48. Waco

Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage. Jeff Guinn. 2023. [January] 400 pages. [Source: Library]

First sentence: Just before dawn on Sunday, February 28, 1993, an eighty-vehicle caravan departed Fort Hood Army base outside Killeen, Texas, heading northeast toward Waco, sixty-five miles away.

Premise/plot: Nonfiction book...about...you guessed it: Waco, David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. (Also the ATF, FBI, law enforcement, CPS, and "government" in general). The story isn't simple nor straightforward. (Perhaps it was naive of me to expect it to be.) The prologue starts moments before the initial raid in late February 1993. The prologue ends on a cliffhanger. It takes hundreds--literally--of pages to get back to that point in time. (That may annoy some readers.)

So this book seeks to provide context, context, and more context. Context on the Seventh Day Adventists. Context on the Davidians. Context on the Branch Davidians. Context on when this sect of a sect of a sect moves to Texas, just outside Waco. Context on about eighty plus years of leadership and ministry of the Branch Davidians. Context on Vernon Wayne Howell (who changed his name to David Koresh). Context on his joining the Branch Davidians in the late 70s/early 80s. His becoming 'the Lamb' and re-visioning things in the 80s and 90s. But also context/history of the ATF and other cooperating government forces. Journalists covering this story over the year. So I'd say about 85% of this one is all background context. Covering decades of history. Is it all necessary to have a basic understanding of the raid????? (I don't know. Some context, for sure, is helpful. This is extreme, in my opinion).

My thoughts: This book is SLOW. Slower than I thought it would be. I expected a bit more action and drama. It's not that action and drama weren't there. It's just that the action-y bits come very late in the game after a lot of history. I almost think I'd be more interested--maintained interest/engagement--if it was a documentary. A documentary with a narrator would be a good fit for me. 

All things considered, this one does have a lot of information. I expected it to have a position, to take a side. It presents both sides. It doesn't take sides. It purposefully doesn't take sides. Even when one of the sides features very disturbing, incredibly disturbing, how can you not be seriously disturbed information. (I will NOT spell out the specifics.) So it was odd that this one went out of its way to stay neutral. To say maybe the government was 100% wrong. Maybe the Branch Davidians were 100% right. Maybe the world would be a better place if the government hadn't decided to interfere. Maybe Waco was the start of a terrible trend of terrorism. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

 

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