Big thanks to Little Brown and Company and NetGalley for
making Chris Jennings’ stunning new book End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America, which focuses on millenarianism,
apocalyptic Christianity, and one of the infamous instances when this thinking
came to erupt in a family’s isolated cabin the woods in Idaho. Even the name
Ruby Ridge has connotations of government overreach, violence, and tragedy, and
this was one of the first instances of this kind of clash between white Christian
nationalists and the government in a decade that was marked by events like the
Unabomber (although not Christian, he displayed antagonism towards the
government), the Olympic bombing, Waco and the Branch Davidians, and the
Oklahoma City bombing. This doesn’t include other instances of apocalyptic
religions like Heaven’s Gate, who ultimately took their own lives, and the
Japanese cult Aum Shirnyko, whose goal of hastening the apocalypse resulted in
numerous deaths in the Tokyo subway. Jennings’ book examines the American
context of this kind of apocalyptic thinking, and specifically how American
Christian religions looked at The Book of Revelations, the last book of
the Bible, as a literal text of prophecy rather than examining the historical
context of this book to understand how it served as an allegorical rendering
that was critical of the Roman Empire, a brutal regime that was violently
eliminating Christians. While I’ve read other instances of Ruby Ridge, none of
them went this in depth. Furthermore, with Jennings providing more context
about the development of this kind of apocalyptic Christianity, it created a
far deeper understanding of how the Weavers and many of their sympathizers
thought about the government and events like the Gulf War that might have
portended signs of the coming end of days. Jennings’ book is both fascinating
and tragic, yet it is also prophetic, not in the biblical sense, but in the
socio-political sense as we see how the Weavers’ millenarianism, which was somewhat
isolated to the Midwest and Northwest and to Christian Identity groups, has
gradually become more mainstream and aligned itself more with conservative
politics. While Jennings’ doesn’t spend much of the book identifying modern causes
and reasons for the proliferation of this kind of apocalyptic thinking, we can
see how many different factors, especially popular media that is not always
accurate or in good faith can propel wild and disparate beliefs to a larger
group of seekers and people with questions. That’s one of the aspects I found
so compelling about this book. However, learning more about both millenarianism,
this apocalyptic strain of Christianity, and how it mutated into a shared
system with Christian Identity and White Identity groups also made this book
and important and engaging read. Jennings’ detailed research into the Weavers’ family
and lives presents an even-handed view of the Ruby Ridge accident, which could
have been avoided if either Randy Weaver or the US government had done more to
work to a resolution.
This book is organized into 3 parts that outline the early
lives of the Weavers, like how they met after high school, their marriage, and
the deepening of their Christian faith in the 1970s post-Vietnam era. However, Part
1 also delves into the development of the millenarianism, the belief that the
second coming of Christ will transform the world into 1000 years of paradise but
will be preceded by a kind of battle with evil. I really appreciated how Jennings
traced the history of the apocalypse from John of Patmos’s writings in Revelations
to the American Christian groups that adopted this kind of thinking by interpreting
these writings literally. While I knew about some of this thinking, it was
fascinating to see how these groups adopted this text as a literal explanation for
end times. I found Jennings’ ability to explain this change in a few chapters
to be well done. It’s a challenge to make these kinds of theological ideas and
philosophies comprehensible and relatable, but these chapters do a great deal
to help understand this kind of thinking and how it progressed within different
groups in America. Furthermore, readers can see how events, politics, and challenges
in life might make some groups more susceptible to this kind of apocalyptic
thinking. That’s where the Weavers’ story occurs. While it seems like the
family had some opportunities to access the American dream, we also see how Vicki
Weaver’s interest in literature like The Late Great Planet Earth, a
popular book that claimed to prophesize the end of the world in the 1970s,
altered her view about society and the world. Drawing parallels between this
form of 1970s popular analog media and more recent digital versions of the apocalyptic
predictions like Q-Anon, Jennigs’ identifies how beliefs and adherence to these
kinds of conspiracies can lead to action. For the Weavers, this included sharing
their beliefs and concerns with others, which gradually ostracized them from
their Iowa community, leading them to relocate to the isolated mountains of
Idaho.
Part 2 of the book picks up when the family decides to leave
to build their own home in Idaho. Furthermore, Jennings details connections
that Randy established with white Christian nationalist groups like the Covenant,
The Sword and the Arm of the Lord and Richard Butler’s Aryan Nations compound.
I wasn’t aware of how close Randy Weaver was to some of these organizations, especially
since this was around the time that the Order was terrorizing the North and
Midwest. While Randy probably didn’t have direct contact with members of the Order,
it does seem like he shared their views and possessed some Aryan Nations memorabilia.
Vicki, meanwhile, seemed to take her beliefs further into the Old Testament, keeping
traditional Jewish holidays, but with Christian names. It’s strange that the family
would align their beliefs with this system, especially since they adopted an
antisemitic view of the world. However, that is what Jennings notes about this
millenarianism belief—that it adheres to conspiracies that ultimately complicate
their beliefs, enabling believers to adopt even stranger, more complex
rationales rather than accepting the most reasonable explanation. Although the
family built their own home and maintained the land surrounding the home, it
seemed like Randy continued to have trouble getting along with others.
Throughout the book, we learn about the various friendships or acquaintances
who eventually burned bridges with Randy. In particular there are several instances
of trouble with neighbors that eventually lead the Secret Service to visit
Randy for a threat to President Reagan that was probably sent by one of these
scorned neighbors. Nevertheless, Jennings’ detailed research and reporting
shows that Randy Weaver wasn’t an easy person to get along with, repeatedly
made enemies and took advantage of those who trusted him, and seemed to have
problems with authority.
Part 3 of the book details the events that led to the
standoff between the Weavers and the federal government. Again, Jennings’ even-handed
reporting and documentation of this event helps to show that the US government
also made considerable errors in pursuing a case against Randy Weaver and tried
to flip him to learn more about the rising threat of white supremacist groups
in Idaho. However, they did this through entrapment and didn’t really
understand the nature of the Weavers’ beliefs in the apocalypse, mistakes that
would end up being repeated a year later in Waco, TX and cited as evidence of
the threat the US government posed to convicted terrorist Timothy McVeigh. Nevertheless,
the Weavers had multiple friends and family members who pled with them to
surrender and allow the siege to end, yet their apocalyptic beliefs showed that
these events were signals for the end of the world. To complicate matters even
more, the government wasn’t aware that they killed Sam and Vicki Weaver, Randy’s
son and wife, over the course of the siege, and seemingly to enforce low-level
charges that would have probably netted Randy probation rather than jail time.
Jennings does note that there were oddities with the warrant and court
appearance documentation for Randy, which further heightened the family’s suspicions
of a government conspiracy, but we also see how this kind of conspiratorial and
apocalyptic thinking led the family to fight to the death, assuming that the
end of the world was coming. I couldn’t put this book down, especially after
the Weavers left for Idaho. I remember when this happened, watching it play out
on television, but I didn’t know the finer details. In fact, I think that many
people didn’t know many of the details, as Randy became a somewhat sympathetic
figure who had a television movie made about the siege. There was also a
congressional investigation in 1995, and I’m not sure how much that changed the
perception of Randy Weaver, but Jennings’ book does a lot to identify how both
the Weavers and the government made incredibly costly, fatal mistakes in this event.
End of Days is an important and compelling book, especially for those
interested in learning more about the rise of extremism in the 80s and how it
continues to fester and infect the country today. Furthermore, Jennings’
reporting leaves readers to draw their own conclusions about the kind of modern
analogies between the Weavers’ apocalyptic beliefs, the popular media of the
70s and 80s that helped fuel this kind of thinking, and more recent forms that
have sought to take advantage of willing adherents- people looking for answers
or solutions to problems, and compelling them to action. With recent events
like COVID, terrorist attacks, or the January 6th siege of the Capitol,
readers are able to identify the ways that people often find conspiracies or
signs of the apocalypse and take drastic action. This is an amazing and
important book that I highly recommend!
