Ruby Ridge, Jess Walter
Ruby Ridge, Jess Walter
List: $39.99 | Sale: $28.00
Club: $19.99

Ruby Ridge
The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family

Author: Jess Walter

Narrator: Dan Bittner, Jess Walter

Unabridged: 16 hr 28 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2026

Synopsis

With a new introduction“The most comprehensive, even-handed and best written account of Ruby Ridge currently in print.” — Washington TimesFrom #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins, Jess Walter, here is the story of what happened on Ruby Ridge: the tragic and unlikely series of events that destroyed a family, brought down the number-two man in the FBI, and left in its wake a nation increasingly attuned to the dangers of unchecked federal power.On the last hot day of summer in 1992, gunfire cracked over a rocky knob in northern Idaho, just south of the Canadian border. By the next day three people were dead, and a small war was joined, pitting the full might of federal law enforcement against one well-armed family. Drawing on extensive interviews with Randy Weaver's family, government insiders, and others, Walter traces the paths that led the Weavers to their confrontation with federal agents and led the government to treat a family like a gang of criminals.

About Jess Walter

Jess Walter is the author of eight novels, including the bestsellers So Far Gone, The Cold Millions, and Beautiful Ruins, the National Book Award Finalist The Zero, and Citizen Vince, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel. His short fiction, collected in The Angel of Rome and We Live in Water, has won the O. Henry Prize, the Pushcart Prize and appeared three times in Best American Short Stories. As a reporter, he was a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Ruby Ridge. He lives in his hometown of Spokane, Washington.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Mary Ann on June 16, 2025

When the standoff at Ruby Ridge occurred in 1992, I was up to my eyeballs with my social work career working sixty hours a week. I didn't pay that much attention to it, probably also because I have no use for white supremacism, racism, and religious fanaticism. I picked up this book after reading an......more

Goodreads review by Nick on April 29, 2018

Fascinating. I've been trying to read some non-fiction that deals with big events that I vaguely remember from my childhood or teenage years. I remember seeing snippets of news coverage regarding Ruby Ridge and then explanations of it as I got older. And I know that this event motivated Timothy McVe......more

Goodreads review by Steve on June 22, 2018

This book is gripping, if a bit long. Walter tries to set the stage for this tragedy and the prose gets a little purple now and again, but the book is a fairly full account of what took place on Ruby Ridge in 1992. I have to admit remembering very little about the Weaver standoff when it was in the n......more

Goodreads review by TinHouseBooks on December 20, 2013

Michelle Wildgen (Executive Editor, Tin House Magazine): Jess Walter’s Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family, originally titled Every Knee Shall Bow. I am often fascinated by writing about crime, but good God, the actual writing can be so terrible sometimes. So I was thrilled......more

Goodreads review by John on May 12, 2025

As I type this, my library informs me that So Far Gone, Jess Walter's newest novel, is in; a 24-week wait, a caper about a Christian militia in Idaho and the culture clash with, inevitably, a gentler guy leaning towards the author's "Co-Exist" sensibility. So Walter's stint on his hometown Spokane p......more

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