Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist

by Alston Chase

Book Overview

Alston Chase presents an intepretation of the infamous Unabomber. He projects Ted Kaczynski's life against the sinister background of the Cold War, when the prospect of nuclear conflict generated a fear of technology and a culture of despair on American college campuses. On these same campuses, federal agencies enlisted psychologists in a covert search for technologies of mind control and encouraged ethically questionable experiments on unwitting...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393020029
• ISBN13: 9780393020021
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 1.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Interesting - with lots of background info

the book "harvard and the unabomber" addresses several interesting issues that many rebellious intellectuals face. Among them - the desire of some to move to remote places like Montana, their issues with poor career prospects there, the double standards that many of them possess when they attack "the system", their issues with emotivism and moral relativism, and their skepticism of the moral legitimacy of authority. It also addresses the schism in academia over the question of whether a core curriculum should be put into place, and whether the said curriculum should inculcate moral standards in the students or not. It also addresses the fact that a Harvard degree is not necessarily a guarantee of success - that many Harvard graduates end up as nobodies. Those are incidental, of course, to the main topic of the book, which is how these themes have influenced the Unabomber.

The Formative Influences on a Killer.

_Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist_ by Alston Chase, published in 2003, is an attempt to explain the motivations behind the reign of terror unleashed on the American people by Ted Kaczynski (dubbed "the Unabomber" by the FBI). Kaczynski was a brilliant man with a 170 I.Q., a graduate of Harvard University, and at one time a professor of mathematics; however, he left his career in mathematics to go live out in the wilderness of Montana. Feeling increasingly alienated by industrial society (what he refers to in his _Manifesto_ as "the system") and increasingly troubled by the loss of "wild nature" to modernization, Kaczynski felt that he was left with no way out but to unleash a reign of terror upon those who he believed were furthering the technological system. Ironically, much of Kaczynski's justification for his murders, can be found in the writings of more mainstream sociologists. A constant theme that recurs in sociological literature (the very literature that Kaczynski himself read and studied) is the sense of alienation and anomie brought about by the disruption of traditional ways of life through technological advance. Further, the modern science of ecology tells us that man has caused untold amounts of harm to nature and has disrupted the wilderness, perhaps irrepairably. Kaczynski who for years had felt himself an outsider to modern society, first as a high I.Q. student and intellectual in a largely blue collar community, then as a student from a blue collar background among upper class Harvard students, and finally as a research mathematician (a field well-known for extremes in introversion), came to identify with the environmental movement in part because of his love for the wilderness. As a "green anarchist", Kaczynski saw little hope for modern industrial society and with each technological advance saw further dangers brought to humanity and the wild. This led him to take extreme measures against those who he believed were furthering "the system". This book delves into the influences on Kaczynski's thinking: the influence of Harvard University and its curriculum (which maintained that judgment was impossible and that values were meaningless), the influence of the Cold War, the CIA, and psychological experimentation on distorting Kaczynski's underlying perceptions of reality, and ultimately the influence of the 1960s and the environmental movement. As the author repeatedly states, "bad men do what good men dream of", and for those of us who have often felt disillusioned and disaffected with modernity and "the system", there is a certain sense of "There but for the grace of God go I", when we encounter the case of Kaczynski. There is also a sense of embarrassment felt by many who find that the very ideas they have been advocating are taken to their logical extreme by an individual like Kaczynski. Modern technological society has left many feeling profoundly alienated, and the loss of wildern

Superb, Fascinating Book

"Harvard and the Unabomber" is intensely enlightening on many levels. It seems very even-handed and exceedingly well-researched. You don't come away from the book respecting or liking Kacynski, but you see the many layers of his personality and the main influences. I was especially interested in the sections where the author described the "culture of despair" at Harvard that stemmed from the "crisis of reason" movement. It was also great to read about the literary works that may have contributed to Ted's alienation. Before reading this book, I figured that he was a 60s radical and influenced by his time at Berkeley. After reading, my opinion is transformed. I'd be interested to find out whether the culture of despair is still present on college campuses today. That would be a nice appendix to the book. The only VERY minor flaw that I found at the book was at the end when he began talking about terrorists in general. This was the section that was the least fully developed. He used quotes from bin Laden to start different chapters, but there wasn't a specific connection made, or it didn't go into as much depth. It also seemed out of place when he criticized the Bush administration; seemed like a political potshot for no reason. I recommend this fascinating book to anyone. It really makes you think. I came out of it with many new ideas and an incentive to read works by Conrad and Dostoyevsky to see the philosophies that Kacynski misinterpreted.

The Cool-Headed Logician and His Infernal Machines

Alston Chase wanted to write a book about the 1960s; the arrest of Ted Kaczynski suggested the topic. AC led a parallel life: public school, Harvard, many of the same courses from the same professors, graduate student and assistant professor, received a PhD, and moved to the Montana wilderness. AC found that the most transforming decade was the 1950s; the 1960s were "merely acting out a drama whose script had already been written" (p.12). The "Unabomber Manifesto" contained many of the ideas found in the lectures and readings found at Harvard and other liberal arts colleges (pp.20-21).Virtually everything that most people believe about TK is false! His ideas date from the 1950s, not the 1960s. His decision to retreat to the wilderness was made at Harvard, not Berkeley. TK is not a revolutionary hero, nor original philosopher, not genuine environmentalist. His manifesto is neither brilliant nor a sign of mental illness, but a set of cliches whose sentiments are shared by millions (p.24). TK was not the first Harvard murderer (p.26), but had the highest body count - he used technology!Harvard was the site of the Murray psychological experiments on undergraduates which were so unsavory and unethical as to be kept secret to this day (p.31). This book is about the dysfunctional high school environment that is still with us. It tells about the exploitation of colleges during the Cold War by the government. These forces created a culture of despair that infects the educational system and promotes patterns of violence. The purpose of this book is to understand TK as an intellectual and as a criminal.Pages 85-94 analyze the "Unabomber Manifesto". It contains the conventional wisdom of the entire country. Its publication led to his capture since its thinking identified the author to his family. Pages 123-4 tell of the newspaper reports of his arrest. TK's habits were not dissimilar to others in his area. It tells about TK's friends in the area (pp.125-6). Page 131 shows small groups of journalists discussing how the news should be played, then filing identical stories on the trial. TK faced the death penalty, but he refused the defense of "diminished mental state" (pp.134-40). The evaluation by experts had conclusions that supported their side (p.141). Was the decision by the judge (p.147) part of a cover-up?Chapter 11 to 13 covers General Education and the "Culture of Despair" that follows "logical positivism". Was its effect to brainwash and break down the values of the "best and the brightest" to create subservient automatons for corporate America? Could this explain the appeal of fundamentalist sects? This is the most important part of this book! Gen Ed undermined values rather than reinforced them (p.205).Chapter 15 tells of Murray's Experiment, which violated the Nuremburg Code (p.236). Many questionnaires were used to learn the background of the subject before 'The Experiment'. Does it remind you of that interrogation in "The Darkness at Noon"? Chap

A Masterful Study of a Rational Killer

The genius in Alston Chase's study of Ted Kaczynski is that he traces the passions, beliefs, and mind-sets that led the Unabomber toward his goal of serially killing people he didn't know. Many of these ideas were imbibed at Harvard, in a Cold War culture that saw only a bleak future. It is Ted Kaczynski's mind that fascinates, especially because so many of his views are those of educated Americans. Just how and why the Unabomber turned these views into a murderous passion is absorbing and compelling reading. Chase's great work, rich with new material about the Unabomber, is worthy of major literary prizes. The book is more than a biography; it is a serious reflection on our times.