2 comments about Special Agent.

1. I picked this book up on lay over at O'Hare, it was so engrossing I was annoyed at having to stop reading to board my plane. Candice Delong brings you into her life so thoroughly you feel like she's a close friend by the end, and you want more. A truly amazing women she stands for equal rights and feminism in a way that speaks to everyone. This book will appeal to a wide range of audiences, and is definitely worth picking up!



2. Candice DeLong's father wanted her to do something besides going into the FBI. He didn't view it as a femine thing to do. However, she went for it, passed the FBI Academy at Quantico's high standards with flying colors, and proceeded to embark on a rewarding career as a woman in a field dominated by men. She candidly discusses her work on cases and her personal life during those 20 years. She is able to address the sometimes sexist views held by her male peers without causing tension. I highly recommend this book. It provides both a good look into the FBI, and good information that every person should know.

No comments about Drawing Life: Surviving the Unabomber. (book reviews): An article from: ETC.: A Review of General Semantics.

No comments about Harvard and the Unabomber.

No comments about Phil Unabomber Laak (Superstars of Poker).

No comments about L'affaire unabomber.

2 comments about Terrorism in the 20th Century: A Narrative Encyclopedia From the Anarchists, through the Weathermen, to the Unabomber.

1. This book is necessary for anyone who studies terrorism and political extremism. It documents the activities of everyone from the anarchists of the early 20th century, to the KKK, to the left-wing groups in Europe, to radical Islam, to Oklahoma City. It has over 100 pictures and the tales of modern terrorism are exciting to read. Plus, there are also about 100 pages of every single terrorist attack committed in the 20th century from 1900 to 1998. It also has a list of every single terrorist group that has operated during the 20th century and what the motives of those groups are. To sum up this review, this is a great book!



2. I saw this book in the bargain bin and it looked entertaining so I thought I would give it a try. Although this book contains plenty of interesting information, there are several annoying flaws. First off, the author has a pretty broad definition of what a terrorist is, including serial killers, organized crime organization, and anti-war demonstrators. Secondly, as silly as this sounds, the author isn't objective enough. This often leads to an unwillingness of the author to explore the motives of these groups, or put their activities or motives in historical context, instead offering opinions and condemnation. The writing style of the book can sometimes be biased and sensationalistic. Finally, the author ends the book by procaming that the greatest terrorist threat of the new millenium will be, not Osama bin Laden, but...Yassir Arafat! On the plus side, this book does have alot of information about many different groups, such as the Industrial Workers of the World, the Mau-Maus, and the German Red Army, and also an interesting timeline of terrorism in the back.

5 comments about The United States of America versus Theodore John Kaczynski: Ethics, Power and the Invention of the Unabomber.

1. If there is a particular strength to this book, it is in the revelation that the man who dared to judge Kaczynski, one of the fed's premier affirmative action judges, failed to understand the processes of his own courtroom. Unwilling to become a joke like Brother Lance, this judge decided that his courtroom would not become a soap box for Ted's deranged philosophies, forgeting, along the way, that the Constitution requires that the courtroom become a soap box for the defendant, his one chance to speak his defense, and for the people to weight that defense. Thank you Michael Mello for reminding us that everyone is entitled to his day in court. Top notch book.



2. The author well states legal points of debate regarding the "non-trial" of Dr.Kaczynski. Provides interesting insight to the legal system and inparticular Dr. Kaczynski's plight. However, the book could have been reduced to 2-3 chapters if such points/observations were concisely and clearly stated once.



3. This book is an antidote to the kind of pop psychology in which people live in a loving society in which each one strives to obtain as much popularity as possible by pleasing everyone. Instead, this is the work of an expert in the law's use of the death penalty, a measure which ought to be reserved for those cases in which something evil needs to be eradicated, as the Unabomber seemed to be successful on a few occasions in which he picked his own targets and used our customary methods of communication to deliver his bombs. What is most offensive to me is a presumption that there is any innocence here, a legal fiction which is often used as a professional matter to keep anyone who has formed an opinion from speaking about things which are obvious to those who are not engaged in the drama which conswists mainly of pretending that no one knows what is going on. There is still a little doubt in my mind that Ted was absolutely sincere in pleading guilty to what he did, but after he managed that bit of confession, it is great that a law professor like Michael Mello could write this book to show how the attempt to defend him was even crazier than he was.



4. The author appears so involved in his own axes to grind with other public defenders, and his own self-promotion, that the book never tells us anything of interest about Kaczynski, Kaczynski's mental states, the accuracy of media reporting or the delicate balances in the legal system. There is an interesting conflict in our legal system around the issue of self representation since the Supreme Court decided Faretta v. California in 1975. The case of Colin Ferguson in New York (the man who shot the passengesrs on the LIRR) exemplified this - a marginally sane defendant, allowed to represent himself, who uses the trial as a forum for his paranoid ravings. The question - can a barely competent defendant not only waive their right to an attorney, but also their right to a meaningful or fair trial? Should a barely competent defendant who is seriously mentally ill be allowed to refuse to present evidence of their mental illness because they believe that their delusions are true? The book doesn't begin to explore the frequent problems of conflicts, miscommunications, and deceit that pass both ways in many criminal (and civil) litigation. The author appears only interested in portraying Kaczynski's attorneys as rigid ideologues ( as opposed to himself). The author's critique of modern psychiatry is as superficial as his exploration and pseudo-psychology of Theodore Kaczynski. (The author nowhere fills in the gap between Kaczynski being teased as a child to deciding upon killing strangers). The author's premise that Kaczynski was a normal person who was cheated out of his day in court is fatally weakened by this lack of explanation of Kaczynski's psychology. The author's style is in desperate need of editing (the same sentences appear repeatedly). The author's self righteousness makes this an even more difficult read.



5. I certainly agree with the reviewer,Dr.Alan A.Abrams, on his review of this book,especially in the area of editing.Although a few of the points in this book were,I feel correct,and well accepted such as the judges refusal to allow Kaczynski to defend himself even though the possibility of recieving the death penalty was being persued by the prosecution, the judges refusal to allow Kaczynski to proceed with the trial and defend himself with no clear sanity/insanity diagnoses determined was flawed. I don't know of anyone who doesn't believe in a defendants right to his day in court.I feel Kaczynski should have been allowed to defend himself not having been definitely diagnosed insane by the doctors and/or the court even though it was obvious that Kaczynski knew what was at stake and was taking advantage of every legal opportunity available to manipulate and delay the inevitable trial.The main point of this book was just that,the denial by the judge of due process, Kaczynski's right to represent himself.I believe most people agree with that even though Kaczynski accepted the plea bargain.This gets us back to this book,the main point of which has been stated above.After laborously enduring hundreds of pages of redundant text,hoping for a few new facts,I finally got to the end and was totally disappointed.There were few new facts in this book that hadn't been already in the news.As Dr.Abrams stated in his review,this book was in dire need of editing.I believe that the complete book could have been reduced to one or two chapters at most and still cover the main points brought out in this book.Definitely not recommended for anyone without a very,very long attention span who is also able to endure endless redundant text.

No comments about The Unabomber - Portrait of an American Terrorist (Biography).

No comments about The Unabomber (Crime Scene Investigations).

3 comments about Mad Genius: Odyssey, Pursuit & Capture of the Unabomber Suspect.

1. Have yet to find a really thoughtful, well organized book on the Unabomber. I read a fair number of true-crime books; generally I rate Robert Graysmith, who has written excellent books about the Zodiac killer and the Trailside Killer. Those books were well written, full of fascinating facts and research. But Graysmith's Unabomber book "A Desire to Kill" was obviously rushed into print, trying to beat the competition -- an effort to have a title before the public before the trial, while interest in the case was high.

   Much the same can be said of Mad Genius. It was also published before the trial. It isn't quite as confusing as Graysmith's book, but then it doesn't strive to be more than a quick summary of what the investigation was like and who the victims were. To make up for lack of depth and/or detail, there is an extremely long list of the evidence seized at the Montana cabin -- with no explanation for what the coded notations the FBI used stand for. And then there's the complete manifesto, appended at the end. My favorite part was the photocopy of the Kazynski's hand-written note about seeds at the very end. At least it had a personal touch.

   The definitive Unabomer book has yet to be written; it would take someone like Vincent Bugliosi or Ann Rule to do it justice -- or else the Robert Graysmith of old.




2. Has anybody ever seen a complete list of the contents of Ted's cabin? I need to know the books he had. I've heard he had hundreds of books. What were they? Can anyone tell me what books Ted was reading? Have you noticed how the press squashed that aspect of this man's life?



3. It's clear right from the start that Mad Genius was written in a hurry. The writing is uneven in places, there are stylistic rough edges, but this is no novel, and if Kaczynski would like a nicer biography he'll just have to write one himself. Still, the book is timely, and important, and sufficiently well written to make for easy reading.

   The book helps answer many questions about the Unabomber:

   - What are the facts of the case? [ not a trivial question for such a protracted case ]

   - What is the Ted Kaczynski's background? Who is he, where did he come from, could anyone have guessed that this is what he was up to?

   - Why he did it -- motives, frustrations, ideas.

   And that's basically all that most people will ever want to know about the unabomber and his story. The book will also give you plenty of minutia to relish over, such as his the inventory of his cabin at the time of the arrest, what "technology" (or lack thereof) did he use to assemble his bombs, and it lists his manifesto in full. The book is not expensive and read quickly -- get it, read it, satisfy your morbid curiosity! :)