Eric robert rudolph manifesto

A penetrating writer examines the life and motivations of serial bomber Eric Rudolph.

Eric Rudolph’s “manifesto” is 11 pages of hate, intolerance and self-justification.

Even for her, he's hard to figure out. In the five years since he disappeared from sight, many law enforcement officials and others had come to believe that the Olympics bomber had either died in the forest to which he fled or managed to escape the United States entirely. But Rudolph was very much alive, and he had traveled only a few scant miles from the trailer he abandoned in He had, in fact, survived his whole time on the lam using expert survivalist skills and a sustained program of burglarizing homes and businesses in the area for supplies.

Two years later, Rudolph pleaded guilty to a series of bombings at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, two abortion clinics and a lesbian nightclub — attacks that killed two people and injured others. When he was finally sentenced, after pleading guilty in to all the attacks of which he was accused, Rudolph issued an arrogant, dismissive statement, telling the world he was doing so only to cheat the government of a death sentence.

Much was known about Rudolph by the time he was sent to prison — his early Holocaust denial , his hatred for Jews and association with adherents of the racist Christian Identity theology — but even more remained hidden. What seemed hardest to understand was what actually made the pretty-boy bomber tick.

Rudolph's manifesto, released after his arrest, confirmed his anti-abortion and anti-gay motivations.

Maryanne Vollers, a National Book Award finalist for her book Ghosts of Mississippi , decided to profile Rudolph after his arrest. Vollers had great advantages, beyond her natural writing talent. She was the only writer with whom Rudolph cooperated, sending her letters and allowing his lawyers to break their confidentiality pledge by discussing his case with her.

And Vollers also had access to most of the law enforcement officials involved. What emerges is a portrait of a kind of sociopath. Rudolph was handsome, intelligent, and, Vollers opines, a fine writer.