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A review by maralyons
Waco Rising: David Koresh, the FBI, and the Birth of America's Modern Militias by Kevin Cook
4.0
Waco Rising is a fascinating account of the Waco Branch Davidians and their leader, David Koresh; what lead to their massacre during the 1993 siege by the ATF and FBI; and the aftermath. Though I was very young when it happened, I've always been intrigued by how the events could have happened.
Kevin Cook's writing is succinct and objective. Overall, this was pretty compelling, but I'm still left wondering how so many could have followed Koresh and embraced his rigid expectations of them. His devout followers lived in meager conditions at Mount Carmel and were expected to submit women and girls to Koresh at his will in order to increase their numbers as a religious group. Some parts were pretty upsetting, especially the repulsive expectation for young followers to submit to Koresh's every desire and bear his children because of "God's will," and of course, the mass deaths during the siege were gruesome and so tragic.
I was surprised to learn the connections from the Waco siege and the Branch Davidians to the formation and the rise of InfoWars, widespread conspiracy theories, white supremacy groups, and modern-day militias in the United States. Waco has become a symbol of government overreach and inspired those with anti-government beliefs. It's interesting to see how even the messages of a religious cult have become twisted and exploited. I listened to the audiobook which was well-narrated by Gary Tiedemann.
Thank you, Henry Holt and Tantor Audio for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.
Kevin Cook's writing is succinct and objective. Overall, this was pretty compelling, but I'm still left wondering how so many could have followed Koresh and embraced his rigid expectations of them. His devout followers lived in meager conditions at Mount Carmel and were expected to submit women and girls to Koresh at his will in order to increase their numbers as a religious group. Some parts were pretty upsetting, especially the repulsive expectation for young followers to submit to Koresh's every desire and bear his children because of "God's will," and of course, the mass deaths during the siege were gruesome and so tragic.
I was surprised to learn the connections from the Waco siege and the Branch Davidians to the formation and the rise of InfoWars, widespread conspiracy theories, white supremacy groups, and modern-day militias in the United States. Waco has become a symbol of government overreach and inspired those with anti-government beliefs. It's interesting to see how even the messages of a religious cult have become twisted and exploited. I listened to the audiobook which was well-narrated by Gary Tiedemann.
Thank you, Henry Holt and Tantor Audio for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC. All thoughts are my own.