Review: 'Koresh,' by Stephan Talty

In 1984, Vernon Howell revealed that God had been speaking to him since he was a child. And he announced he was "the Seventh and Final Angel," who would lead Branch Davidians through the Apocalypse. Sometime later, a colleague suggested that a true prophet should be named David-ben-David — and Vernon Howell became David Koresh.

"You know we're in a cult," he told one of his followers. "I mean, do you ever fear I might turn into another Jim Jones and give y'all the Kool-Aid." In time, AR-15s, antitank rifles, grenades and gas masks flowed into the Branch Davidian compound.

In "Koresh," a work of creative nonfiction inspired by Norman Mailer's classic, "The Executioner's Song," Stephan Talty (the author, among other books, of "The Black Hand" and "The Good Assassin") provides a psychological portrait of the charismatic leader of the Branch Davidians, and a riveting account of the ATF raid and FBI siege of their compound in Waco, Texas in 1993.

Talty's immersive storytelling, which features Koresh's inner thoughts and turmoil, produces a more dramatic narrative. It humanizes a man who has often been dismissed as insane or satanic. But the approach also undermines the narrative's credibility. And all too often, Talty's authorial interjections — Koresh was insecure, lacked empathy, enjoyed humiliating men, spiraled into self-loathing and depression — tell readers what he has already shown them.

"Koresh" is at its best when Talty draws on transcripts of negotiations between government officials and Branch Davidians and bugs placed in the compound, to describe the 51-day standoff and its tragic end.

The ATF raid, Talty demonstrates, lacked three elements essential to success: surprise, superior firepower and speed.

During the siege, we learn, the FBI enlisted 899 people, including federal agents, U.S. Customs officials, members of the U.S. Army, Texas National Guard, Texas Rangers, Texas Department of Public Safety, County Sheriff's Department and Waco police. Negotiators joked with Koresh about whether Mel Gibson would play him in a movie; Davidians paid $1,000 for milk deliveries for their children.

And the FBI considered a range of options to end the siege, including having a sniper shoot Koresh; storming the building; and using a machine developed by Russian scientists that could send subliminal messages. Attorney General Janet Reno gave the go-ahead for shooting tear gas into the compound, Talty suggests, because she believed the Davidians were abusing children.

Branch Davidians, Talty demonstrates, set the fires that destroyed the compound. Nor is there evidence that bullets fired by anyone outside the compound wounded or killed any members of the group.

Nonetheless, Talty reminds us, the confrontation, which resulted in the death of 76 people, including 20 children, fueled the rise of right-wing militias, already enraged by an alleged murder of a 14-year-old boy by a U.S. marshal during a standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. The far right, Talty concludes, needs to be constantly refreshed with proof of crimes against them. And so, "Waco in flames remains the glimpse behind the curtain, hidden truth made visible. It inspires."

Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University.

Koresh: The True Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco
By: Stephan Talty.
Publisher: Mariner Books. 464 pages, $30.