Unintended Consequences
by John Ross
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Book Reviews of Unintended Consequences
Book Review: Thought Provoking
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read this book when Timothy McVeigh was executed. In his last interview, he was quoted as saying that he never would have bombed Oklahoma City if he had read this book first. Say what you will about his guilt or innocence, if a book can change a person's mind it must be powerful.
I read this book once a year to remind myself of government excesses. This book is a reminder that a solid majority of Americans want to be left alone. Your political leanings are not at issue, just the fact that most people want to be left alone.
The two major political parties are invested in controlling the lives of the populace. Be it laws of direct governance or laws that require licensing or taxation, some version of control is being placed on the people on a daily basis.
The book's main character rhetorically asks in college, "when do we say 'enough'?" Since the printing of this book over a decade ago, I have wondered if such an occurrance would ever happen. A form of life imitates art, as it were. But it never happens. This supports my theory that the solid majority of Americans who want to be left alone are an extremely rational bunch. The readers of this book, like the author, have somewhat irrational thoughts in terms of taking matters into their own hands and doing violence to a government that has offronted its citizens many times over than that of the British Crown of the 18th century. But they never act on them.
I believe the true thesis of this book was the people's treatment of the Missouri governor. The truth about his record was put up on billboards and he was voted out. That was what the people did. That is the true message of the book. Vote out incumbents who do not do as the people demand. Forget party affiliation. Forget campaign promises. Vote out statists. The new office holder has one term to prove his mettle. If he gets elected on his campaign promise, hold him to it. If he does not fulfill his obligations, vote him out too.
I do not believe that anybody has the resources or the intestinal fortitude to do what the main character did. That is why I believe the
real message of the book was to fight with your vote. You can get rid of liars and thieves without killing them, but you need to vote for the other party sometimes. Do it. Vote for the other party sometimes to get rid of the liars and thieves. Because let's face facts, you aren't going to do violence.
Book Review: The most important book I've ever read besides the Bible
Summary: 5 Stars
For a first novel, John Ross' Unintended Consequences outdoes most other established franchises. It is packed with historical fact, much of which you will end up not believing at first, and then confirming to be true.
Americans are frogs in water that is being gradually heated to a boiling point, and we are unaware of this. John Ross does a masterful job of compressing the frog-in-boiling-water down to one volume, thus short-circuiting the process for readers who have been unaware of the attempts by the government to take away our gun rights oh-so-gradually.
Ross weaves fictional threads throughout the book, tying them together in the last 300 pages, culminating in a smashing, hyperventilating confrontation between private gun owners and an out-of-control government bent on confiscating their guns and imprisoning them. I like to read myself to sleep, and I found myself snapping pages at 1 and 2 in the morning, unable to put the book down. I do not regret the massive amounts of sleep I lost during the merely 2 weeks it took me to pound through this book and slam the cover shut, only to re-read it again two weeks later.
One of the skillsets of writing a book is the ability to paint a detailed picture. Many authors do this by describing scenery, such as trees and flowers and sky, all of which bore me. Ross accomplishes this by describing events down to the last detail, such as the exact weight of trigger break and the flight of the bullet, along with a full description of what the bullet does when it hits its mark, which in this book is often a human being. It is so intriguing you will find your breath quickening as certain scenes unfold. I enjoy reading Clancy, Grisham, and the like, but not one of those books ever got my heart racing and my breath quickening.
This book has changed my life. I see everything through a completely different paradigm than before. My awareness of media propaganda and government interference is at its highest level in my entire life. The importance of this book cannot be overemphasized.
There are some graphic sex and violence scenes that any reader should be aware of. I do not believe they take away from the book's value, but some religious readers may be wary of reading scenes like that. Do not miss an opportunity to have a mind-changing experience because of some explicit scenes. Drop what you are doing and buy this book!
Book Review: Don't waste your money on this crud
Summary: 1 Stars
The only reason I give it 1 star is that a minus rating is not offered. In this overlong and over-detailed tripe, Ross manages to blaspheme Almighty God and Jesus Christ, Christianity, the sacraments of the Catholic church (no, I'm not a Cahtolic) and others who observe communion-referring to it as "cannibalism", rural people and the German people. He never once refers to Germans as anything but the derogatory term "krauts". He praises Jews and Judaism to the roof but denigrates Christians and Christianity, promotes homosexuality and all manner of perversive public actions by his homosexual "heroes" in this book. All of the villians are white, blacks are paragons of virtue in this rag. Ross states that only the wealthy, with "above average incomes and above average education" as his hero puts it, are the real "gun culture". People who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouth, people who work for a living and raise families (which his hero is too busy cavorting with bi-sexual perverts to have), or even people who "watch ballgames" are not worthy of being part of the gun culture, or anything else in his view. His hero is a cold-blooded murderer who even endorses the murder of women and children (the BATF agents family in San Antonio toward the end). The feats accomplished by his characters (the fictional ones, anyway) are impossible and the scenario of a president and federal government NOT declaring martial law, shutting down the internet and beginning gun confiscation when it's minions begin to get waxed are simply not plausible. Such actions might result in a civil war, or you might see a bunch of sheep just turn in their weapons. The only useful thing this book does is catalog the various laws and steps taken to slowly but surely take away our 2nd Amendment rights. According to some reviewers here, even that isn't completely accurate. I found the character Henry Bowman to be a thoroughly disgusting reprobate. He looks down his nose at those who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouth as he was, he frightens women in thinking their lives are in immediate danger in an airplane in an effort to extort sexual favors, and uses a self-defense class as a means to do the same. Some hero. Pass on this drivel and stick to something more relevent and to the point such as Turner Diaries or Hunter.Book Review: A book written for people that are unwilling to read it, unable to grasp its content
Summary: 5 Stars
I met John Ross in 1997 and had an opportunity to get to know him just after reading his book. He is a very interesting and intelligent fellow (and possesses great knowledge of single malt Scotch). At the time I commented on his 'extreme' style. It is his nature to be very precise and complete in articulating a point whether it be about an aircraft, a firearm, the impact of a bullet or a physical experiences. I have read the less flattering comments about this book by some reviewers and they seem to object to this style. I do not see these comments as genuine. Obviously this book is threatening to the left.
This book is about the 'gun culture'. I am a member of that culture and I see this as a remarkably well written tale that relates many of the sentiments of the gun culture during the anti-gun efforts of the left in the 1990's. I believe that John saw a very dangerous moment developing and wrote this book in an attempt to illuminate those on the left. Of course the left interpreted the book as a 'call to arms' of sorts, totally missing the point. The reference to Timothy McVeigh's 'review' of the books is an effort to discredit the book rather than objectively report. Those on the left, those that support efforts to disarm America, should read this book. It does give an accurate portrayal of a subset of the people in the United States that rejects totalitarianism and will stand against it. I think that recommendation will fall on deaf ears.
Personally, I thoroughly enjoy John's style of writing, the way the book introduces characters, the way he builds a mosaic of people, history and circumstances setting the stage for a truly fascinating conclusion. The descriptions are intense and unsettling, as intense and unsettling events actually are. The story involves many real characters out of the political landscape. For me that adds to the enjoyment.
This book has been compared to another of my favorites, Atlas Shrugged. From the standpoint of relevance, that is perhaps justifiable but Unintended Consequences is a far more pleasurable read. Atlas Shrugged has the power to change your way of thinking, Unintended Consequences explains a way of thinking. In my opinion both books are very relevant to the understanding the times we live in.
Book Review: A personally heart wrenching account of what we've lost
Summary: 5 Stars
While most reviewers have focused on this book from the standpoint of its damning (but highly accurate) indictment of growing Federal invasion of personal property and private behavior, I was personally struck by how closely the principal protagonist's upbringing mirrored my own childhood in the Fifties and Sixties. Raised as a Libertarian by a well read and insightful father, I have been long frustrated by my inability to express my greatest hopes and fears for the future of this country. John Ross has written eloquently and accurately for those of us seeking a voice who have no wish to "go quietly into that night." Not only have I followed the advice of other reviewers in buying copies for family and friends, I have decided to order multiple copies on a wholesale basis to sell at area gun shows at cost. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is said to have galvanized the American Colonists in their revolution against the British Crown. Unintended Consequences could do the same for those who want to see a SEVERELY reduced Federal government become a reality in their own lifetimes. For that reviewer from Missouri who found the book demeaning to women and Jews, I fear that his comments reflect a slave's fearful mentality of how his life might change in the wake of an uprising. With every incident I've read (well chronicled by Ross) of out-of-control Federal agencies, my blood pressure has risen and my determination to fight back effectively has grown. Whether the result of coldly calculating elitists at war with their countrymen or the thrashings of a bloated and uncoordinated Federal behemoth, when the Feds dress and act like Nazi Stormtroopers, they should be treated as such by the armed citizenry. Ross gives both voice and ammunition to those of us who are "Mad as Hell and won't take it any more!!" I recall Mark Twain's story of the Frenchman who accosted him on a train and offered $100 to have not read "Huckleberry Finn." When an astonished Twain asked why, the Frenchman replied- "So that I might have the pleasure of reading it fo the first time." I hope that this book becomes the underground hit of the Nineties and I eagerly await ANYTHING else that John Ross writes hereafter