperate with grand jury witch hunts (an event that is already happening again here in the Pacific North-West), houses were being raided by the FBI on a regular basis, and no one knew just how far the feds were willing to go to portray the environmental movement as deadly terrorists, despite the fact that in all of their actions the ALF and ELF had never harmed a single human. The specter of the COINTELPRO actions of the seventies hung heavily over everyone. Needless to say, strangers who had just arrived in town asking questions were immediately suspect and my welcome was none too warm. This was the lasting legacy of Rod Coronado and his quest to end fur farming in the United States.

A militant activist who had cut his teeth sinking whaling boats in Iceland for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Coronado was one of the first in the United States to adopt tactics of direct action to protect animal life. After working closely with hunt saboteurs, a tactic in which activists fill the woods during hunting season and harass hunters in order to protect wildlife, Rod turned his attention to the fur industry. First going undercover as a farmer thinking about starting to breed mink, Rod filmed the conditions that mink were raised in and the skinning process for an above-ground group that was trying to use shock video to persuade congressional reps to pass more restrictive legislation. When these efforts yielded nothing but despair, Rod turned to more direct methods, recruiting like-minded activists to destroy research facilities at schools in Oregon, Washington, and Utah, and prompting a backlash from frightened fur farmers whose effects we are still feeling today.

It is easy to paint Coronado as a naive idealist, a man searching for an identity who threw himself into causes to make up for a spiritual emptiness within, and author Dean Kuipers does not hesitate to show Coronado with all of his flaws, but I feel that this only makes the story more compelling. He was one man, flawed yet beautiful, who loved life so much that he was unable to sit idly and see it destroyed. While many of his actions can be derided (Really, dude? Stealing from the Crazy Horse monument on a whim?), none should doubt the passion that he, and many others, have for preserving wild life.

It's sad that his lasting legacy is the expansion of the definition of terrorism to include property destruction to make a political statement, an expansion that is still being used to punish radicals while those who wreak havoc upon the very land that we depend on for survival are heralded as pillars of the community. As resistance becomes more ever-present on the streets of America and we hurtle faster and faster toward what can only be a reckoning between capital and sustainability, it is important to know where we have come from and to know the forces that are arrayed against us. Kuipers' book is a great start.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A HIGHLY INFORMATIVE ACCOUNT OF THE RADICAL ACTIVIST AND HIS DEEDS

Rodney Adam Coronado (born 1966) is a Native American eco-anarchist and animal rights activist, formerly associated with the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front, Earth First!, and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. (He served prison time, for some of his activities.)

Journalist and author Dean Kuipers wrote in the Preface to this 2009 book, “I knew Rod as one of the most notorious eco-radicals on the planet, after an incredibly brazen act … in 1986 in which he and another member of the Sea Shepherd had sunk two modern whaling boats… He had come to talk to me … as the spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF)… He admitted to being a ‘former’ ALFer… But he had since withdrawn from direct activities… to take a purely supporting role. He and I had been talking for months by phone about Operation Bite Back, a series of Animal Liberation Front arsons attacking mink farms and mink researchers… one of the most infamous campaigns ever attributed to American environmental activists. Rod was supporting it in the press… The law was clearly homing in on him… He wasn’t exactly hiding. He was working out in the relative open of the Sea Shepherd offices, doing interviews, taking calls… And it wasn’t just the law that was circling him. He’d begun to get death threats—a trickle at first, then a steady stream.” (Pg. 2-3) Later, he adds, “When Rod left on his bicycle, he pedaled straight into the underground, a fugitive. For the next two-and-a-half years, there was no way to contact him. He would just show up at my apartment when he wanted to talk.” (Pg. 5)

He explains, “Today, even minor eco-radical action can get you decades in prison. Operation Bite Back made Rod a hero to a generation of activists, but the government’s scorched-earth response made him a legend too risky to believe in… Beginning in August 2003, it became clear that Rod and his radical colleagues had lost the tussle over what was and wasn’t terrorism. That month, he gave a talk at a gay and lesbian center in San Diego for which he was later arrested. Rod had already served four years in prison for the Bite Back actions during the nineties, but when he reminisced on those days, U.S. attorneys decided his talk amounted to instructions for building incendiaries… the speech alone was a crime. Worse, due to the provisions in the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act, it was terrorism… He took a plea for a year and a day and was in jail while I wrote most of this… By 2007, when he went to trial for the speech crime, at least ten eco-activists had received terrorism sentences---the first times such sentences were ever used for noninjury crimes by environmentalists… This is where we are at today. In the last few years, it has become almost routine for FBI officials and members of Congress to declare that the Animal Liberation Front and … the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) are ‘on a par with Al Qaeda’ … To compare murderous jihadists to tree huggers like Rod and his colleagues---who do not target people---seems an insult to those who have died at the hands of Al-Qaeda…” (Pg. 7-9)

He observes, “It isn’t hard to see Rod’s 1986 Iceland attack not only as the ultimate expression of the thirteen-year-old Save the Whales movement, but also as the apotheosis of a tactical and strategic shift that had been bubbling up through the environmental movement for more than a decade. Coronado and [David] Howitt recast whaling as a violation of international laws, which forced governments around the world to finally pay attention...” (Pg. 22)

He recounts, “[Rod] thought, ‘We’re sitting ducks, now. They know who we are, and they know where the movement is headed.’ … There had been a lot of articles in the ‘Animal Rights reporter… newsletter … about how industry groups were ramping up the rhetoric against groups … ‘We were aware of what had been done to the Black Panthers and to AIM, and we saw that this could be the first moves of stuff being done to us. It was time to put up or shut up.’” (Pg. 69)

After Coronado and a fellow activist took videotapes of the treatment of minks in a facility, he mused, “A new road had opened up before hm… In those moments standing before the cages, he had seen where this would lead. Destroying the industry would not mean passing legislation. He would blow it off the face of the earth---using any tactic that didn’t physically harm any animals or people. Sabotage. Theft. Cleansing fire. Whatever it took. He would stretch the definition of ‘nonviolence’ to its breaking point… he realized that this could only end badly---in prison, for sure, maybe in his own death. He was preparing to go to war.” (Pg. 87-88)

Coronado attended (infiltrated?) the Seattle Fur Exchange, where he attracted the attention of “Marsha Kelly from the Fur Farm Animal Welfare Coalition (FFAWC), an industry marketing group… [who, seeing Coronado, thought] Here was a young farmer just getting started… Rod’s story about founding a new farm in Redding became the talk of the auction… Kelly pointed out that the survival or the remaining 660 fur farms in the United States… depended heavily on the success of a university-based research network called the Mink Farmers Research Foundation (MFRF). The mission of the MFRF was to solve nutrition and disease problems and lower fur-farm overhead… Rod was wide-eyed throughout the entire talk, His heart started pounding. The Seattle Fur Exchange was telling him exactly how to cripple the entire industry: hit the MFRF.” (Pg. 104-105)

After a raid, “Rod sent out a second press release and a video… The press release ended with a few lines that have echoed to this day, giving the entire campaign its name: ‘As long as one member of a native American wildlife species is held captive, ALF will continue Operation Bite Back until all hostages are freed.’” (Pg. 150-151)

After federal agents had attempted to capture Coronado in a cabin (which he had already left), “When Rod heard how they had come for him, in black jumpsuits, with ski masks over their faces and guns drawn, he was more pessimistic than ever about his chances for survival. Why would federal agents disguise themselves? There was no warrant for his arrest. He had no known history of violence or resisting arrest. Flight, yes, but not violence. From his point of view, the whole thing reeked. In all likelihood, they simply would have arrested him. But he was convinced that if he had been home alone when the ninjas showed up, they would have killed him. He slipped out of Los Angeles and disappeared. If they were coming to kill Rod Coronado, then Rod Coronado would cease to exist.” (Pg. 207)

He explains, “If they could catch Rod… the prosecutors agreed to accept a deal in which he would plead guilty in Michigan in return for not being prosecuted in other states. The charge would be arson… But for many of those following Operation Bite Back, that just wasn’t enough. Arson crossed a line for many people… Reports about the ALF in Britain were printed in all the fur and medical research journals, describing how animal fanatics advocated real terrorism against ‘vivisectionists’ in the form of fires, car-bombings, and shootings… The American biomedical research community, Ron Arnold’s wise use movement, big agribusiness, university scientists, and others worried in the press that ALF tactics in the United States would escalate to murder.” (Pg. 229)

He notes, “The only well-known public organization that stood by Rod during this period was PETA; while it never openly endorsed arson, Ingrid Newkirk was happy to receive any seized tapes or data and was unapologetic about publicizing Rod’s attacks---and remains so today. Many individual radicals supported him openly, as did the ‘Earth First Journal,’ but their support came without much cost. Almost everyone else turned their back on him, including the mentors who both said they continued to admire him, Paul Watson and Dave Foreman.” (Pg. 231)

He points out, “After Rod’s arrest, eco-radical attacks dropped off for a number of months. However, in the summer of 1996, acts of environmentally motivated sabotage exploded… a steep rise in attacks that continues today. Several of the 1996 attacks were fur related and identified in communiqués as part of Operation Bite Back II… In fact, the attacks were getting more and more radical. The fall of 1996 saw the first U.S. appearance of the Earth Liberation Front, which took property destruction to new heights… As the ALF had done with animal rights issues, using illegal action to expose or destroy animal industries, so the ELF approached environmental issues like clear-cutting, road building, and urban sprawl. The Earth Liberation Front would undertake actions that Earth First!, with its public journal and regional offices, could not claim without risking prosecution… The Earth Liberation Front was firmly established in the United States, and the torch has passed from Rodney Coronado.” (Pg. 261-263)

He summarizes, “By 2006, so many of Rod’s colleagues in nonviolent guerrilla action were being prosecuted for terrorism that the radical community began calling it the Green Scare… The 2001 PATRIOT Act and the new 2006 Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act gave federal authorities to tools to prosecute grand, sweeping conspiracies and hammer even the most marginal characters with huge sentences… Using these tools, the FBI and the ATF launched a new initiative and called it Operation Backfire in what seemed like a nod to Rod. The targets… were arsonists… committed to ‘maximum destruction.’ But they were also committed to never hurting a living thing… Which leads to some troubling questions about the new definition of domestic terrorism.” (Pg. 281)

This detailed and informative book will be “must reading” for anyone studying Rod Coronado, the ATF or ELF, or other forms of radical environmental activism.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well researched even handed biography of Rod Coronado and the Animal Liberation Front. There is also some information on activities of the Earth Liberation Front. Dean Kuipers has reported on Coronado and other environmental activists for 18 years and that shows. His access to this movement over a long period of time gives him insights that many biographers lack. Kuipers does not present Coronado as any kind of saint. He reports the actions and emotions of both Coronado and of people who whose property was damaged by his vandalism and arson. The book has a real ring of truth to it.

I noticed several people have given this book low rankings without any written review. I suspect this is because they do not approve of Coronado's actions. I consider myself a serious environmentalist who does not approve of arson. Still, I found the book a good one which gave me some insight into why someone might become involved in vandalism and arson.

I must admit I wonder why the sub-title is "Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness." While Kuipers reports that Coronado cared about wilderness, nearly all of Coronado's criminal acts, which are the core of the book, were focused on saving the lives of captive animals--not on preserving wilderness.

[Derek Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kuipers' book explores a world known to few, but intensely followed by environmentalists on one hand and the FBI on another. Actually, it is not fair to paint this as an us vs. them book, since the actions of Rod Coronado, the subject of the book, splits even the environmentalists.

Coronado is an environmental activist who eventually began breaking into areas where animals were held and freeing them before burning down research centers. His radical beliefs have made him a folk hero among some, a terrorist to others, and an enigma to still more. Kuipers traces Coronado's life in such a way that we see his eventual criminal acts as a natural development of his ideals. He is raised with a love of nature, but moves from a hunter and fisher to become a vegan devoting his life to saving animals.

Coronado's radical beliefs are fostered early by Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd organization. Along with another member. Coronado sank two whaling boats in Iceland, although they made sure no people were on board at the time. This daring action quickly propelled him to fame and he escaped prosecution since Watson claimed credit to protect the two involved. We then see Coronado's involvement with Earth First! and the Animal Liberation Front, two more aggressive organizations aiming to undermine industries exploiting nature.

Eventually Coronado develops Operation Bite Back, which focused on fur farms and the fur trading industry. The book takes off in Kuipers' descriptions of the operations, which read at times like spy thrillers as Coronado stakes out his targets and avoids detection. Kuipers is clearly an environmentalist himself, and his journalism has focused on this area, which may explain his ability to get so many people to talk about illegal activities. The reader gets a full description of the rationale, the action, and the reactions behind the different attacks.

One of the more interesting aspects of the book surrounds Coronado's "disappearance" from society once the FBI identifies him and his picture begins adorning post office walls. A Native American, Coronado takes the time to begin fully examining his own roots, which not surprisingly support his approach to life. Yet these new experiences lead him to a new understanding of himself and he begins to rethink some of his positions. We also get to see the paranoia which develops in someone who realizes that every new person could be an undercover agent or that a friend may turn him in for a reward. Coronado does not always handle the pressure well, but before he can break the FBI finally captures him.

Coronado's story is also caught up in the political debate of what constitutes terrorism, and after the 9/11 attacks his past actions are viewed in a new light. However, Kuipers paints the FBI as some evil force going after an innocent man, when in fact they are tracking down a multiple arsonist. Agree with Coronado or not, his work clearly fits something which the FBI does track down on a regular basis.

This is a story which has not ended, and Kuipers struggles with how to end the book which tends to fizzle out. Coronado is still actively involved in the animal rights movement, but some of his beliefs have changed. What Kuipers shows very well is that Coronado is a person who acts on his beliefs, but is also all too human. He makes mistakes in his work, in his relationships, and even in how he treats himself. While Kuipers clearly admires his subject, this is no hagiography.

For those unfamiliar with the radical environmental movement, this book will be eye opening and enlightening. For those who are part of that movement, they will find a person to emulate. For those somewhere in between, this book will leave you with more questions than answers, which is always the sign off a good book.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the late 1980s and the '90s environmental and animal-rights activist Rod Coronado committed a series of direct actions, mostly targeting university research centers that housed wild animals like mink and coyotes.

Written by Dean Kuipers, a journalist who has followed the animal-rights and environmental movements for decades, "Operation Bite Back: Rod Coronado's War to Save American Wilderness" details Coronado's path from saboteur to arsonist to peaceful Native American activist.

The book is a must-read for environmental and animal-rights activists. Regardless where one stands on the use of property destruction within the movements, activists should read the book to learn about the movements' histories and where they are heading -- especially with regard to the terrorism legislation that was created in 1992 in response to Coronado's work and which has since been added upon.

Of course, I don't believe that vandalism or arson should be considered terrorism.

Kuipers notes that the term "eco-terrorist" was coined in 1983 by "Ron Arnold, radical environmentalism's sworn and mortal enemy" who founded the wise-use movement, "a pro-industry backlash against environmental regulation."

Since that time animal-exploitation industries have gotten Congress to pass the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, in 1992, and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, in 2006. And the 2001 PATRIOT Act targets environmentalists "by defining eco-terrorism as 'the use or threatened use of violence of a criminal nature against innocent victims or property by environmentally-oriented, subnational group for environmental-political reasons, or aimed at an audience beyond the target, often of a symbolic nature.'"

The book also refers to agent provocateurs, with FBI agents infiltrating groups and urging activists to commit crimes.

Most of "Operation Bite Back," though, deals with Coronado's life, his thoughts about animals and their suffering and his direct action.

The scenes of the direct actions -- breaking into and burning buildings -- are suspenseful, and I found myself rooting for Coronado. But after a while I felt he was getting out of control, taking unnecessary risks, becoming addicted to the actions.

And I kept tossing the notion of arson -- and burglary and theft -- back and forth, debating whether it helped or hurt the cause. That's one of the goals of the book, though: to get readers to think about it.

While Kuipers includes interviews from fur farmers and animal experimenters, "Operation Bite Back" is sympathetic to the environmental and animal-rights movements. As I was reading it, I felt odd knowing David Martosko had read this book. I wondered if he was disgusted by passages such as the following or if somewhere in his sarcastic, greedy body he has a heart.

Five of the six [coyotes:] bolted for the hills, but one lingered, standing only a few feet outside the facility. It stood in the darkness looking nervously at Rod. He walked outside and tried to shoo it away, but it only leaped back a few steps and then stood its ground, insistent. Then Rod heard scratching from a part of the kennel he hadn't checked, and he realized there was one more. On the far side of the facility, he found a last occupant and cut it free, and as it bolted through the opened fence, the other wheeled, and together they disappeared into the dark ocean of grass.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

However you may feel about "eco-terrorism" and/or animal rights, this book makes for a very informative read. Kuipers takes us through Coronado's adult life, weaving together Rod's personal, spiritual and activist ethics, while giving a correlating history of the ALF (Animal Liberation Front), PETA, Earth First!, and ELF organizations, among others. We learn about Rod's Yaqui heritage, and his quest to become more connected with it. We learn about the moral rifts within the members of the (above) organizations themselves, something which i personally found very illuminating. We go step-by-step with Rod and others during their undercover videotapings of fur farms, as well as a number of live animal releases and the destruction of various (mostly university) laboratories.

There is a heavy sympathy here for the subject; Kuipers is obviously a friend of Rod's and this shows throughout the book. However, it is difficult to read about the 1990 Judi Bari/Darryl Cherney car bombing (as well as the intimidation tactics used by the FBI on their hunt for Rod years later) and not be left with a bitter taste in one's mouth. That being said, there are times during the book when it feels like the author's opinion perhaps takes precedence over the facts.

All in all, there is quite a bit to be learned from reading this book, even if you are already familiar with activism in any of its forms. The characters are colorful, even if their ideologies are sometimes flawed; we begin to understand the passion that drives people to commit such drastic actions, even when faced with the often underwhelming after-effects. There is a real effort here to get to the heart of this decade or so of activism through one complicated but simple man: Rodney Coronado. And yet, i can't help but feel that this should have been either a biography or an all-encompassing activism encyclopedia. The title action, Operation: Bite Back, gets a little buried somewhere along the way. But Coronado is a complex figure, and getting lost in the moral battle between his kind and law enforcement is interesting, indeed.

[Merrikay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book tells the story of Rod Coronado, a legend in the Animal Rights Movement, who worked with the Animal Liberation Front, other organizations and independently.  I found this story fascinating for several reasons.  First, it showed Coronado's development as an activist, spurred by his spiritual develoment.  He became involved in animal rights at a young age, late teens being his first deliberate activism.  It tells of his initial non-violent activities, and their escalation.  He begins conservatively, not wanting to damage property but merely to film animal abuse and use that as a way to educate the public and help animals.  He moves on to freeing animals, progresses to destroying paperwork and records, on to destroying equipment and ultimately to arson and burning buildings.  Kuipers does a wonderful job of describing Coronado's and other activists' wrestling with the ethical issues involved in saving animal life, in the midst of an adventurous story that is hard to put down.

I also find the details of this life interesting, how the people in this movement learn what and how to do in support of the goals of animal rights.  As with other movements there are both conservative and liberal leaning people and the attendant disagreements about how to achieve what they want.  I can clearly see how Coronado arrived at his personal beliefs and conclusions that drive his choices.  I don't know that I initially would unconditionally have supported Coronado and his actions, but both the philosophical and legal analysis is compelling.

One of my all-time favorite reads - 5 stars

[Kezia · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-have for anyone who follows social justice movements, First Nations, environmental or animal rights issues. As a journalist Kuipers maintains appropriate distance from his subjects, only occasionally breaking the 'fourth wall.' Much ground is covered, from the early Earth First!ers to the present-day Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which classifies animal and environmental activists as domestic terrorists. Some details of his primary subject's life and work are discarded or glossed over, preventing me from awarding it the coveted fifth star.

Fans of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, the Animal Liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front, American Indian Movement, and others will find much to appreciate. As for the lessons embedded in the book, it behooves progressive activists to study the "radical" environmental and animal rights movements in general, and this book in particular. The uneven application of laws calls to mind the well known Nazi Germany-era verse -

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and inspiring story of Rod Coronado's life of activism on behalf of animals, the earth and his Native American sisters and brothers. Dean Kuipers' writing was top-notch and engaging with just enough detail to help understand both the political and legal issues covered here. The sympathetic bias of the author was --for me-- very appreciated and it made it hard not to cheer when the mink farms burned, lynx and cougar hunts were disrupted, or the animal torture labs were sabotaged. Rod's recent rethinking about the political ramifications of eco-sabotage and other forms of non-violent resistance are interesting and pertinent as well. I wish we could have read more of Rod's political philosophy in the end and feel a need to seek it out.

Recommended to anyone involved in movement politics, animal rights/enviromental activism and/or social justice issues.

[6655321 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let me start with: Rod Coronado is super important and his story should be told but this account just is so fucking awful i can't help but say "read anything instead". First off, Kuipers frequently fucks up facts to make the green scare more tangible (including failing to acknowledge police coercion in a number of cases especially in the procurement of bombs) and frequently failing to identify people as industry mouthpieces. This is, quite simply: bad writing. Secondly, the writing frequently bangs on a tub with moralism while giving unverifiable statements by said mouthpieces the weight of fact (including animal researchers claims *about themselves* or the legitimacy of their work). Basically, this is *a problem*. I think this is worth talking about but god it could be done better.

[Jan Smitowicz · Rating 5 out of 5]

From https://jansmitowicz.wordpress.com/20...

**Note: article originally published in the Earth First! Journal under the title “Maximum Instruction, Not Minimum Adage.”

(For those not as obsessed with puns as I, but still interested, this one must be explained, because it’s very obscure; one of Rod Coronado’s (in)famous adages was “Maximum destruction, not minimum damage.” So yes, I made a pun out of that in a way that actually fits. BA-ZING!

[Jeannie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a GR giveaway last year and I'm ashamed to admit it has taken me this long to read it!
This book was right up my alley, animal rights and the movement have always been dear to my heart. I found it very interesting and learned even more than I already knew about this subject. All in all very well written, very informative and eye-opening and a pleasure to read!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-written, even-handed discussion of the events of the eco-radical movement, focusing on Rod Coronado's efforts. It was very interesting, informative, and even thrilling. It was a pleasure to read and I learned so much about this incendiary topic that is often thrown to the wayside in political discussions. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants more than just a 'good read'!

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting insights into "eco-terrorism" (how can there be terrorism when no people are targets, just property?) and the distinctions between the deep environmental and radical animal rights movements. I really enjoyed this book. Not great, but good summer reading.

[Jonathan Franklin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scary look at the way in which environmental activists are demonized.....there was a term for this kind of persecution "Budget justifying missions". This all took place when the environmental movement was surging and the Feds decided to whack them down. Beautifully written.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as good as I thought it was going to be. It dose raise some good points but really hard for me to get into. Maybe it just wasn't my kind of book.

[Karen Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you haven't read this you should! Excellent find! A great exploration into the heartfelt soul and movement.

[Erika Floyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still reading... very dry!