Slate Presents Plus

In 1992, hundreds of armed federal agents surrounded a family of white separatists in a ramshackle mountaintop cabin. Eleven days later, three people were dead—and the story of Ruby Ridge was just beginning. Journalist Ruth Graham explores a tragedy that’s become a foundational myth for the modern right, and finds some frightening lessons about power and paranoia. 

In this week's bonus episode of Standoff, Ruth Graham talks to Slate’s Chau Tu about the making of the first episode and the history of white separatists and religious groups in America. Then, we hear an interview with Idaho State University professor emeritus James Aho, author of The Politics of Righteousness, about The Order, a violent criminal group that formed out of the Church of Jesus Christ-Christians, Aryan Nations in the 1980s.

Ruth Graham breaks down what led to a shootout on the Weaver family property on Aug. 21, 1992, that left three people dead.

In this week's bonus episode, Ruth Graham talks to Kathleen Belew, a historian and author of Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, about the distinctions between white power, white supremacy, and white separatism, and the surprisingly prominent role of women within these movements.

Host Ruth Graham describes what happens for the bulk of the 11-day siege on the Weaver family property. As the surviving Weavers stayed holed up inside their cabin, their story attracted droves of supporters and rabble-rousers to rural Idaho.

In this week's bonus episode of Standoff, Ruth Graham goes more in-depth about what happened during the 11-day standoff, what happened to Bo Gritz, and the letter that the Weaver family wrote while inside their cabin. Then, she speaks with Greg Sprungl, who was a deputy sheriff at the time and worked on the investigation afterward.

In the final episode of Standoff, our narrative miniseries on the story of Ruby Ridge, host Ruth Graham recaps the prosecution of Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, and explores how the story of the standoff became legendary among the modern far right.