REVIEW: Waco Rising by Kevin Cook

 

One of the podcasts I've been listening to regularly lately is American Scandal, hosted by Lindsey Graham (no, not the politician!). It covers, as you may have guessed, popular scandals in American history. They've done everything from like Watergate and the Exxon Valdez to the Lewinsky Scandal, Enron, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Lance Armstrong and the Attica Prison uprising.  At the end of each episode, he'll recommend a book to read about the topic they're covering. This one came out of the Waco standoff and since it's been thirty years (!!!!!) I wanted to read it.  Waco has also been such a force in a lot of our political rhetoric insofar as government overreach (Alex Jones and Timothy McVeigh among some of the most popularly known have cited this case as inspiration for their actions) that I wanted to read it to get a better understanding of what happened (I was only about 12 or 13 at the time and don't remember the nuances as much as I should!).

For those who don't remember or haven't heard, the Branch Davidians , led by David Koresh, were living in a compound outside of Waco, Texas. On February 28, 1993 the ATF raided the area after a local newspaper reported sexual abuse/pedophilia, stockpiling of weapons and bigamy occurring at the ranch. The Branch Davidians shot back and in the raid, there were deaths on both sides. This raid started a 51 day standoff that ended when the government shot in tear gas and then raided the compound with tanks,  in part causing that huge fire you see up there.  76 members of the Branch Davidians, including children, died. Kevin Cook, a journalist, takes a deep dive into what actually happened.

Kevin Cook did a masterful job here both in researching what happened, putting what happened into political and historical context and also telling us about the major players.  And the narrative he tells is absolutely chilling - I mean, we all know what's about to happen, but yet I think a part of us hopes that it would not.  The chapters are short and immensely readable. The book went by quickly.  Be forewarned, it can be graphic and there are times when he relays some of the off color humor that was rampant at the time surrounding this, but the book was so good.  I also really appreciated learning about what happened to the major players years on, as well as the survivors.  I learned something from reading this book - I feel like I have a better grasp now of why people look to this as a really seminal moment in our political discourse and development. 

This work is thoroughly engaging, enlightening and reminds us of the humanity behind the acts. A must read in our current political climate.