When the Denver trial of McVeigh and his alleged accomplice, Terry Nichols begins, the media and a curious public will seek out every last morsel of information about McVeigh's background. Who is this man? What was his childhood like? What books and movies influenced him? Did he take drugs? What turned a friendly small-town boy into an alleged mass murderer and the most hated man in America.
In this riveting and revealing biography of Timothy McVeigh, Brandon M. Stickney not only answers many of the compelling questions surrounding McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, but puts this critical information into the broader perspective of McVeigh's childhood, his education, military service, and his efforts to find meaning and purpose in life. A reporter and a native of the Western New York area where McVeigh was born and raised, Stickney draws on personal experience as well as numerous interviews with McVeigh's family, friends, and associates to offer intimate details of Tim's life -- factors that contributed to his startling transformation. For example: McVeigh, while in the army where he was a decorated sergeant, was a veracious reader of right-wing literature, like The Turner Diaries, which some have alleged to be the dubious inspiration behind a failed 1983 attempt to bomb the Murrah Building. Richard Snell, who was implicated in the 1983 plot, was later convicted of killing a police officer and executed on the very day of the Oklahoma bombing.
Stickney carefully fits together the complex pieces of the puzzle that is Timothy McVeigh. Using little known and often shocking pieces of information -- the fruits of an intense investigation -- Stickney transports readers inside the mind of McVeigh to discover what might well have been his thoughts and feelings as his life moved closer to that fateful April morning. The jewel in the crown is an exclusive interview with McVeigh's younger sister, Jennifer, who discusses, among other things, an FBI raid on the McVeigh home and the many stories published about her family. This powerful book includes rare and dramatic photographs.
Brandon M. Stickney is a reporter for the Union Sun & Journal. He has appeared on national television and radio in the USA, including CNN, ABC, the Arts and Entertainment channel, and the Westwood One radio network, offering commentary on the Oklahoma bombing.
336 pages