Waco

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

By: Jeff Guinn

Narrated by: Jacques Roy

Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

“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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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.

Excellent as always, to the point, objective

Guinn's contemporary history is always well researched and presented. His works involving Manson, Jim Jones, and Bonnie and Clyde qualify as essential reading, masterpieces. I enjoy those books because they delve into the cultural landscape surrounding the main events yielding great insight into how they materialized but also a look under the hood into the inner workings, history of this country. Guinn's Waco is an excellent account of how the Branch came to be and especially how the ATF, FBI and other forces function and handle (mishandle?) such things. It's to the point and informative and an essential read, part to any understanding of the event. David Thibodeau's survivor account should not be overlooked, and Guinn references him more than once, however Thibodeau's book, while not overtly subjective, still lacks 100% objectivity as Guinn's almost scientifically adheres to. My only criticism is that I had hoped he would have written more on the subtitle subject: the legacy of rage that we are all living through, have yet to see the consequences of. Hopefully that's on his to-do list, a future book.

Insightful

Good read. Explains a lot without bias so many things connect s and make sense

The price of narrow perspectives

This book is a devastating indictment of how dug-in beliefs about how the world is and/or should can result in tragic misunderstandings about the motivations of others, whether the dug-in beliefs reflect more traditional power structures or messianic-laden belief systems.

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.

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!