Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage

by Jeff Guinn

“Impressively researched and written with storytelling verve” (The Wall Street Journal), this is the definitive account of the disastrous siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, featuring never-before-seen documents, photographs, and interviews, from former investigative reporter Jeff Guinn, bestselling author of Manson and The Road to Jonestown.

For the first time in thirty years, more than a dozen former ATF agents who participated in the initial February 28, 1993, Waco raid speak on the record about the poor decisions of their commanders that led to this deadly confrontation. The revelations in this book include why the FBI chose to end the siege with the use of CS gas; how both ATF and FBI officials tried and failed to cover up their agencies’ mistakes; where David Koresh plagiarized his infamous prophecies; and direct links between the Branch Davidian tragedy and the modern militia movement in America. Notorious conspiracist Alex Jones is a part of the Waco story. So much is new and stunning.

Guinn puts you alongside the ATF agents as they embarked on the disastrous initial assault, unaware that the Davidians knew they were coming and were armed and prepared to resist. His you-are-there narrative continues to the final assault and its momentous consequences. Drawing on this new information, including several eyewitness accounts, Guinn again does what he did with his bestselling books about Charles Manson and Jim Jones, revealing “gripping” (Houston Chronicle) new details about a story that we thought we knew.

Genres: Nonfiction, True Crime, History, Cults, Religion, Crime, Audiobook

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 24, 2023

About the author

Jeff Guinn is a former journalist who has won national, regional and state awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, and literary criticism.

Guinn is also the bestselling author of numerous works of fiction and nonfiction including, but not limited to: Go Down Together: The True Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde (which was a finalist for an Edgar Award in 2010); The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral - and How It Changed the West; Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson; and The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.

Jeff Guinn is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, and the Texas Literary Hall of Fame. He appears as an expert guest in documentaries and on television programs on a variety of topics.

Guinn lives in Fort Worth, Texas.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

“In Trailer #1, [Special Response Team] leader [Jerry] Petrilli wished he could tell [raid commander Chuck] Sarabyn one more time ‘how bad I think this is,’ but Petrilli was wedged tight in the middle of the trailer itself, while Sarabyn rode with the driver in the cab of the pickup truck. So Petrilli, bowing to the inevitable, passed the word to his squad: ‘It’s showtime; goggles down and fingers off the triggers.’ In Trailer #2, the driver shouted back to his passengers, ‘When I stop, you go.’ [Agent Mike] Russell, struggling to keep his balance like everyone else in Trailer #2 as it made a wide right turn onto Mount Carmel’s driveway, had a final, hopeful thought: Well, maybe Koresh heard we were investigating, and would probably be coming after him. But maybe he doesn’t know that we’re coming right now. He did…”
- Jeff Guinn, Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage

The raid on the Branch Davidian compound by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the subsequent siege by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the conflagration that ended the fifty-one day standoff is a quintessential American story.

It has religion. It has guns. It has iconoclasts who want to be left alone. At its center is a pedophile with unrealized rock star dreams who deftly pivoted to messiah, because it’s America, and you can be whatever you want. It implicates serious issues regarding militarized police and the boundaries of proper government. It also involves a profit-driven media that has stopped reporting the news, and instead drives it. Most pertinent to the present day, the siege in Waco, Texas is about lies that become truth by mere repetition, and about the tendency of high-profile violent events to merge into a vast governmental conspiracy.

With so many topics to cover, with so much resonance upon which to meditate, I couldn’t think of a better person to tell this tale than Jeff Guinn. Thus, it came as a nasty shock to discover that Waco is hastily assembled, awkwardly presented, and so gap-riddled that it’s hard to know why he bothered. Published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary, it has absolutely nothing new to say.

***

Unpopular opinion alert: this is a minority report. Based on a quick survey, it seems most people who’ve read Waco liked it. This is a disappointment to me, but might work just fine for you.

***

For a book I didn’t like, Waco gets off to a great start, demonstrating why Guinn is one of the best author-historians working today.

In a closely-observed prologue, just before the Mount Carmel raid begins, Guinn shows us the preparations of ATF agents for a showcase raid meant to bring a measure of acclaim to their unloved agency. Belying later conspiracist claims that the ATF intended – for no particular reason – to murder the Davidians at the outset, Guinn describes agents stuffing their pockets with candy and McDonalds vouchers, to be used to calm the compound’s children while it was searched

From this expertly-set hook, Guinn loops back in time for a methodical look at the origins of the Branch Davidians, and their founder, Victor Houteff. This survey explores their beliefs, explains how they came to own the land outside of Waco, and traces the exceedingly strange power struggles within the group, establishing yet again how the biggest fights can occur over the smallest stakes.

These early chapters are everything I wanted – and expected – from Guinn. It sets a firm foundation, answers questions I didn’t know I had, and adds a fuller dimension to the Davidians.

***

Guinn’s introduction of Vernon Howell, later to become David Koresh, is also solid.

Koresh was an unknown until he exploded into the national consciousness on February 28, 1993, when the ATF came knocking. As such, all of his early life has to be pieced together from evidentiary scraps of borderline credibility, often given by supporters – or Koresh himself – to burnish his image.

Guinn has experience with men like Vernon-turned-David. He is an expert at delivering true crime stories that puncture myths, such as his deconstruction of Bonnie and Clyde in Go Down Together. He has also handled cult leaders who use their positions to sexually exploit their followers, as he did in his magisterial look at Jim Jones in The Road to Jonestown, and Charles Manson, in Manson.

Waco should have tracked The Road to Jonestown, as the similarities between Jones and Koresh are striking, including a shared racial progressivism, a belief they were entitled to sexual liberties not extended to their followers, and their professed certainty that God chose them as a messenger.

Somewhere along the way, however, Guinn apparently decided to take Koresh at his word.

***

The trouble announces itself in a short, five-page chapter titled “The Girls.”

See, the thing about David Koresh is that he raped children. Somehow – understandably or not given what transpired – this element of Koresh’s character has never reached the prominence it deserves. We end up sidetracked by discussions about the First and Second Amendments, without ever grappling with Koresh’s unbridled and well-documented lust for adolescent girls aged ten to fourteen. In America, a man can spend his life in prison for looking at a pornographic image of a child; Koresh impregnated actual children, and yet this criminality is reduced to a factoid. Or – as Guinn repeats – something outside the ATF’s purview.

In this highly problematic chapter, Guinn briefly recites Koresh’s predilections. Though much is left out, he does recount a particularly graphic sexual encounter Koresh had with a ten-year-old girl in a motel room, an encounter that is stomach-churning.

Yet rather than condemn Koresh, Guinn decides to view the incident from his perspective, and that of the Davidians. He even begins to narrate Waco in their idiom, making reference to “secular law” and “agents of Babylon,” and noting that according to the Davidians “understanding of spiritual law, the Lamb was exercising his prerogative.”

Guinn also wants us to know, in a particularly odd passage, that even though having sex with a girl under fourteen is a first-degree felony in Texas, this “doesn’t mean that adult men in Texas never have sex with willing, unmarried, underage girls, but it does mean that they risk prison when they do.”

With this gross allusion to “willing” ten-year old girls, Guinn implies that child sexual abuse statutes are just one more example of government overreach, like a law that tells you how high your grass can grow.

This perception only makes sense when you realize that Guinn has accepted Koresh as a legitimate theological figure.

***

Throughout Waco, Guinn relies on two religious scholars who inserted themselves into the 1993 saga. Channeling their words, he comes to the conclusion that Koresh was some kind of Biblical genius. Leaving aside the important fact that the Bible itself was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, and that any words Koresh “interpreted” had already been interpreted – and then translated – into English, the idea of Koresh as a brilliant scholar is rubbish.

Everything Koresh said – every passage he illuminated, every connection he drew – had the same purpose: to rationalize his own impulses. Koresh wanted to sleep with other men’s wives, so he found some words in the Bible that supported him. He wanted to molest children, so he told his followers that God meant for him to take the virginity of young females and sire their babies.

While Guinn and his theological experts are parsing Koresh’s “seals,” they are missing the obvious point that by some happy coincidence, the Bible supported every single thing Koresh did, even when conventional interpretations, and basic decency, said otherwise.

***

Things might have gotten on track if Guinn brought his usual skills to bear on the raid, siege, and finale. Here, too, he falls short.

As he did with the OK Corral in The Last Gunfight, Guinn tries to break the opening firefight down to its subatomic particles. Instead of clarifying, this makes for an incoherent and contradictory narrative.

The siege that follows is spatially compressed and generally rushed. I didn’t expect Guinn to give a day-by-day breakdown, but I also needed more than a brief summary that ignores the escalating tactics and the mounting pressures faced by the FBI. This is not the “definitive” look I had been promised, but a hurried dash to the finish line.

I recognize, of course, that my desire for a 500 page deep-dive into Waco is unique, and the 330 pages in this book is probably more in line with readers’ desires.

But if you’re going to make Waco short, you should also make it accurate.

***

Objectivity is a difficult thing to achieve. Admittedly, it often means an author telling us what we want to hear. To me, objectivity requires looking at all the evidence regardless of your presuppositions, classifying that evidence based on value and trustworthiness, and then making a judgment, using commonsense and probabilities to fill in any gaps.

In Waco, Guinn prefers to give the “government” side, the Davidian side, and then throw up his hands at the mere notion of truth. Of course, not taking a side is – in reality – taking a side.

There are numerous examples, but the biggest one concerns the final assault, in which the FBI knocked holes in the compound walls to insert CS gas. A fire broke out, and 76 men, women, and children died.

Instead of describing how Koresh had the fires set, preparatory to his follower’s “translation,” Guinn lays out all the different possibilities for what happened. To his minor credit, he thinks it “least likely” that the FBI decided to murder everyone on live television. More plausible, to him, is that the FBI started the fire accidentally. That Koresh was responsible is disparaged as merely the “most popular theory.”

I’ve read the Treasury Report, the Congressional Report, and Senator John Danforth’s Special Counsel Report. This makes me weird, but also cognizant about what Guinn elides. Specifically, the overwhelming evidence that Koresh burned his own people.

Earlier in the siege, the FBI snuck listening devices into the compound. These devices, known as Title III intercepts, caught a number of Davidians talking about the fires: “Need fuel.” “Have you poured it yet.” “David said we have to get the fuel on.” “So we only light it first when they come in with the tank, right?” There are at least 20 captured statements referring to the lighting of a fire. Guinn, however, bordering on mendacity, suggests that all the listening devices were destroyed by tank-collapsed walls before the fire started.

Meanwhile, eyewitness testimony and video footage prove that three fires erupted at different parts of the compound at approximately the same time. The FBI even saw Davidians pouring fuel, while Fire Marshals later found accelerant spread all over the place. This perfectly dovetails with admissions from surviving Davidians. Even Clive Doyle, a man for whom Guinn displays genuine affection, told the Texas Rangers that they spread Coleman fuel at designated locations.

Koresh torched his followers, then chose a bullet for himself. There are two sides to every story, yes, but in this case, only one side has supporting evidence.

***

This matters because – as we saw in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, two years after the fiery denouement – the Waco siege has been hijacked by domestic extremists to advance their own causes. They’re able to keep doing this because of a widespread refusal to separate the many mistakes of the ATF and the FBI from the legal, moral, and personal responsibility of David Koresh and his followers for breaking the law.

Having been a public defender for much of my career, I don’t habitually carry water for law enforcement, especially when it comes to bursting into people’s homes. But this wasn’t a no-knock dawn raid looking for a guy with a failure-to-appear warrant on a misdemeanor possession charge. This wasn’t Breonna Taylor.

This was a knock-and-announce in broad daylight, with sworn agents delivering a lawful warrant to a man sitting on a huge cache of illegal machine guns and grenades. Instead of complying, instead of litigating his issues in a court of law, Koresh slammed the door in the face of agents while his followers – who were stationed at windows with automatic weapons, an ambush pure and simple – opened fire. Due to some strange overlap on both the left and right, Koresh has undeservedly become the child-molesting face of the Fourth Amendment.

***

In Guinn’s utterly clueless final chapter, in which he approvingly cites Thomas Jefferson’s muddleheaded, pre-constitutional, undemocratic claptrap about the “tree of liberty” and the “blood of patriots and tyrants,” he offhandedly mentions Waco’s “legacy of rage.”

That rage comes from the belief that the blunders of the ATF and the FBI were actually symptoms of premeditated homicidal intent. It comes from the belief that “the government” is some faceless and shadowy institution, rather than a bunch of normal people, some of whom live in your neighborhood. It comes from the simplification of a complex and tragic event. To that end, Waco fails to investigate the problem; instead, it becomes part of it.

[Alex.andthebooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Świetny reportaż, który obnaża brak przygotowania i wąskie horyzonty myślowe wśród służb, odpowiedzialnych za akcję w Waco.

[Traci Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book but it lacked a POV. I was interested in the story and think Guinn laid out a pretty coherent picture of what happened in 1993 and leading up to it. I just wished he’d had more perspective as to why telling this story now is important (aside from the 30 year anniversary in 2023). For example the last chapter is about Waco’s legacy but doesn’t delve into the white supremacy and politics at the heart. It’s also only 10 pages and I’d argue the legacy is the crucial stuff at this point. It’s a solid book but not a revelation.

[Bookishrealm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whew. This was a wild read. I thought I knew a lot about the incident at Waco, but this provided an interesting perspective of not only what happened that day, but also the dangerous assumptions that led to unnecessary deaths.

Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage was more than I could have ever expected. While this is my first Guinn book, I can definitely say that it won't be the last. Not only are readers privy to the exact details of what happened on that day, but they are also provided with an extensive history of the Davidians. I knew a little bit about David Koresh; however, there were lots of details that I missed prior to reading this book.

There is this theme of dangerous assumptions that really drives the narrative of this book and highlights the decisions that made everything go wrong. The ATF made so many incorrect moves pertaining to how they should and should not have approached David Koresh and the rest of the Brach Davidians. The job was botched from the beginning and as noted by Guinn those responsible for the decisions never fully faced punishment. It was these decisions that resulted in the 51 day standoff. While in the wrong, Guinn doesn't necessarily absolve David Koresh of the wrongs that he committed towards the members of his congregation. There are enough specific details in the text to make any readers stomachs turn including Koresh's treatment of women.

This book is filled with so much detail. The way that Guinn is able to capture the readers attention and walk them step by step through the siege and it's aftermath is unparalleled. I definitely plan to dive into more of his works this year especially because he seems to focus on cults and their leaders. If you're interested in learning more about David Koresh and the siege at Waco, I highly recommend checking this one out.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

When it comes to great biographies, I am always eager when Jeff Guinn has published something else. Having read a number of his previous pieces, I was eager to get my hands on this tome, which explores the 1993 debacle in Waco, the Branch Davidoans, and David Koresh. Guinn does a stellar job at providing historical accounts of the group, their wayward final leader, and the build-up to the raid by Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents in early 1993. Guinn provides the reader a complete view of the entire situation, leaving both sides feeling as though their views have been properly addressed. A stellar piece that many will be able to use as a benchmark for further reading on the subject.

While many may remember the ATF/FBI siege of the Branch Davidian Compound in February 1993, few are likely well-versed about the events that lasted over a month, and the group at the heart of the matter. Jeff Guinn seeks to provide the reader with a great deal of context as to how the group, its leader, and may members of the Branch Davidians found themselves on the federal government’s radar, leading to a raid that would end with a bloody and fiery finish, with 76 members of the group dead. US officials were also left with a significant black mark on how the event took place. Guinn relies on the insights of many who found themselves on both sides of the incident to shed light on how poorly things went and how changes might have saved many lives.

In the early chapters, the book explores the heart of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. While the Church was a peaceful group, there were those at its head who saw things significantly differently. This led to a number of splinters and provided a more ‘fundamentalist’ view, which led to the development of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. While the group was led for decades by one family, it was only when a young follower rose to prominence and things truly forked in an entirely different direction. The man, who would eventually call himself David Koresh, took the group in a more isolated direction and prophesised about a new and exciting connection with God, as well as the preparation to for the return of Christ.

While Koresh appeared docile on the surface, Guinn explores how he took the Branch Davidians on a path towards sacrifice and potential violence. He led them with religious fervour, as the Bible foretold, but also moved into gathering large amounts of firearms in preparation for the Final Days. This tipped off the ATF agents to keep an eye on the group, whose views cold be highly problematic should they come to fruition. There were also questionable sentiments about the parenting style that Koresh eschewed of his followers, which included corporal punishment and providing him with many wives as young as twelve, both of which appeared to be rooted in biblical passages. Behind the walls of the compound that was being developed on the outskirts of Waco, the group was preparing for an all-consuming clash, in which their earthly lives would be only a sacrifice for the larger good.

In the latter stages of the book, Guinn explores the struggles the federal government had in trying to address the ongoing issues and trying to dilute the situation without the need for a great deal of media attention. However, it was as though Koresh sought this outward attention to show that his peaceable group was being targeted for their views. With a struggle to neutralise the Branch Davidians and the country without an Attorney-General, the violence soon increased and a long standoff took place, with the Branch Davidians keeping the ATF and FBI agents at bay with large amounts of bullet fire and worthiness to end their lives for the greater cause. It was only when things came to a head and a final plot took place on April 19, 1993 that the indelible view of a bloody and fiery end tattooed itself on the minds of many old enough to remember events. Those 76 bodies of Branch Davidians recovered from the flames showed a dedication for the cause and left many wondering if this would simply be a time-pausing holdout until the next End of Days moment.

Guinn uses a great deal of analysis to better explain the situation and the views of all people from a variety of perspectives. The narrative flowed well and kept the reader in the middle of the story, which builds as the great deal of backstory connects with the eventual clash between Koresh and the Federal Government. Guinn paces the piece through a number of informative chapters that helped explore sentiments from all sides, though never quite choosing one or the other on the issues at hand. Comparing this book to the few others in which the author explores cult-like groups, Guinn does a stellar job weeding out the rumours and lays the truths he has come to understand for the reader to judge. There is little chance that there is one, single point of view that is entirely correct, though Jeff Guinn tries to provide it for all to see and educates the reader throughout the reading experience.

Kudos, Mr. Guinn, for another powerful biography that left me wanting to learn more.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I cannot believe it has been 30 years since the Waco shootout with the Branch Davidians, and Jeff Guinn has done an excellent job of researching and detailing this entire saga. We get the point of view from AFT and FBI, as well as surviving members of the Davidians. We see a lot of missteps by one and all, as well as an underarmed group of federal agents who walked into a massive firefight. Could all of this carnage been avoided? Probably not, since David Koresh had amassed a massive stockpile of weapons and was bound to keep out any governmental interference. A cautionary tale that makes you feel sad that this tragedy occurred in the first place!

[marta (sezon literacki) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jestem zaskoczona jak bardzo męczyłam się z tą książką, biorąc pod uwagę jej wysokie oceny. Czułam się wrzucona w wir nazwisk i nazw, które mnie przytłoczyły, a podczas całej lektury miałam poczucie chaosu. Myślałam, że temat będzie ciekawy, tym bardziej że o wydarzeniach w Waco nie wiedziałam nic poza tym, że miały miejsce, ale narracja jest bardzo powolna i drobiazgowa. Niestety nie był to reportaż dla mnie.

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I watched a Waco documentary on Investigation Discovery maybe two weeks ago so I figured it was time to read a book about it too.

I chose this one to start off with because it's the newest so I thought it would probably have the most info. And while I can't say if it does have the most info or not, since I haven't read the others yet, I did like it.

Mainly, I liked the historical aspect of it, because Jeff Guinn took us through the beginnings of the religion which I've never seen in any documentary (they mostly focus on the siege), so it was interesting to see how it all came about, and that David Koresh didn't just fall out of the sky.

This is also my first Jeff Guinn book, and I've had his books on my radar for a while. So far I'm pretty pleased that I started with this one. I have the Jim Jones one on audio and the Manson one physically (I seem to have misplaced it somewhere though, I'll find it).

All in all, it was good.

4.5

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

... there was this group think: “Yeah, gotta get the bad guys.” Testosterone takes over the mind, and logic is no longer in the equation. – Farris Rookstool III, an FBI analyst present at the siege of the Branch Davidian compound (Kindle location 4400 of this book)

This year is the 30th anniversary of the siege of the Branch Davidian compound. Anniversaries that are multiples of 10 bring a rash of reconsiderations and renarration, not just in print form, like this one, but in all media – soon there will be a new three-part documentary, promising never-before-seen videos from the botched invasion and subsequent siege from Netflix (see trailer here) and a five-episode dramatization from Showtime, promising to illustrate the link between the outcome of the Branch Davidian siege to subsequent acts of militia violence, like the Oklahoma City bombing and the January 6th storming of the US Capitol (see trailer here).

I’ve read some comments on the internet that said, in summary, that David Koresh was a creepy pedophile who deserved what he got. The accusation that he was a pedophile was, by virtually any definition, proven true by the testimony (in this book and elsewhere) of many – as well as by the resulting children of his underage liaisons. Even the second part of the above statement (“he deserved what he got” – that is, death) is difficult to argue with.

The problem is: a lot of people who did NOT deserve what David Koresh got, nevertheless got what Koresh got. But after some ATF agents were killed in the initial assault, there was very little thought given to the idea that some of the people in the compound (particularly women and children) deserved to be saved. It’s hard to condemn law enforcement too harshly – apparently, when Koresh commanded his followers to use weapons, all of them who were physically able did so, when the time came.

The job of law enforcement is always very difficult, but it’s hard not to be astonished by the combination of arrogance and incompetence which law enforcement displayed throughout this sorry episode, especially (but not exclusively) by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). This agency was, even before this disaster, treated like the ugly stepchild of Federal Law Enforcement. The desire to alter this image in time for government budget-making season is one of the reasons that everything was allowed to go so disastrously wrong.

However, in the end, they confirmed their reputation.

The ATF moved into a house across the street from the Branch Davidian compound to do surveillance prior to the assault. Their flimsy story was that the several too-old-for-college men suddenly resident therein were students at a local university. Apparently, the ATF didn’t feel the need to alter the haircuts, behavior, etc., that identified them clearly as law enforcement. On the other hand, when the bureau decided to send in a man disguised as a UPS driver to see what he could see, the single ATF agent who had grown his hair long for previous undercover work was chosen for the job, even though UPS drivers at this time all wore their hair short. The agent offered to cut his hair, but his supervisors told him not to bother (location 2211). Because the Branch Davidians were under the spell of a psychopath, law enforcement apparently felt they were too dim to interpret the evidence of their own eyes.

And don’t even get me started about operational security – the ATF invasion of the Branch Davidian compound couldn’t have been less of a surprise if they had been notified by skywriting and singing telegram.

The book lovingly details the long string of headache-inducing missteps and institutional arrogance before and after the initial ATF raid. Things don’t improve much when the FBI takes over the operation. By this point, no one was in the mood to indulge Koresh’s fantasy of being a divine messenger, to be indulged while awaiting further instructions from God. Some experts in Koresh’s particular brand of end-times thinking attempted to intercede, perhaps hoping they’d prevent a disaster. They didn’t.

One of the reasons I think this is a good book is that the people who love a nice, simple, pat response to a tragedy – whether it’s “he got what he deserved” crowd, the law and order crowd, or “this is criminal overreach by a repressive government” crowd – will not be very happy with this narrative as written. That’s the problem with facts, they are messy, they point in different directions, they defy easy answers. That’s why people ignore them.

Chapter 1 of this book narrates the founding, in the 1840s, of the Seventh Day Adventists, of which the Branch Davidians are an offshoot. Another book that I have read which tells this story is The Delusions Of Crowds: Why People Go Mad in Groups by William J. Bernstein. It would be interesting to compare them. Of the two, this book is more respectful of the Seventh Day Adventists.

Occasionally, I glanced at the footnotes of this book. I was motivated to look at a few of the sources cited therein. Here are two interesting ones, available for free on the internet: (1) Malcolm Gladwell’s “Sacred and Profane: How Not to Negotiate with Believers” from the March 24, 2014, edition of the New Yorker. It is available on the New Yorker website here. The New Yorker website has a paywall which appears after you visit the site a few times. There is an unpaywalled version of the same article here, which is easily readable except for the fact that, for some reason, all instances of the apostrophe are replaced with the number 9. It also may be downloaded. (2) A 2003 interview with Jayne Docherty, a professor of conflict studies and author of Learning Lessons from Waco: When the Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table here.

I received a free electronic advance copy of this book to review from Simon and Schuster via Netgalley.

[ola ✶ cosmicreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

dowiedziałam się tak dużo rzeczy, że przez najbliższe trzy dni będę oglądać i czytać wszystko z tym związane, bardzo dobry i świetnie napisany. ma trochę powtórzeń, ale przynajmniej dla mnie były one przydatne, żeby nie pogubić się w postaciach i faktach

jedyny minus: jako nieamerykański czytelnik potrzebowałabym głębszego wejścia w to, co dzieje się z dawidianami po latach i dlaczego opowiedzenie o nich jest tak ważne; epilog prawie zrobił robotę, ale wymaga rozszerzenia

[Chris Steeden · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘You don’t deliver an apocalypse to an apocalyptic group.’

Jeff Guinn is known for his meticulously detailed and researched books having already written about Charles Manson and Jim Jones so it was no surprise to see a book come out from him on David Koresh and the bungled ATF raid on the Branch Davidian camp near Waco, Texas.

I knew most of the details around this but Guinn will always go a little deeper so it was good to start with a history of the Davidians or the Shepherds Rod as the organization was originally called and founded by Victor Houteff. He explains how it ended up as the Branch Davidians and how Vernon Wayne Howell (Koresh’s real name) got involved back in 1981.

As the power goes to Koresh’s head so do his demands. He is allowed many wives (so he claims). Married couples joining the group could not be married anymore. Men had to give their wives up for Koresh. ‘After a few months, the Branch Davidian men noticed that Koresh’s most frequent choices of bed partners were the group’s most attractive women…Eventually, eleven Branch Davidian women cumulatively gave birth to seventeen of Koresh’s children.’

Living was basic at the compound; One member joked, .‘that living at Mount Carmel was like camping indoors.’ Some group members had normal jobs, a mailman, grocery store checker, lawyer, roofers, landscape gardeners for instance. They opened a car repair garage that did good business, but Koresh wanted more income coming in. One of those car customers was a licensed gun dealer. .‘It occurred to him (Koresh) that there might be considerable profit to be made through the purchase and refurbishing of secondhand weapons, which could then be sold at the gun shows that are ubiquitous in Texas.’ Ultimately this is what brought the Branch Davidians to ATF’s attention. The ATF said that the planning and subsequent operation was all based on their illegal firearms.

Guinn brings the two-hour gun battle to a vivid reality on the page. It is like Assault on Precinct 13 with bullets whizzing past, hitting a target and either injuring or killing them. ‘The ATF casualty count was four dead and sixteen wounded.’ The ATF had killed five Branch Davidians and wounded four including Koresh. The raid should not have even happened. It was supposed to be based on the element of surprise but the Branch Davidians found out about it just before it began. The ATF should have called it off there and then. They didn’t. Things turned bad. This was the Branch Davidians battle with Babylon.

The siege continued and as the world saw Mount Carmel burned after 51 days along with 53 adult Branch Davidians and 23 children. Truly horrifying.

This was another great book by Guinn. He does not go into over detail like he did with Manson. He got the balance right with ‘the Road to Jonestown’ and he has done the same again with this. Can’t wait for his next book.

[Kamryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the ✨privilege✨ of visiting Mount Carmel on a trip to Waco (thanks for bringing me, Kristy—I know you’ll see this 😂). Did you know it’s still an active cult? You’re allowed to see their chapel(?) that’s filled with posters about Branch Davidian history (they call it a museum, but it’s posters). They also have a traffic cone in front of the place “where the women and children were gassed.” I hate that so many people died in such a terrible way, no matter who did or did not cause it (if you’re looking for a definitive answer, you won’t find one in this book—it’s a shame so much evidence was destroyed).

I struggle to find words to describe what it was like visiting. It’s difficult not to physically feel uncomfortable and spooked while there. But it re-sparked an interest in this after reading the current Branch Davidians’ take on the FBI standoff.

This book was thorough without being laborious, which is a difficult balance to strike with nonfiction like this. It was well-organized and IMO balanced and fair to both sides of this issue. I appreciate the post-stand off chapters and epilogue especially, which tie this tragic event to our present reality.

It won’t surprise me if this isn’t the only book I read about this, but it’s a solid first choice and I’m glad I picked it up!

[britt_brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Branch Davidians, a Seventh Day Adventist offshoot cult stockpiled an arsenal in preparation for a supposed doomsday. The US government caught wind. Y’all know the rest. Twelve year old me remembers watching this in total befuddlement. I wish I’d known then how much I would come to love studying cults. Not my favorite Guinn, but I blame my lack of interest in David Koresh.

[Heather Schreiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this ARC from NetGalley.

Well once again Jeff Guinn takes you behind the scenes of a horrific American moment. He puts so much detail into each piece that you feel that you are standing in those trailers with them. While that is a great thing, it does get repetitive at times which makes it a slower read for sure. However, if you’re interested in what went down in Waco, I highly recommend this book!

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Read for an online Goodreads buddy read. I wanted to pick this up after #45 picked Waco as a location for his most recent political rally. I think it was a deliberate statement on his part. This week was the 30th anniversary. I remember this tragedy but had not paid enough attention to the details at the time. The event had a great impact on anti-government sentiments and a rise in militias in response. One clear connection was to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. Guinn does a good job of presenting both sides of the story. It is evident that it was a “cluster Fk” in so many ways. For the government’s part, my gut reaction is ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’, too much adrenaline/ testosterone and too little communication between layers of agencies and personnel. There was little consultation between negotiators and the tactical teams. Chains of command, as in who needed to know or authorize actions, were clearly different among the agencies. After this debacle, ATF was eventually moved from the Treasury to under the Justice Department. Waco was yet another in a series of ATF/FBI missteps following closely behind Ruby Ridge and the Trade Center parking bombing. Plus the timing was unfortunate as they were actually between Attorney Generals. As far as Koresh is concerned, I do think HE believed in his role as the Lamb. However, considering what he was preaching and several factors that brought him to this point, I find it hard to understand how others could be sucked in.

“Branch Davidians who survived the Mount Carmel fire regret that the tragedy there spawned a legacy of rage. They do not condone any threats or acts of violence based on “Waco.” David Thibodeau says, “What’s hard is, our issues were raised by the left and embraced on the right. Radicalism in any form is dangerous. We don’t want anyone to do crazy stuff in the name of Mount Carmel. We were never about that. What we did there was more about love than anything else.”

[Ilona * ksiazka_w_kwiatach * · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bardzo lubię reportaże i, choć sięgam po nie rzadko, moja biblioteczka liczy dość sporą ilość pozycji, w których zawarte są prawdziwe historie. Jedna z takich książek jest „Tragedia w Waco”, opisująca życie i działanie sekty Davida Koresha. Tematyka sekt, mimo że niezwykle interesująca, nigdy specjalnie mnie nie fascynowała; zdecydowanie bardziej skłaniałam się ku historiom o seryjnych przestępcach czy tajemniczych zaginięciach. Niemniej jednak jakiś czas temu miałam przyjemność przeczytać dwie pozycje dotyczące działalności sekt, co wzbudziło moją ciekawość na tyle, że postanowiłam zaopatrzyć się w kilka innych książek z tej tematyki.

Co sprawiło, że David Koresh – uznający się za nowego mesjasza – chciał poprowadzić swoich zwolenników do świętej wojny z Babilonem i zapoczątkować czasy ostateczne?
28 lutego 1993 roku funkcjonariusze z agencji federalnej ATF próbowali wkroczyć na teren Mount Carmel koło Waco w Teksasie, posiadłości zajmowanej przez członków Gałęzi Dawidowej i ich przywódcę Davida Koresha. W wyniku strzelaniny, która się wywiązała, zginęło kilku agentów, co doprowadziło do długotrwałego oblężenia siedziby sekty przez FBI. Próba zakończenia impasu miała tragiczny finał, który rozegrał się na oczach oniemiałej ze zgrozy Ameryki.

„Tragedia w Waco” autorstwa Jeffa Guinna to moje pierwsze spotkanie z piórem tego autora i jestem pod ogromnym wrażeniem. Z czystym sumieniem przyznaję, że jest to jeden z najlepszych reportaży, jakie do tej pory przeczytałam. Jeff Guinn z mistrzowską precyzją i szczegółowością przybliża biografię Verona Wayne'a Howella, znanego jako David Koresh, oraz historię powstania Gałęzi Dawidowej – odłamu Kościoła Adwentystów Dnia Siódmego, na której czele stał Koresh. Autor ukazuje, jak funkcjonowali, w co wierzyli oraz dlaczego stali się zagrożeniem dla porządku publicznego. Bardzo dokładnie opisuje kolejne wydarzenia – zarówno te, które miały miejsce w sercu sekty, jak i w miasteczku Waco; wyszczególnia błędy, jakie popełnili agenci federalni, oraz wpływ braku komunikacji na wydarzenia z 28 lutego 1993 roku. Guinn wyjaśnia, choć nie ocenia, dlaczego zaplanowana operacja od początku nie miała szans na powodzenie.
„Tragedia w Waco” autorstwa Jeffa Guinna to przerażająco dobry reportaż. Autor wykonał kawał świetnej roboty – szczegółowo analizując dokumenty dotyczące wydarzeń z Waco oraz opierając się na relacjach naocznych świadków, zarówno byłych agentów ATF, jak i zwolenników Koresha, którym udało się przeżyć – stworzył bardzo wartościowy tekst, który, mimo objętości, czyta się jednym tchem. Reportaż Jeffa Guinna to nie tylko przerażający portret tragedii i nieudolności służb, ale przede wszystkim ukazanie potęgi manipulacji i jej wpływu na ludzi.
Jeśli tematyka sekt znajduje się w kręgu Waszych zainteresowań, gorąco zachęcam do sięgnięcia po reportaż Jeffa Guinna. Ogrom wiedzy, jaką posiada autor oraz sposób jej przekazania robi na czytelniku wrażenie; dodatkowo dość obszerna bibliografia zawarta w książce skłania do zagłębienia tematu. W swojej biblioteczce posiadam jeszcze dwie książki Guinna, po które z pewnością niebawem sięgnę. Polecam!

[Jasiek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historia opisana w książce jest na pewno godna uwagi. Jako, że tematyka sekt to coś po co chętnie sięgam nie byłem bardzo zaskoczony tym jak rozkręcały się pewne mechanizmy. Bardziej zaskakujące były dla mnie niektóre sytuację rodem z GTA jak i opis tego jak niekompetentnie pracowały agencje ATF, a później FBI. (Jak w FBI są tacy niekompetentnie ludzie to ja w swojej pracy też mogę 🥰) Koniec wstrząsający, tak samo jak zachowania niektórych ocaleńców. Zabrakło mi też większej analizy jak te wydarzenia wpłynęły na świadomość i życie Amerykanów - bo była ona rozpisana może na 3 strony. Z wad książki na pewno bardzo ciężko opisana historia. Roiło się od nazwisk, miejsc, przeplatały się czasy - czasami ciężko było się połapać i można było napisać te książkę znacznie przystępniej ale rozumiem też, że jest to reportaż gdzie uwaga do takich szczegółów jest z założenia ważna.

[Bookygirls Magda · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5
Jedyną wadą tego reportażu jest ilość powtórzeń pewnych informacji. Moze to być plusem dla osób, które podczytują a nie pożerają - przy dłuższych przerwach takie przypomnienia pewnie się przydają

[SK · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was ten when the Waco siege took place, and I only remember two things about it: 1) TV news scenes of Mount Carmel up in flames and 2) my mom's strong, negative reaction to the claims of Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh.

There's an excellent critical review of this book by someone called Matt that I'm sure would resonate with people who already know a lot about what went down in Waco, but, if you're like me and always wondered what Mom found so distasteful about Koresh, what caused the whole compound to go up in flames, and why people still argue about it, Jeff Guinn's Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage might prove to be a helpful and engaging introduction.

I also appreciated Guinn's approach. When writing a story like this one, it would be easy to adopt a derisive attitude toward the Branch Davidians. The trust they put in Koresh who was clearly a charlatan (and immoral) was astounding. The male followers who willingly handed over their wives to Koresh? So absurd that, at one point, it made me laugh aloud at the dark humor of it all. While obviously never condoning the illegal actions of Koresh and his followers, Guinn tries to understand what made them so eager to follow a man who would instantly strike most people as a lunatic. I appreciated the neutral stance Guinn took and the ways in which he presented the events as a riveting story that the reader ought to be curious about. You can't help but feel sympathy for the Branch Davidians in the end, even if they should have seen this coming. (Like my mother, I feel no sympathy for Koresh.)

There's also some interesting discussion here about the relationship between the Waco events and American right-wing, gun-loving militia groups. And this is done in the most apolitical way that I can imagine, which I found refreshing.

A really good read overall.

[Karen Bullock · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a reader receives from a historic retelling by Jeff Guinn is a definitive and meticulously detailed piece that answers many questions.
This author’s presentation is clear, concise and informative. Beginning with the actual event, that was tragic from the start, all the way back to its basic beginnings/origins.
Covering the origins in religion as far back as 1844 through the 1920’s and religious leaders/practitioners who thought their interpretations of The Book of Revelations and The End of Times, was the only way to view the outcome of the world.
However, where one fails, another steps in. Learning where David Koresh, adopted his name and formed his ideas and he warped them into new laws was mind boggling.
How the government, ATF and dozens of field agents botched the raid that ended tragically is upsetting to say the least.
This book is a critical piece of history; a must have for those wanting to fill in the missing blanks where this story ended and to garner as much of the truth as they can handle.
Perfect for true crime and historians, criminologists, psychologists and theologians.
Outstanding research!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for this arc and to review honestly.

[Kimmylongtime]

After reading this since May I love the information. I read the history behind it and the knowledge I’ve gained was amazing.
However, I found that the novel kind of read like a newspaper. Sadly that’s the only medium I can’t read in large quantities since going to school to become a journalist.
So what I did was I read the important parts of the story, skimmed the audio and I won’t give this a rating.
I feel it is unfair even though I now know the story behind Waco, TX and the compound that the FBI staked out over 30 years ago. I know about the families that lived there and the small children who made it out and have PTSD until this very day. I know about the agents who worked tirelessly and the financial situation that made this job 10x harder.
I just feel I didn’t immerse myself in the story Jeff Guinn wrote enough to give this stars. Will I probably give this a try again? Anything is possible.

Happy reading everyone 😍🥰!!

[Jeremy Anderberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guinn strikes again. The way he writes about cult and cult leaders is unparalleled. It's a little shorter than his works on Manson and Jones, but that's a good thing. Guinn stays laser-focused here and the effort pays off big-time. From the beginnings of the church, to Koresh's early life and transformation, to the 1993 debacle in Waco, to that year's last legacy on the American militia movement.

So so so good.

[po.czytane · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

Niestety, jest to moje lekkie rozczarowanie. Reportaż o Jonestown pochłonęłam z wypiekami ba twarzy, tutaj poważnie zastanawiałam się, czy w ogóle dam radę dokończyć.

Poczułam się przytłoczona lawiną nazwisk i faktów. Zabrakło tej lekkości z poprzedniej książki Guinna.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember sitting in the kitchen of the house I where I was a nanny, watching this unfold on TV until the brutal, fiery [and as you will find in this book], unnecessary end. I remember sitting there, watching the fire consume everything and I wept. I wept for the people inside, the children. I wept for the people who had died before [both FBI and Branch Davidians] the fire and I wept for the families who were left with only the memories of their loved ones and the aftermath.
I remember at the time thinking we were not getting the full story [I was correct] and wondered just what the government were playing at [HAD they not learned anything from Jonestown and Ruby Ridge? Apparently no]. All the questions I had then [and more] are answered in this book, THIRTY years later. Not sure why it has taken that long for the truth to come out, but here we are.

A note to clarify - I am, at no point, defending David Koresh. His idea of "religion" and his rough way of leading his "people" is absolutely not my cup of tea. Also, his willingness to go down in a blaze of glory with said people [including the 23 children that were still in the compound], because it is what he [said he] learned from the Bible [more on that later and what it all meant] and his being a prophet leans towards having, if nothing else, a serious "savior" complex, if not some sort of mental illness [though this has never been proved and is truly just my own opinion from what I have read of him]. That said, I think that the biggest mistake the FBI and ATF made [well, one of them anyway] was that they totally and completely underestimated him, refused to acknowledge the fact that DK was extremely gifted and knowledgeable [His ability to memorize and parse out the Bible was mind-boggling. I know many pastors of "traditional" churches who don't know as much about the bible as David Koresh did] and because of that, all that they did just made him dig in more, claim his convictions, and the result was death and destruction. The fact that the FBI/ATF refused to listen to the people who had gotten close to him, refused to call off the initial raid when it became evident that the element of surprise was gone, lied to both their bosses and the media [and therefore the American public] and worked as hard to antagonize David Koresh as they could..well, there are absolutely men from that day that have serious blood on their hand [the blood of the innocent children {who never did anything but be born into a cultish atmosphere} that died that day for sure]. They were asked to back off [by David Koresh and the other Branch Davidians, due to those children] and they refused and what could have been a completely different situation, ended up with what we all now remember.

Something else to realize is, David Koresh truly believed his was the messiah/prophet that was going to lead his people into the glory of heaven. The people that lived on the compound truly believed that he was [it was interesting to read the end about the people who escaped, who still believe in DK and his preaching and believe 100% that when they die, they will be reunited with all who died that day] and unlike Jonestown, where many of the "followers" had to be forced to drink the poison at the end, the people that died that day, did so willingly. They believed this was what the Bible told them was going to happen, through the teaching of David Koresh. That was another way that the FBI/ATF completely underestimated him and the people. They never truly understood the people's level of belief, that they'd go willingly to their death and that the more the government men antagonized David Koresh, the more they drove him to that final act. They made the fatal mistake of not truly knowing their mark and went in blind. Such foolishness cost so many lives. One can only hope they learned something from this.

The aftermath is haunting. Some of the things discussed in this book put images in my head I never, ever needed there and I wept again, over and over, for the waste of it all. The epilogue is even more heartbreaking and I am left with massive book hangover and a heart that is hurting all over again for all that happened and all that was left.

Thank you to NetGalley, Jeff Guinn, and Simon and Schuster for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Kelly (veggiekittykelly_reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeff Guinn has become one of my favorite true crime writers. The way he intertwines facts about historic events & people with an interesting narrative flow makes these points in time come alive.

The first quarter of the book, also my favorite portion of the book, goes into the history of the Branch Davidians and how the group was before & during the leadership of Koresh.

The many blunders that were made by the ATF in the lead up to the 51-day standoff and siege were chronicled and as a reader, armed with foresight, you can't help but be awestruck by some of the choices that were made.

The ending of the book briefly points out the effect that Waco has had in the United States. A distrust of government, armed civilian militias, and radicalization are all realities and issues we still deal with. I would have liked it if the author had gone further with his analysis of Waco's lasting legacy.

I give Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage by Jeff Guinn ⭐⭐⭐✨ (3.75 stars - Rounded up to 4 stars for Goodreads)

Big thanks to Simon and Schuster NetGalley & Jeff Guinn for this e-ARC. Waco is out NOW!

[Ashley Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a Texas resident who had a grandma that lived in Waco, I feel like I should just know about the David Koresh incident. Sure, I was a baby when it happened, but still. (Isn't that how living in a specific state works?)

I watched the TV series back in 2018 and ended up kind of sympathizing with Koresh and his followers. It really made it seem like these people were just minding their business and ATF came in to just F*** shit up.



I always felt like there was more to the story, but like the lazy learner I am, I didn't look further into it. I consider this book a long time procrastination project.

This was a well researched account of everything that lead up to the botched ATF raid and then the terrible decisions that ultimately lead to the tragedy. On both sides. There's still some mystery as to who did what first because of the whole he said/she said type situation, but overall Jeff Guinn did an excellent job explaining how we went from point A to point B.

[Zella Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guinn is excellent as always. I actually knew little about Waco beyond the basics going into the book. Guinn lays it all out very well, but I was particularly intrigued by the history of the Branch Davidians and Koresh's rise to power. What a wild, absolutely batshit crazy ride. I also particularly enjoyed the moments where he drew parallels and differences between Koresh and the other cult leaders he's chronicled (Manson and Jones). There's also a lot in there about the initial ATF investigation. Per Guinn's account, Koresh certainly deserved the investigation and arrest that loomed over him, though the way things unfolded were mishandled. Overall, an evenhanded account that chronicles a horrifying amount of miscommunication, bungling, and failure to understand one's opponent that culminated in dozens of easily avoided deaths.

[Cheri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another win for Guinn. He provides plenty of historical context and makes it all interesting. One of my favorite authors for understanding the ideas and events that lead up to whatever the focus of the book is. Definitely recommend it.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy!

**Forgot to add that this is our June book on Cocktail Hour!

https://www.youtube.com/live/bx4eElc5...

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant, well balanced, heartbreaking look into the disaster that unfolded at Waco. True to form, Jeff Guinn does a masterful job at laying out the history leading up to the tragedy, as well as exploring the psychology of those involved. I was particularly interested in the interviews from people who were there. Especially an ATF agent who I felt was mostly honest in his recollections given how faulty human memory can be at the best of times.
The horror that happened that day hasn't been lessened by the passage of time. Which holds true for the other tragedies Mr. Guinn has studied and covered in his previous works. I appreciate the care he takes in honoring and humanizing the victims while also doing his best to uncover the numerous factors that lead up to this kind of mass killing. I highly recommend it to those interested in the topic and want to step outside some of the more emotionally charged and biased tellings. While still a difficult read in an emotional sense. It's also compelling and thought provoking. I'm thankful to Netgalley for the ability to preview it.

[Lukas Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author did a great job of impartially explaining the events leading to the Waco siege and the Waco siege itself. Personally I think the ATF really messed up with the initial raid, and there wasn’t much the FBI could do after. It was clear Koresh would keep delaying and stalling. Great book for those interested in cults