Madman in the Woods: Life Next Door to the Unabomber

A compelling and intense account of the Unabomber, his crimes and motives, and the reality of his daily life, this is a revelatory and refreshing addition to the true crime canon. Growing up in the rural forests of Lincoln, MT, author Gehring had no idea of the danger she and her family were in. She spent her life playing in the woods, riding horses, and helping her dad. Occasionally, their neighbor Ted would do benign things like bring Gehring painted rocks or have dinner with her family; another time, however, he killed the Gehrings’ dog. Now an adult, and aware of the many crimes attributed to their neighbor Ted Kaczynski, Gehring wrote this book as part of an effort to learn as much as possible about her former neighbor, as a shadow grew over her childhood memories. The book vacillates between sharing the facts of the case (including new information regarding his living situation) and grappling with the author’s personal history with Kaczynski.