Koresh: The True Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco

by Stephan Talty

The first comprehensive account of David Koresh, the tragedy at Waco, and the rise of government mistrust in America, from a master of narrative nonfiction.

No other event in the last fifty years is shrouded in myth like the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas. Today, we remember this moment for its inspiration of the Oklahoma City bombing; for the 80 people, including 24 children, who died; and for the wave of anti-government militarism that followed. What we understand far less is what motivated the Davidians' enigmatic leader, David Koresh.

Drawing on first-time, exclusive interviews with Koresh's family and numerous survivors of the siege, bestselling author Stephan Talty paints a psychological portrait of this infamous icon of the 1990s. Born Vernon Howell into the hyper-masculine world of central Texas in the 1960s, Koresh experienced a childhood riven with abuse and isolation. He found a new version of himself in the halls of his local church, and love in the fundamentalist sect of the Branch Davidians. Later, with a new name and professed prophetic powers, Koresh ushered in a new era for the Davidians that prized his own sexual conquest as much as his followers' faith. As one survivor has said, "What better way for a worthless child to feel worth than to become God?"

In his signature immersive storytelling, Talty reveals how Koresh's fixation on holy war, which would deliver the Davidians to their reward and confirm himself as Christ, collided with his paranoid obsession with firearms to destructive effect. Their deadly, 51-day standoff with the embattled FBI and ATF, he shows, embodied a frontier ethic that continues to resonate.

Now, thirty years after that unforgettable moment, Koresh presents the tragedy at Waco--and the government mistrust it inspired--in its fullest context yet.

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

464 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 11, 2023

About the author

Stephan Talty is the New York Times bestselling author of six acclaimed books of narrative nonfiction, as well as the Abbie Kearney crime novels. Originally from Buffalo, he now lives outside New York City.

Talty began as a widely-published journalist who has contributed to the New York Times Magazine, GQ, Men’s Journal, Time Out New York, Details, and many other publications. He is the author of the forthcoming thriller Hangman (the sequel to Black Irish), as well as Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Double Agent who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day (2012) and Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan's Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe that Ended the Outlaws Bloody Reign (2008).

His short e-book, The Secret Agent: In Search of America's Greatest World War II Spy was the best-selling Amazon Single of 2013.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The majority of people know the story of how Koresh came to power, how he evangelized, how the Branch Davidians took up arms against the government as the ATF raided the compound at Mount Carmel where they were housed and when that went to hell, the FBI took over with their HRT (Hostage Rescue Team). As a 12 year old, seeing the footage of the fire engulfing the compound is memorable along with the innumerable conspiracy theories. What I didn't know until this point is how everything went down the way it did and why it happened.

It's been 30 years since the Siege at Waco and you can tell by the many books that have come out lately. I thought I'd give this last one a chance since it seemed more geared on explaining Vernon Howell's (known as David Koresh the last couple years of his life) early years.

Howell never had a chance. The physical and sexual abuse, the inherited poor psychological health paired with the neglect as a child shaped the monster who he eventually became. As he aged into a teenager and a young man, the attention he craved was unavoidable and the controlling nature of his psyche started to blossom. When you can't control who you're around as a youth, you start to try to control the environment around you when you have the ability to -- Howell never gave that up, even to the end.

In regards to his later behavior towards the opposite sex, Talty doesn't hold back on calling Howell what he truly was: a rapist. Howell had a way of taking advantage of underage girls and was even said to have 'troubling' thoughts about toddlers, which he mentioned was the scourge of his mind.

With his insane ability to memorize quotes from 'The Bible', he used his charisma and personality to more or less take control of the Branch Davidians, which were an evangelical branch of the modern day Seventh-Day Adventists. His outreach and influence across the world reminded me of Jim Jones and the vile behavior was reminiscent of Warren Jeffs.

The name of the book is fitting: the true story takes about half of the book, while the other half is geared more towards the tragedy at the compound. I say 'compound' because the tragedy of so many people dying was bad enough, but the abuse, lies and the emotional manipulation of his members caused their and so many children's deaths. There were no winners that day. From the very start the US Government went into it half-assed with hardly any communication and Koresh was set on not negotiating to live, but negotiating to die.

Not only did I learn what exactly happened, but also why the US Government reacted towards Mount Carmel so aggressively like they did. Two words: Ruby Ridge. They weren't going to make the same mistake they did half a year before.

I also thought it was interesting to learn that the Oklahoma City bombing on the 2 year anniversary of the death of Koresh (April 19th, 1995) by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols was brought about by revenge on the US for their part in Waco.

There's an underlying point throughout the book: Talty ties the start of the extreme right-wing movement to Ruby Ridge and brings it full circle to the domestic terror attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. He may have a point, but to be honest, I don't think many of the main combatants of January 6th had even heard of Ruby Ridge, much less know the true story of the Siege at Waco.

[Traci Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talty gives you a lot of juicy tidbits and high stakes storytelling. He has a clear (anti-Koresh) point of view which doesn't always match the other reading I've done on the topic. It also absolves the US agencies involved a lot of guilt that should be handed their way. The book is entertaining but certainly comes with strong opinions from the author.

[Lilibet Bombshell · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘“Hey, you know what Waco stands for?” went one. “We Ain’t Coming Out.”’ - Quote from Koresh

The siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas took place when I was in my freshman year of high school. That was a landmark year for my family because my parents had finally saved enough money to buy us a brand-new house and we had moved in just the year before and were settling in. I was still an awkward, tiny girl with glasses and I knew there was something wrong with my brain but didn’t know exactly what it was yet. I just knew I wasn’t like other kids. I had a ton of friends, but I was also paranoid and insecure in my friendships. So believe me when I say, Waco was the last thing on my mind at that point in time in my life. Things like Ruby Ridge, the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993, and Waco wouldn’t become something I even gave some thought to until the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 (incidentally, I visited that bombing site in the summer of 1995 during a cross country trip and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so devastated before in my life).

Cults and cult leaders have been of great interest to me ever since I became interested in true crime in my late teens but David Koresh has been a topic I’ve largely stayed away from because of how volatile it can be and how much misinformation is out there about the events that happened at Mount Carmel. But Ruby Ridge and Waco are tied intrinsically to the alt-right and the fight against gun control legislation in the present day, so I felt it was time to go in and read something that might give me some insight as to how Waco ties into today’s arguments against gun control and just what went wrong during that siege that made so many people upset and paranoid.

I should note: I did not fact check this book or Talty’s research. I did not have the time to do so. I am aware there is a ton of conflicting research and books on Koresh and on the siege of Mount Carmel. I am also an atheist, so I may come off as dismissive or unconcerned with the Branch Davidians religious beliefs. This is not intentional. I deeply believe in the part of the first amendment where we get to practice whatever religion we want and also be free not practice any religion. I love the first amendment, full stop. I also should note I am pro gun control, in a very, very strong manner, so I will try to keep away from discussion about weaponry. I’m not here to fight. I just want to review this book.

I was very impressed with the first half of this book. In my opinion, Talty did an excellent job not only researching David Koresh’s childhood and family history, but he also did a tremendous job of humanizing the future cult leader. As a reader of fiction and nonfiction, I know how important it is to humanize the “villain”. David Koresh was a human being. His followers were human beings. His family are human beings. The survivors are human beings. None of these people just popped up out of a cabbage patch. Understanding David Koresh when he was just little Vernon Howell is absolutely vital to understanding how he ended up a dangerous and criminal cult leader. Reading the chapters involving Koresh’s childhood broke my heart, made me angry, and made me wonder just how many times there might have been a different choice that could’ve been made or a different way things could’ve gone that would’ve led little Vernon Howell away from the path that ultimately led him to Waco. We’ll never know, of course, but the sadness of a wasted life weighs on me, and it’s going to leave me thinking for just a while.

It’s when Vernon Howell joins the Davidians that the sympathy for him as a child begins to evaporate and turn into condemnation and sorrow: Condemnation for Vernon, and sorrow for those who fell under his spell or became his victims of sexual assault and/or abuse. It’s clear by this point that Vernon Howell had either not escaped the copious amount of serious mental illness that ran through his family or the severe abuse he had received as a baby, child, and teen had damaged his brain enough to cause some sort of traumatic brain injury that had never been treated. It’s another thing we’ll never know and can never be fully explained.

As much as I condemn the Branch Davidians and David Koresh for what they built, what they approved of, what they allowed David Koresh to do to their wives and children, and for their blind fanaticism, I was absolutely astounded at the ineptitude of the ATF and FBI.

Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Oklahoma City bombing all took place before the formation of the department of Homeland Security (which wasn’t formed until after 9/11). Back then, the alphabet agencies not only didn’t share, they didn’t share well. If they were forced to share, it was a dominance fight every time. It was alpha males everywhere, banging their fists against their chests, all determined they were the best agency for the job and sometimes even willing to pull the rug out from under one another’s feet. Waco is an excellent example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing and sometimes even the right hand is unsure of what its supposed to be doing and the left hand is just hanging out not doing their job and acting like frat boys. Up until reading this book I hated Homeland Security, but boy does this book make it look like an excellent idea. What Waco needed was interagency cooperation from the bottom to the top and a very, very clear chain of command. One chain of command. Instead, it seemed like there were about 3-4 chains of command running around and sometimes people were just guessing at what they were supposed to be doing.

Waco could’ve ended sooner and maybe even more peacefully if all these little boys had cooperated, shared information, and had one clear chain of command. Instead, there was chaos.

I did feel like the second half of the book wasn’t as interesting to read as the first, if only because a lot of the time it felt repetitive when reading the transcripts between David or Steve and either the negotiators or one of the other agencies. I’d swing from bored to angry at how our government was acting to sad because I knew how the story was going to end.

The book is a compelling read, especially if you’ve never read much about Koresh or what happened at Waco. What happened there changed the sociopolitical fabric of America that reached into the minds of people who are leaders of the alt-right today. It’s an important part of American history, and you should take the time to understand why this happened and why people have every right to be upset with our government’s part in what happened there.

Because, in the end, the Branch Davidians needed to be taken down, but they didn’t deserve what happened to them. They deserved to go to jail. And a large part of why everything went so wrong was because of our government and the inability to listen or to humanize these people. It’s an important lesson we all need to learn.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, views, ideas, and opinions expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Read/Biography/Cult/History/Nonfiction/True Crime

[Anson Cassel Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is OK journalism of the sort that does better with the “what” than with the “why.” I get the feeling Talty is bored by religion, and that’s a detriment in a book that deals extensively with a wacko religious cult that had roots in Seventh Day Adventism. I saw many similarities between Koresh’s cult and other homegrown American religions, but Talty seems oblivious. Perhaps he is just indifferent.

Then too the author makes careless mistakes. For instance, he thinks Southern Baptists celebrate “mass” (50), he calls the sect leader Victor Houteff a Hungarian rather than a Bulgarian (69), and he thinks that the Persian king Cyrus is mentioned in the New Testament book of Revelation. (79) Talty doesn’t seem to know that a comparison of women preachers and dogs walking on their hind legs was first made by Samuel Johnson more than two hundred years ago. These kinds of mistakes were probably caused by writing straight from interview notes without fact-checking print sources when that was possible.

Finally, Koresh was a crude man who both spoke and acted in crude ways. Talty has every right to quote his protagonist’s crude language. But I see no reason for Talty to use four-letter words in his own exposition. For one thing, it downplays the seriousness of the story.

[kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a long one. It's filled with detail and context around every action [and inaction]. I think it could probably use some editing to make it more concise. For example, Vernon/David is super repetitive in what he says and does, and it could probably be shortened in that respect.

The language is... interesting. The author definitely has a specific voice and style. Some examples that caught my attention: "went apeshit," "the hottest chick in class," "a shit ton of firepower," and of course "funny-ass stories." None of these were dialogue. No hate, it felt conversational, but not what I expected in a nonfiction book.

I came into this read knowing pretty much nothing. I'm actually surprised I hadn't heard it before on a podcast. It was fascinating, a weird culty spin on a rags to riches storyline, and horrifying. Trigger warnings include but are probably not limited to: sxual assault, child abuse, animal abuse, graphic injuries and post-mortems, and just plain cruelty.

Suffice to say, I need something wholesome after this.

**I received a free copy from Netgalley.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but I've got some issues with this volume. So much of the narrative has to be based on Koresh's own testimony, and it is genuinely difficult to believe pretty much anything Koresh said, even if it is recalling his own experiences and feelings.

Also, there is a general tone throughout that really feels like it looks down on rural folk, religious folk, "East" Texans, etc. Add to that the numerous references to Waco being in East Texas, and the author loses some credibility in my book.

Gripes aside, this is a well-researched and well-written narrative of an historical event that has impacted American thought and life much more greatly than many will admit or realize.

ARC provided

[Hugh]

I read half of this but it was just stomach churning and I couldn’t figure out why I should continue.

The guy was a psychopath. He was abused and neglected as a kid and grew up to be an absolute monster.

That’s all you need! Details abound in here but to no real end. I don’t feel like this really adds anything to the discourse. We know the feds screwed it up. It’s all awful.

I probably shouldn’t have picked this up, but I don’t honestly know why anyone should.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins, and Stephen Talty for an eARC in exchange for a review. This was a fantastic read!

Most of us have heard of the Waco siege that took place in the early 90s. We are aware of the fire, the lives lost, and the U.S. Government’s mostly botched attempt at peacefully disbanding the Branch Davidians. But how well do we know the man behind it? Who was David Koresh (birth name Vernon Howell), and what caused him to exert such power over seemingly everyday, intelligent people?

Thankfully, Stephan Talty allows us to get to know David Koresh — the man behind the madness. Koresh is by far the most comprehensive work of literature about how a mostly quiet religious sect, born out of the Seventh Day Adventist church, rose to flames (literally) under the intense mind control of David Koresh. Readers are also taken through the ATF and FBI’s negation processes, as well as the U.S. Government’s decision-making procedures surrounding this hostage situation.

The book is organized chronologically, and thankfully, it does not jump between past and present. It begins with Vernon Howell’s mother and the birth of her son, and it ends with the traumatic after-effects of the Waco siege on FBI and ATF agents and negotiators. It was easy to follow thanks to Talty’s choice of organizational pattern.

The book also includes a variety of letters, notes, sermons, and transcripts. It’s clear that Talty spend a ton of time researching and fact-checking to complete a book this informative and comprehensive.

I recommend this book for anyone looking to fully understand how the Waco siege unfolded, who the man was behind it, and how it planted a seed for a pattern of conspiratorial thinking in American culture that still grows today. As Stephen Talty put it, “[American soil]…has for centuries been crisscrossed by men and women who believe that violence cleanses the land for something infinitely more wonderful.”

[Brendan (History Nerds United) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very young when Waco happened. I vaguely remember photos, people talking about it on TV constantly, and the word "cult" being thrown around very liberally. I also remember that the story seemed to completely disappear once it was over. Waco was a fiasco, but I never remember hearing exactly why in any sort of depth.

Stephan Talty provides (as far as I know) the first truly in-depth look at David Koresh (or Vernon Howell if you prefer). Talty spares no details as the first half of the book is Koresh's upbringing. To say you might feel a modicum of sympathy for Koresh would be an understatement. Very often, books will focus on salacious details to keep the book interesting. Talty, however, focuses on events which help you understand how Vernon Howell will become David Koresh. To be clear, some of these events are very salacious, but others are just heartbreaking. Vernon Howell was a loner but not an outcast. His innate sense of superiority grew from something quite different and this portion of the book is a testament to how well Talty knows what details matter.

When the failed assault and subsequent siege start, the book does not lose any of its momentum. Talty walks an extremely fine line in this portion of the book which can be a minefield. Almost everyone agrees the government action at Waco was a spectacular failure. Talty doesn't place blame as the author but highlights multiple point of views about where the breakdowns occurred. I felt like I was given the full story as opposed to being spoon fed what the author wanted me to believe.

Sometimes, you just have to fall back on cliches. I could not put this book down.

(This book was provided to me as an advance copy by Netgalley and Mariner Books. The full review will be posted to HistoryNerdsUnited.com on 4/11/2023.)

[Lissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was more like 3.5 stars from me.

The author definitely had a way of drawing me into this biography of Vernon Howell (aka David Koresh), and it provided a lot of information about his childhood and young adulthood that I hadn't read in other accounts of the Branch Davidians and Waco in general.

However, my main problem is that the author presents things as fact without having any way of knowing that they were fact. For example, towards the end of the siege, the author asserts that Koresh was thinking about his unpleasable step-father and how the FBI reminded him of the man. How could this be known? There's no quote attributed to someone who heard him say that. There aren't any letters or diary entries that survived the raid and fire. So...how did the author "know" that Koresh was thinking about his step-father at all at that point, much less comparing the FBI to him? It made me call into question a lot of the account. (There were other moments like this scattered throughout the book, but this is the one that stuck in my mind the most.)

[Annie Cusumano · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was all told in third person, which got pretty boring after the first few chapters. I also found his actual writing a little juvenile at some places, I never would have known he had written other books. There was also a lot of speculation on little details, which made me wonder how he could possibly know some of the things he was writing about.

If you are looking for a book that speculates thoughts and feelings of those he has never met, or when David Koresh’s bowels we’re backed up, this is for you! 😂

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really bad. Questionable “facts”, and the ending is a condemnation of both conservative Americans as well as Christianity in general.

This is the third of the 30th anniversary Waco books I’ve read this year; I would only recommend Jeff Guinn’s.

[NaTaya Hastings · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like a lot of this information was skewed in favor of the ATF and FBI at best and just outright erroneous at worst. Much of the info directly contradicts the many other books about Waco I've read.

[Meg C · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephan Talty created a book that carries the historical nuance of a textbook with the thrilling storytelling of a Netflix show or documentary. I listened to Koresh on Audible and I could not stop. It was so enthralling and it left me with what I feel is a near complete understanding of the Waco crisis. Most works out there (TV shows, books, documentaries) about Waco focus heavily on the siege and I appreciated this book because it started from David Koresh’s childhood and focused more on the creation of the cult. The beginning focused exclusively on that and you start to see the trends that become the monster who led the Branch Davidians. In addition to conducting psychological analysis on Koresh, Talty covers in extreme detail the relationship between the FBI and ATF agents before and during the siege. There is no stone left unturned and you are really left with no questions about Koresh, the Branch Davidians, or the siege.

Although I loved the book, I was put off in the epilogue by the comparison of Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the January 6th Capitol riots. He uses Ruby Ridge throughout the book to compare and contrast FBI responses, but the epilogue tries to lump together all these events into one far-right box. I see some connections but overall this is comparing apples to oranges and I thought it was an ineffectual way to end the book. The epilogue did not however taint my view of the book, as I still think it is an incredibly well crafted book.

[Shannon Judisky · Rating 5 out of 5]

A chilling tale that opened my eyes

[Loretta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably one of my least favorite books on the subject.
First, I did not like the writing style of this. At all. Seemed over-simplified, dumbed down. Instead of an objective documentary, we get a heavily detailed spin on people and events that is a little too difficult to take at its word. Timeline, especially in the beginning, jumped around a bit and was a little hard to follow. Also, it is extremely inflammatory.
While there are notes at the end of the book (no footnote numbers to match them to specific passages within the text though), the author writes people's emotions, feelings, inner thoughts, definitively even though there is no way for him to know some of these things (even with the research and interviews he did, some things would still be impossible to verify and state as fact). It definitely made me take it all in with a grain of salt. I couldn't really believe everything I was reading was based on verifiable facts.
But really, the real crux here was the simple fact that so many parts of the narrative was based on interviews with Marc Breault. This was more than enough to make me doubt any semblance of objectivity. Marc Breault became in essence David Koresh's rival. His mission to bring David Koresh down did not stem from a heroic selflessness or any need to "save" the Davidians. He claimed to have visions and would often pit his own biblical interpretations against Koresh. He set in motion the events that eventually led to the standoff by calling in complaints and accusations to numerous authorities and agencies not only in the US, but around the world. It's difficult to believe this was done in an effort to save anyone and not out of a need to "win the argument".
There were events in this book that I had never heard of or read about before. A bizarre psychotic event with a Davidian named Doreen (can't seem to find her last name in the book or on the internet...) that I wanted to fact-check but couldn't find supplemental info on. There is a good bit of Vernon's childhood and early life detailed here as well. But again, some details are so specific that I had a hard time believing they were absolute truths. There was also quite a bit more detail on Vernon's/David's sexual exploits - with his early girlfriends, with underage Davidians, with followers' wives. These details were provocative and very inflammatory and yet related matter-of-factly. I just had a hard time believing they were fully the truth, especially since, again, they were provided by the likes of Marc Breault and others who clearly had ill-feelings toward Koresh, whether justified or not.
In the end, this was an interesting spin on events that I, for one, know pretty well. Which is what made it a NO for me. The dramatic and incendiary new details coming from people who had clear
antagonism and spite towards Koresh makes it easy to think that this seems more like an attempt at outing the devil and painting him black as opposed to a factual and objective account.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content of this book was fascinating, but the colloquial style drove me crazy. Really unprofessional and inappropriate given the dark subject matter. Made for a really disjointed read.

Also, Baptists don’t attend mass. That’s Catholics. How does a mistake that egregious make it through editorial? What other mistakes made it through?

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A detailed and heavily researched book, which loses a great deal of credibility by almost completely adopting the government’s talking points on this tragedy. (I AM NOT SIDING WITH THE DAVIDIANS. But a book of this nature NEEDS to be as much of a dispassionate observer as possible, and Talty failed at this most important task). There are a lot of happenings at Waco that are still up for debate, and they were presented here as facts, almost always from the government side. (An exception would be the relatively neutral presentation of the original disastrous raid by the ATF)

I also found the style of writing off-putting. Phrases like “pencil necked dude”, “loony tunes antics”, and “his bowels were so bound up he couldnt go number two for days” have zero place in the type of book that the author tries to present this as. (Apologies for the dangling preposition)

I’m aware Norman Mailer used this style successfully in “The Executioner’s Song”, and it was made into a movie. I noticed that one of Talty’s books was the basis for the movie “Captain Phillips”. You can probably guess where my cynical mind is going with this.

I’m certain there are better books out there about Waco, and I should have done more research before I chose this one.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was such a good deep dive into an event from history that I remember like it was yesterday. This is a tragic story on every level, no one comes out as a hero. My heart breaks for a small awkward boy who wanted to be loved and for the grown men and women whose lives were never the same because they had met and interacted with Vernon Howell/David Koresh.

[Clau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aínda tendo visto varios documentales sobre esta secta quedei: flipando. Ao principio non me gustaba moito a maneira de escribir, xa que por momentos incomodábanme certas frases, pero xa cando deixou de centrarse tanto nos comezos de Koresh xa empezou a cambiar a forma de narrativa e todo moito mellor. Non lle poño 5 estrellas por eso jeje

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember when this happened. The book is factual to a point, but I believe there is some sensationalism here. It is a decent account of the Branch Davidians, but I don’t know if it is entirely true. Not many people were left to tell the story of the inner workings of this cult, so I’m wondering how some of the detailed information was obtained.

[Captain Absurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talty has a great sense in the realm of topics. The stories he chooses are simply memorable. And here above all else we have a tragedy that could happen perhaps only in America.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

This read like a story vs. just information which always makes it more enjoyable. I didn’t know the complete story of Waco or Koresh so I thoroughly liked reading about his life story and how he ended up where he did.

[Sarca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed account of the David Koresh story. Well written and engaging.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Mariner Books for this advanced reader copy. This is a tragedy all around, and the story contains more information about who he was, why, and how Mr. Koresh developed. Interesting story yet very saddening but vital to compose and offer.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Koresh: The True Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco” is the third book I've read this year on the Branch Davidians and the siege in 1993, and likely the last for a while. It is no surprise to those who know me in real life that I am fascinated by cults, and this group has long been of particular fascination but I'm a bit done with the topic for now. There are plenty more cults and high control religious groups to explore. I was lucky to receive this as a review e-copy from Mariner Press, and it is a really comprehensive and well researched look at the person of David Koresh (and was published in April 2023, so available now).

Having read “Waco” by Jeff Guinn and “Waco Rising” by Kevin Cook, I was pretty familiar with the events of the siege itself and the ATF investigation. But I was missing how Vernon Howell became the cult leader David Koresh. The interviews and exploration of Vernon Howell’s childhood and young adulthood were fascinating, and help connect the dots to what could have led someone to let their followers burn alive. I definitely recommend this one if you're into cults, or just want to learn more about the siege at Waco.

[Kaden Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a brilliant read, but as it progressed little things bugged me. They were issues in the story that I know for a fact are contested and not 100% known yet the author makes solid conclusions, usually pushing the Fed narrative. They did not shoot the Davidians. They did not set fire to the compound. They tried to rescue the Davidians. It is as if Talty has taken the FBI talking points, blended them with a few select anectdotes and utterly dissed the alternative assertions that most definately have not been disproven.

The author shows his biased in his concluding chapters, whereupon he draws tenuous connections with the Jan 6 Capital protests intimating that these were crazies like Koresh and his followers. He lost two stars for those conclusions alone, where he proved himself to be a lefty extremist all-too willing to write-off half the population because they actually consider alternative narratives and can see the obvious.

So sad to see a brilliant book, with masses of research destroyed by junior-grade conclusions fitting a woke and a sycophantic narrative.

[Deanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every time I read a book about a splinter religious group, I wonder to myself, "How can anyone with two IQ points to rub together get involved - and STAY involved - in that group?"

And then I remember how... I was raised in a cult.

What if Vernon Wayne Howell had been raised by two loving parents in a healthy environment? What if he'd been loved by his grandfather instead of referred to as 'that bastard'? What if he'd become obsessed with cars or trains or rodeo instead of the Bible? Would society ever have learned the name David Koresh?

Stephan Talty's book reads like a New York Post biography of David Koresh's life. His thinly-veiled disgust for Christianity as a whole is apparent (I'll save my disgust for Vernon the pedophile and Janet Reno's DOJ, thanks).

For an actual, balanced description, watch one of these documentaries:
Waco: Madman or Messiah
Waco: Rules of Engagement

[Ashley Daviau · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been fascinated by this case since studying it in college and I will greedily devour anything I can get my hands on concerning the subject. This is by far one of the most complete and easy to read ones I’ve crossed. It flows and it’s smooth and tells the story from beginning to end without any unnecessary additions and that’s something I truly appreciated. Highly recommend this one!

[KilaViking · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook and it was tolerable until the author called every American Patriot since Waco, a domestic terrorist in the epilogue