This book could not have been written without the help and encouragement of a great many people. First, I must thank my researchers: chiefly, Dean Miller for his reporting and his invaluable insights and for helping to write much of Chapter 22; and Bill Morlin, for his remarkable knowledge of Idaho’s white separatists and for his law enforcement contacts. I am also grateful to the reporters, editors, and photographers at the Spokesman-Review, primarily Kevin Keating, J. Todd Foster, and Richard Wagoner; and to Dan Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Several people helped by reading early chapters, including Phil Gruis, Kevin Gilmore, Jim Lynch, Jim DeFede, and Deb Rose. My thanks go to Judith Regan, Nancy Peske, and everyone at ReganBooks and HarperCollins. I’d like to thank my daughter Brooklyn for her patience, and most of all, my wife Anne Windishar for her editing and her unwavering support.
This book was reported over a three-year period while I covered the Weaver case for the Spokesman-Review—from the standoff to the trial to the aftermath. It is based on trial transcripts, government documents, wiretap transcripts, personal letters, and hundreds of interviews, from Sara Weaver to Lorenz Caduff to Dave Hunt. I would like to thank them all, especially Julie and Keith Brown and the rest of Vicki Weaver’s family—which I hope finds peace.