Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage by Matthew Wolfe

Expand

Fires in the Night: The Earth Liberation Front, the FBI, and a Secret History of Eco-Sabotage by Matthew Wolfe

In the late ‘90s and early ‘00s, the shadowy Earth Liberation Front (ELF) took credit for a string of arson attacks. They saw themselves as fighting a guerilla war on behalf of Mother Nature and the U.S. government was not amused. Branded as domestic terrorists, they became the subject of a painstaking FBI investigation. By the end of 2005, ELF’s more or less leader, Kevin Tubbs, was arrested by three men in gray suits. “Don’t try anything funny,” one agent said. It was just like a movie.

Fires in the Night is the result of an extensive investigation of ELF by journalist Matthew Wolfe (The Atlantic, New Republic). The group coalesced in Eugene, Oregon, a mecca for cultists and cranks as well as serious-minded activists. Several founding members came together while thwarting loggers from clear-cutting a forest. They fought hard to save 1,000 acres but was that enough to save the world? ELF graduated from civil disobedience to violence, determined to destroy only property, not people.

Most of its leading figures are fascinating misfits, especially Tubbs, who “aspired to be both a soldier and a punk” in his teen years. He might have joined the Marines but enlisted as an animal rights protester instead. He was ELF’s disciplinarian. Some of his colleagues were sketchier, including Josephine Overaker, a scion of affluence whose fondness for shoplifting and bad checks left a trail of crumbs for the FBI to follow.

ELF’s targets were often inapt. A Forestry Service science research post was torched. They won no friends burning down a family-owned lumber yard that was one small town’s main employer. By destroying the SUVs in a car dealer’s lot, ELF sent toxic fumes from burning plastic into the environment they hoped to save.

On the other hand, ELF correctly identified the central problem facing humanity today: environmental desecration on an incomprehensible scale. How to reverse the trend of ecological destruction? Set fires? They failed.

Get Fires in the Night on Amazon here.

Paid link