Waco

David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage

By: Jeff Guinn

Narrated by: Jacques Roy

“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.

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Fascinating recount

Interesting more balanced story of the events. I can see why there would be conspiracy theories. It seems that all were at fault in some fashion.

Enjoyed the book very much.

From Houston

A lot of insight I didn’t know. I hope Jeff Guinn Will be able to reschedule his appearance at murder by the book

Very comprehensive

This was a very thorough accounting of this event that went past the headlines. Would recommend

A story everyone should know…..

…..so often we see events such as the tragedy at Waco happening in real time as the public is fed propaganda and falsehoods designed to justify illegal actions and incompetence by government entities more concerned with image than truth. After the smoke clears, the reality begins to shine though.

This is a perfect example of why it’s important to learn history in order to not make the same mistakes again.

Waco was an unavoidable tragedy.

And this is a thoroughly researched and deeply engaging book.

Wow.

There is so much in this book. It is difficult at times to keep straight of whom the author is speaking. If you did not follow the story at the time you may be confused with whether he is referring to a Branch Davidian or an FBI/ATF agent. You can still follow the gist as you go along but all the jumping with name dropping was a bit much. I personally would need a chart with headshots to be able to keep them all straight. Either way, I found it to be well organized and full of a wide swath of viewpoints so one can best understand what happened and how the events came to be.

Balanced and compulsively readable

With crisp prose and a surprisingly sympathetic and balanced tone, Jeff Guinn delivers a satisfying history of the siege and aftermath. The narration was good, and I read the entire thing in one sitting!

Thought Provoking

This is a thorough and compelling account of the siege at Mount Carmel. This challenged everything I thought of the raid which was shaped by the government’s account at the time. Jeff Guinn does an excellent job at presenting both sides of an event that, by any measure, was a horrible mistake and tragedy. It was a great listen.

What could go wrong?

Slow start. Gets good when it gets to all the ridiculous screw ups ATF and then FBI blundered into. Did not love the narration.

Excellent book, I still wanted more facts though!

I was blessed enough to listen to the author speak about this book in person at the book fair in San Antonio . Fascinating book, fascinating author, can’t wait to try his other books!

Excellent

Excellent listen! I appreciated the background information before the siege began. I also appreciated the follow-up with members afterwards.