The best Unabomber remembrances in the game
the true crime that's worth your time
If you’ve been on the grid this weekend, you know that Ted Kaczynski — known as the Unabomber — was found dead on Saturday at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, North Carolina. Many journalists were off on summer weekends, but outlets hustled to pull together not just obits* but to approach the story from a different angle than the standard “Elderly Criminal, Dead.”
That might mean dubious props to the AP for leaning into an anonymously sourced claim that he died by his own hand, the now-ubiquitous “5 fast facts” kind of coverage, or a local papers’ effort to center the narrative in its hometown.
Other outlets are using his passing to resurface news stories that many of us might have forgotten — that is, if we had even heard of them in the first place. Over at the Post, it’s “Before he was the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski was a mind-control test subject.” At the NYT, it’s “Newspapers Printed Unabomber’s Manifesto in 1995. It’s Still Fiercely Debated.” And British humor mag Spiked isn’t my cup of tea, but the hed “Everyone’s as bonkers as the Unabomber now” is hard to beat.
There’s probably a lot more thoughtful coverage out there that I’m not seeing as I write this Monday — deep dives into his story and how and why it resonates today. And that’s our topic for today: what Kaczynski coverage would you recommend to people unfamiliar with the case? What properties tackle the complicated story in a way you admire. And, just because we love a little trash talk — whose takes are grossing you out, or just feel plain old botched? Let’s hear it. — EB
*Any news agency worth their salt had a par-baked obit at hand — Kaczynski was, after all, 81. Professional outlets have obits for most notables ready to go after a certain age, as their demise feels all the more pending. That said, another one-time federal prisoner, Martha Stewart, is also 81, and I kind of believe she will outlive us all! Whoever is responsible for keeping her draft obit up to date has a lot more to do than most.