Author Chris Jennings will discuss his critically acclaimed book “End of Days: Ruby Ridge, the Apocalypse, and the Unmaking of America” at Vroman’s Bookstore on Monday, March 30, in a 7 p.m. conversation with journalist and author Jim Newton, a Pasadena resident.
The book, published in February by Little, Brown and Company, examines the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff — in which federal agents surveilled a cabin in Boundary County, Idaho, as part of an operation to arrest white separatist Randy Weaver — and traces a line from that 11-day siege to the conspiratorial politics that now mark American public life. By the time Weaver surrendered, his wife, his son, and a U.S. Marshal were dead.
Jennings, a former editorial staffer at The New Yorker and the author of “Paradise Now: The Story of American Utopianism,” argues that the strain of apocalyptic Christianity that gripped the Weaver family can be traced to biblical prophecy readings dating to the 1870s and through the rise of 20th-century fundamentalism, according to the publisher’s description. The events at Ruby Ridge, Jennings contends, acted as an accelerant for this worldview.
The New York Times Book Review called the book a thoroughly researched chronicle written with precision, according to a review published in February. Kirkus Reviews described it as a vivid reconstruction of a pivotal moment in the history of right-wing extremism.
Newton, who will lead the conversation, spent 25 years at the Los Angeles Times as a reporter, editor, bureau chief, and columnist, including a stint as editor of the editorial pages from 2007 through 2010. He is the author of four books, including biographies of Chief Justice Earl Warren and Gov. Jerry Brown. Newton teaches at UCLA, where he founded Blueprint magazine, and is a columnist for CalMatters. He received the American Political Science Association’s Carey McWilliams Award in 2022.
Vroman’s Bookstore, founded in 1894, is Southern California’s oldest and largest independent bookstore and hosts more than 400 community events a year. The store notes that a purchase of the book from Vroman’s is appreciated and supports events like this one. The hardcover is priced at $30.
The event takes place at 7 p.m. at Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. For information, call (626) 449-5320 or visit vromansbookstore.com.
“End of Days” is Jennings’s second book examining the intersection of radical belief and American history. His first, “Paradise Now,” explored five 19th-century utopian movements. The new work turns that lens from idealists who sought to build heaven on earth to a family whose apocalyptic faith ended in a siege that continues to shape the nation’s politics more than three decades later.
