Toobin not only masterfully tells the story of Timothy McVeigh and his bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, but he also places a clear focus on the right-wing anti-government ideology that McVeigh embraced and that has gained more prominence as the years have gone by, and especially since the Trump era.

For McVeigh, the deadly siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the fire that killed 76 there, including 25 children, was the spark that prompted him to put his anti-government views into action. He believed that the government had set a standard that killing, including of women and children, was acceptable, so he didn’t think twice about the fact that there would be many of them killed when he bombed the Murrah building. It is no coincidence that Donald Trump recently held a rally in Waco. He is courting the same kind of people that McVeigh hoped would be inspired to anti-government action by his example.

Toobin not only painstakingly recounts McVeigh’s journey to becoming a terrorist, he also recreates McVeigh’s literal journeys around the country in the months and years before the bombing, as he attempts to make connections and collects the materials to make his bomb.

Then, Toobin takes us behind the scenes to the work of the prosecutors and defense lawyers. It’s interesting that the current Attorney General, Merrick Garland, was initially the Justice Department’s choice to put together an investigative and prosecution team, and to make strategic decisions about how the investigation and trial would be handled. (Garland’s role would have continued, but he was pulled off to work the Unabomber case.) Toobin contrasts Garland’s cautious insistence the prosecution investigators not explore the broader issues of militias and other right-wing actors, with President Clinton’s—and now President Biden’s—public statements calling out the danger to the country from these groups and their members.

McVeigh yearned for a civil war, but complained he could never find his army. As Toobin points out, the rise of mass media and the internet has made it easy for those who think like McVeigh to find each other. The result has been a sharp rise in right-wing domestic terrorism, the attempted insurrection of January 5, 2020, and a significant percentage of Americans believing a civil war is at least somewhat likely in the next decade.

I had trouble walking away from Homegrown but forced myself to occasionally because it is anxiety producing. Chilling. Heartbreaking. I know Toobin had a fall from grace last year, but he’s a good writer, and Homegrown kept my interest from start to finish. The book seems exhaustively researched. I learned information about the Oklahoma City bombing that I never knew or have forgotten. Toobin does a good job of drawing a straight line from Timothy McVeigh to the protestors of January 6, 2021. This is a frightening book that resonates with life in the U.S. today. Really, it’s surprising we haven’t seen more domestic terror attacks like the one in Oklahoma City.

I highly recommend Homegrown if you are interested in white supremacist groups and in the legacy of the Oklahoma City bombing.

I read an advance reader copy of Homegrown from Netgalley.

Perfect. The exact book we need to draw direct lines between what happened in the 90s to what is happening today. Excellent research and very readable.

I was a kid when the Oklahoma City Bombing took place, but combined with other simultaneous big news stories, it's probably one of the first ones I can recall hearing about - we watched Dan Rather every night during dinner when I was growing up. Scrolling through NetGalley I came across this book and my interest was piqued.

In some ways, I think, McVeigh was ahead of his time. The author continually states that McVeigh couldn't find his people, his army with the same beliefs as him, but as we've seen with the explosion of the internet that army is well formulated today. When McVeigh was arrested during a traffic stop after the bombing it was for his gun. That law is no longer in existence and the trooper would have let McVeigh go if it was today. Even scarier, McVeigh's extreme beliefs in 1995 are far from extreme in 2023. Absolutely if he would have been caught today he would still be found guilty, but I think he would have a lot more public sympathy and it's possible he would avoid the death penalty as a result.

The comparison between Merrick Garland's response and Bill Clinton's was fascinating and I can't help to think what might have been different if Garland had played up the right-wing discontent during the trial. Would domestic terrorism be more on the forefront of people's minds heading into 9/11? The blip about the FBI's domestic terrorism report during the Obama administration was also worth pondering.

The author spends a lot of time comparing the OKC bombing and January 6th. It's an apt comparison and I don't dispute it, but it comes up so much that it gets a little tired. Overall, though, the book is well-written and presented in an easy to understand chronology. The beginning of the book about McVeigh's youth dragged a bit, but things (obviously) picked up when he started collecting parts for his bomb. I had to put the book down for a bit as the bombing was described; it was gripping and tough. The second half of the book following McVeigh's trial was extremely interesting. I do wish a little more had been explained about Nichol's trial.

This is a great read for true crime fans and those who know of the OKC bombing but not much behind it. I learned a lot and thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book. As always, opinions are my own.

Deepest gratitude to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for early access to this phenomenal book.

I was 7 at the time of the Oklahoma City bombing, and raised by parents who watched the news avidly and tried to educate me about what was happening in the country and around the world in an age-appropriate way. I have a few vivid memories of footage of the wreckage on TV, and of course the name and expressionless face of Timothy McVeigh are etched in my brain. I don’t think I ever understood why he did what he did at that time, short of, “sometimes when people are filled with hate, hurt, and anger, they make the choice to respond in really hurtful and violent ways.” At 7, that’s all I knew. Wasn’t sure what exactly or who exactly he hated. I don’t know that my parents knew enough to tell me, either.

I remember some cursory references to the OKC bombing coming up when 9/11 happened. At that point, I was a freshman in high school, and I realized that McVeigh was a terrorist. His beliefs and motivations were a bit different than those of the terrorists who crashed into the towers, but he was a terrorist through and through.

One thing I did come to realize over the years, though, is that domestic terrorism — as it is referred to — seemed to be a massive problem. Much bigger, actually, in my estimation than the attacks coming from folks on the outside. And yet, somehow, much less talked about, and almost dismissed to a degree, it would seem. I couldn’t quite understand why until I learned that domestic terrorism was really a product of white supremacy, and then it made perfect sense why it was swept under the rug so often.

Toobin’s work is so critical and relevant to our past AND our present. His research is extremely thorough while also covering a wide breadth — a testament to his journalistic talent. Through his book, we are able to follow the path of right-wing extremism over generations, and see how it has persisted and been passed on, and how people continue to become indoctrinated into this violent and dangerous ideology. Toobin shows the direct line between McVeigh and his compatriots and the insurrectionists of January 6th. These extremist armies have always existed, but the advent of the internet has made it much easier for them to find one another, increase their numbers, build community, and plot acts of terror.

Although this book is long, it never drags, and the writing is so accessible to a wide range of readers. I think it is so critical for everyone to deepen their understanding of how this kind of ideology takes hold, cultivates roots, and grows, and understand the nature of the beast and the threat it has always posed — and very much still does pose.

This book is scary, in a good way. I’d always known of the evolution of domestic terrorism, but this book shows the direct line between Oklahoma City and January 6th, among other events. The author laid everything out in an easy to follow path.

The amount of detail he goes into about Tim McVeigh and his life before the bombing is incredible. I learned more than a few new things. The same can be said about Nichols and the Fortiers. It’s an easy read, considering the subject. It could have easily lost itself in rhetoric and sentimentality. It doesn’t. It’s a fact heavy book that is still approachable and engrossing.

I kinda loved this one. I’ve read some of the author’s other books and wasn’t really a fan, but this one is the perfect balance.

Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to read this. My opinions are my own.

Not for me at all. Could not connect with the writing style. I got bored as I was not engaged in it enough. I think I was expecting something different from this book.

I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgalley.

Should it matter to my review of this book, which is very good by the way, that the author lost his job at CNN for masturbating during a Zoom call? I honestly don't have a good answer for that. On the one hand, that's a violation of pretty egregious proportions. On the other, this book is in fact very good. It's a well written, thoroughly researched, and incisive recounting of the Oklahoma City bombing. For myself, I wouldn't have purchased this book, but I do think it's very much worth the read.

I remember the Oklahoma City bombing. I also remember several other instances of domestic terrorism that Toobin links together, especially Eric Rudolph's bombings of the Olympic park in Atlanta and a Birmingham abortion clinic. (I used to work within walking distance of the clinic.)

(Side note: back when I used to be a Christian, I heard many defenses of Rudolph, because he helped "save the babies." As if that was a good justification for maiming and murder. That's one reason why I am now an atheist.)

It's incredibly obvious that most domestic terrorism in the US is motivated by white supremacy and Christian fascism. Despite this, there's a strong tendency in politics and the news to paint these terrorists as "lone wolves," and to act like the right and the left are equally culpable. Toobin is here scrupulously fair in acknowledging the attacks that were motivated by leftist causes, but he takes pains to point out the much greater number that were inspired and lionized by the right. There's a thread here of violence that stretches back to Tim McVeigh and forward to the coup attempt of January 6. One of Toobin's main points is that McVeigh believed an "army" of like minded thinkers was out there, and he had simply not been able to find them. He was right, and the internet has allowed this army to come together. There is a seething underbelly of violence in America, one that is emboldened by the right, that we have mostly failed to check. And the longer that we fail to do so, the greater the danger.