On the last hot day of summer in 1992, gunfire cracked over Ruby Ridge in northern Idaho. 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. And ever since the standoff ended, Ruby Ridge has been recognized as a dark watershed in our nation’s history.

In Every Knee Shall Bow, Jess Walter leads the reader through the siege in which Vicki Weaver was fatally shot as she stood in the doorway of their cabin, her infant daughter in her arms. The deadly standoff on Ruby Ridge reveals the racism, violence, paranoia, and hatred of government that continue to erupt in places like Waco and Oklahoma City, and Walter’s definitive account is both insightful and deeply moving.