Ambush at Ruby Ridge

Alan Bock's account traces the 18-month, costly surveillance that the U.S. Marshals Service mounted against Randy Weaver, a man living in the Idaho backcountry who was regarded as a white separatist. Weaver was charged over a minor gun offense, and many who followed the case believed the pursuit was driven by hostility and a plan to pressure him.

The book then moves to the 11-day standoff inside the Weaver family's modest cabin and the armed assault that followed. Bock lays out the events leading up to the siege and the shoot-to-kill directives that came from FBI headquarters, relying on close, detailed reconstruction of what happened.

Drawing on court records, personal testimony, and conversations with insiders, neighbors, and the Weavers' friends, Bock challenges the idea that federal agencies are immune to entrapment, cover-ups, and the deaths of innocent people. He examines the contradictions in the FBI's conduct and brings the reader to the ridge, the roadblock crowded with neo-Nazi sympathizers and protesters, and finally the courtroom, where prosecutors face off against the colorful defense lawyer Gerry Spence.