EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW

"It's the way seasons changed in North Idaho, not gradually, but like someone slamming a door. A day that started August-sunny had become wet, windy, and cold, and Cooper and Roderick were already miserable by the time the rain began to freeze and turn to a wet snow that covered the ground with a white, watery sheen."
—page 175, Every Knee Shall Bow: The Truth and Tragedy of Ruby Ridge and the Randy Weaver Family by Jess Walter

Originally published in 1995 as Every Knee Shall Bow: The Truth and Tragedy of Ruby Ridge and the Randy Weaver Family, this book's title was changed in 2002 when it was reissued. The new title, Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family, may seem a minor change, but it is not. I am sure that it was changed because "Ruby Ridge" has become synonymous with the Weaver family standoff and the grossly inappropriate government response. The previous title keeps some balance and perspective, however, which is evident in Jess Walter's telling of the story. The latter seems to give the appearance of the story, and perhaps the tragedy, being brought about by the Weaver family, when the US Marshals Service and FBI definitely share the responsibility of the tragedy that unfolded at Ruby Ridge.

The story is of two incompatible ideologies that do expect that "every knee shall bow"—to their own unyielding, uncompromising visions of the way that the world should function. The governmental law enforcement agencies expect that the most minor violation be punished, at whatever expense, in order to maintain order and flex power. The problem is that their methods appear criminal at times, which the jury that presided over Randy Weaver's trial obviously believed. The paranoid, Old Testament flavored, apocalyptic, white separatist views of the Weaver family and their ilk, on the other hand, position one as either "us" or "them," with no middle ground. The problem is that the Weavers were also involved in criminal behavior.

The question then becomes which side is more criminal. I don't believe that was answered in Every Knee Shall Bow, and don't believe it ever will be. There are too many people who are lying not only to the general public and one another, but also to themselves.

Even so, Walter has definitely written a well-balanced, fair, and oftentimes poetic narrative. We know the outcome at the beginning of the book, but like the best writing of Jon Krakauer (Into the Wild, Into Thin Air), Walter's tale keeps us engaged, intrigued, incredulous, and angry, sometimes simultaneously. We cannot believe the turn of events, even though we know some of the details already. The book compels us to become absorbed in the story, to keep reading, to mull the story around in our heads. For me, that engagement is what really makes the book work.

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Every Knee Shall Bow haunted me for days afterward. I kept thinking about Ruby Ridge and Waco and the Oklahoma City bombing. And, then in the midst of my reading of Every Knee comes another possible confrontation: the federal government versus the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Once again, two incompatible ideologies, trying to establish order of their own making. When will it end? (The question is rhetorical.)

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Walter also made the terrain and climate of northern Idaho really come alive for me. I can picture the Weaver cabin, the hills, the rutted roads, the wet, and the winter as easily as I can picture the egos of Weaver, his attorney Gerry Spencer, and many of the federal agents.