One of Us: the Story of a Massacre and Its Aftermath Free

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It is a ghastly story of family dysfunction, professional and sexual failure, grotesque narcissism and the temptation of apocalyptic delusions. Breivik grew up in an expensive area in Oslo. But his home life must have been miserable from the start. His father, a diplomat, disappeared more or less completely from his life. And One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath mother was a depressive, self-destructive woman who thought of sending her boy and his sister to an orphanage. Attempts to join groups or make friends almost always ended in humiliation. He made up for his social failures by dreaming of personal grandeur. He did have one childhood friend, called Ahmed, the son of Pakistani immigrants. Norwegian kids laughed at these pretensions; Ahmed moved away. After finishing high school, Breivik tried various schemes to make One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath money, such as selling advertising space by telephone, and failed. He later succeeded for a while by peddling fake university diplomas on the internet, but this too ran into the sand when he was in danger of being exposed. At one point, joining the Freemasons seemed an attractive way to cut a figure in a secret society, but after being introduced to a lodge by a relative, Breivik got bored and never attended. His dreams of power became increasingly aggressive. He turned to guns, acquiring unusual expertise in weapons and military hardware. But Breivik was considered too weird even for the Progress party and he was never asked to run for office. His love life, too, failed to take off. But nothing came of this, either. Some who knew Breivik, who was always a fastidious dresser and liked to wear makeup, were convinced that he was secretly gay. He denied this fiercely and bragged that he was quite a brothel man. Now that power, money and glory, had eluded him in real life, Breivik found temporary solace in virtual reality. He called himself Andersnordic. Aroundhe decided to go it alone. From then on, he lived almost entirely in his imagination, but his fantasies were still linked to the real world of politics and ideology. Breivik became obsessed with the idea that the west was at war with Islam. To Breivik these were not just words: he had found a cause, a way to show his real power and get recognition at last from a cold and indifferent world. It was now time for some real action. He also managed to acquire an arsenal of lethal weapons. All this is described in chilling detail by Seierstad. Indeed, Breivik told his police interrogators that he was actually inspired by the One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath spirit of al-Qaida. What such killers crave more than anything else is maximum publicity, fame, attention. This is true if they are loners. And it is true when they act as the suicidal hitmen for revolutionary groups. Worldwide publicity transforms these misfits into heroic or villainous representatives of global religions, political ideologies and even entire civilisations. How far can we separate a Breivik from the ideas that inspired him? Muslims like to claim that jihadi terrorists have nothing to do with Islam. It is true that the Islamism promoted by Islamist revolutionaries is not what most Muslims believe in. But it is also true that elements of their faith are used to promote extreme violence. Islam cannot be blamed for this. But those who prod young people into committing murder by preaching hatred can be. If this is so, then what about the ideas that inspired Breivik? Breivik may or may not be a madman. The court psychiatrists in Oslo differed on this. In the end it was decided that he was not. But that ideas have consequences cannot be denied. This book throws a great deal of light on the life and times of a miserable killer. That he had a sick imagination is clear. More is to be said about the ideas that fed it. Facebook Twitter Pinterest. Topics Biography books. Reuse this content. Order by newest oldest recommendations. Show 25 25 50 All. Threads collapsed expanded unthreaded. Loading comments… Trouble loading? Most popular. One of Us: The Story of Anders Breivik and the Massacre in Norway by Åsne Seierstad

A One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath and thorough account of the massacre that upended Norway, and the trial that helped put the country back together On July 22,Anders Behring Breivik detonated a bomb outside government buildings in central Oslo, killing eight people. What made Breivik, a gifted child from an affluent neighborhood in Oslo, become a terrorist? As in her bestseller The Bookseller of KabulSeierstad excels at the vivid portraiture of lives under stress. She delves deep into Breivik's troubled childhood, showing how a hip-hop and graffiti aficionado became a right-wing activist and Internet game addict, and then an entrepreneur, Freemason, and self-styled master warrior who sought to "save Norway" from the threat of Islam and multiculturalism. She writes with equal intimacy about Breivik's victims, tracing their political awakenings, aspirations to improve their country, and ill-fated journeys to the island. We have also gotten to know an entire country—famously peaceful and prosperous, and utterly incapable of protecting its youth. On July 22,Anders Breivik set off a bomb, outside of a government building, in Oslo killing eight people. A very difficult book to read, even harder to understand why Anders Breivik did what he did so violently yet so calmly. Asne Seierstad I think writes with some understanding and tries to get to the She lives in Oslo, Norway. One of Us (book) - Wikipedia Seierstad explains in the epilogue [1] : that Tina Brown commissioned her to get anything on "that man" for publication in Newsweek. Instead she wrote about the reaction in Norway [2] One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath left for Libya. When Breivik's trial was set to begin, Brown tried again. Seierstad returned to Norway and sat in the courtroom for all 10 weeks of the trial. In Seierstad's words [1] : she was "drip-fed the details of the planning and execution of the act of terrorism She read the police reports, the confidential psychiatric reports, the 22 July commission report, and Breivik's own writing. She interviewed families, friends, and politicians. In her author's note [1] : vii Seierstad reports that all facts told in the narrative come from these sources. One of Us is a book about belonging, a book about community There were no shortcuts. This is also a book about looking for a way to belong and not finding it. The perpetrator ultimately opted-out of the community and chose to strike at it in the most brutal of ways It is also a story about contemporary Norway. It is a story about us. One of Us was published in Norway in November by Kagge [1] : frontmatter pp. The English-language version of One of Us has been recognized by a number of institutions and publications. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Retrieved 22 January Angus Robertson. Fishpond Ltd. Retrieved 15 July The New York Times. Inga Bejer Engh Svein Holden. Wenche Elizabeth Arntzen Arne Lyng. Categories : Norway attacks non-fiction books Books adapted into films Norwegian books. Hidden categories: Articles needing additional references from July All articles One of Us: The Story of a Massacre and its Aftermath additional references Use dmy dates from October Articles containing Norwegian-language text. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. First edition Norwegian. Angel of Grozny: Inside Chechnya. Two Sisters Originally published in Norwegian by Kagge.