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Hunting the Unabomber: The FBI, Ted Kaczynski, and the Capture of America's Most Notorious Domestic Terrorist
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Overview
On April 3, 1996, a team of FBI agents closed in on an isolated cabin in remote Montana, marking the end of the longest and most expensive investigation in FBI history. The cabin's lone inhabitant was a former mathematics prodigy and professor who had abandoned society decades earlier. Few people knew his name, Theodore Kaczynski, but everyone knew the mayhem and death associated with his nickname: the Unabomber.
For two decades, Kaczynski had masterminded a campaign of random terror, killing and maiming innocent people through bombs sent in untraceable packages. The FBI task force charged with finding the perpetrator of these horrifying crimes grew to 150 people, yet his identity remained a maddening mystery. Then, in 1995, a "manifesto" from the Unabomber was published in the New York Times and Washington Post, resulting in a cascade of tipsincluding the one that cracked the case.
Hunting the Unabomber includes:
- Exclusive interviews with key law enforcement agents who attempted to track down Kaczynski, correcting the history distorted by earlier films and streaming series
- Never-before-told stories of inter-agency law enforcement conflicts that changed the course of the investigation
- An in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at why the hunt for the Unabomber was almost shut down by the FBI
New York Times bestselling author and former federal prosecutor Lis Wiehl meticulously reconstructs the white-knuckle, tension-filled hunt to identify and capture the mysterious killer. This is a can’t-miss, true crime thriller of the years-long battle of wits between the FBI and the brilliant-but-criminally insane Ted Kaczynski.
"A powerful dual narrative of the unfolding investigation and the life story of Ted Kaczynski...The action progresses with drama and nail-biting intensity, the conclusion foregone yet nonetheless compelling. A true-crime masterpiece." Booklist (starred review)
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780718092122 |
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Publisher: | Nelson, Thomas, Inc. |
Publication date: | 04/28/2020 |
Pages: | 336 |
Sales rank: | 290,249 |
Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d) |
About the Author

Lisa Pulitzer is a former correspondent to the New York Times and author/coauthor of numerous nonfiction titles, including eight New York Times bestsellers.
Table of Contents
Authors Note xi
Part I
Chapter 1 It's UNABOM 3
Chapter 2 FC Strikes Again 13
Chapter 3 A Serial Bomber? 23
Chapter 4 Major Case Conference 35
Chapter 5 Moving West 47
Chapter 6 No Perfect Crime 51
Part II
Chapter 7 Only a Matter of Time 57
Chapter 8 Ted 65
Chapter 9 Failure to Connect 75
Chapter 10 Becoming the Unabomber 87
Part III
Chapter 11 The Elusive Motive 97
Chapter 12 Green Light 101
Chapter 13 UNABOM Task Force 109
Part IV
Chapter 14 The Big Picture 117
Chapter 15 Setting Precedents 129
Chapter 16 "What is UNABOM?" 137
Part V
Chapter 17 A New Direction 149
Chapter 18 Three-Part Plan 157
Chapter 19 Refocusing the Inquiry 165
Chapter 20 Lines of Inquiry 175
Chapter 21 "Go Guy" 193
Part VI
Chapter 22 Profiling a Killer 207
Chapter 23 "Warning" 215
Chapter 24 To Publish or Not to Publish 225
Chapter 25 55,000 Leads and Counting 235
Chapter 26 A Break in the Case 247
Chapter 27 Getting Close 255
Chapter 28 The UNABOM Typewriter 269
Chapter 29 "I am not mentally ill." 277
Epilogue 283
Afterword 285
Acknowledgments 289
Sources and Methodology 293
Timeline and Key Players 299
Index 305
About the Author 317