Rating: 
Summary: i know david thibodeau and a few other davidians
Review: A nonfiction book of this sort is the most difficult to review because there are so many factors to consider. About the writing style: I felt it was quite good (thus four stars), but I would have liked the story to move along faster. Much of the book could have been condensed, leaving room for all of the things that were left out (and I'm convinced a whole bunch of stuff was).The author seemed determined to show how it was rational for him to haved joined this group, but he failed. I kept reading between the lines thinking, WHAT WAS HE THINKING? This is not an objective report. This does not tell you what really happened at Waco. But perhaps that is not the author's fault. I doubt any book on the subject CAN be objective. What those of us who weren't involved must do is read everything we can on the subject and draw our own, hopefully rational conclusions. A lot of people made mistakes in Waco. David Thibodeau is no exception.
Rating:
Summary: Book about Waco from the best possible reliable source
Review: David Thibodeau's mother was the leader of what they called the hostage families during the Waco siege and it is one of the fortunate things that happened that her son siurvived the fire. This book apparently goes into what life was really like at Waco, just how bad and just how good. Although not mentioned by Kirkus or the author for some reason, perhaps a fear of controversy I think this book would have to talk about the fire and the events that ended the compound at Waco, and probably deal with some of the not so little lies said during and after the siege, like the claim that it was called Ranch Apocalypse. David Thibodeau has said it is not true that any shots were fired from inside the compound on April 19. He was interviewed a few times during the Congressional hearings. I don't know how much of what he knows got into this book, but it is something I am going to get. (The story of the events of the siege has been made very complicated, of course, so to really deal with it, rebuttig all the things said that are wrong and rebutting the attempted rebuttals of the rebutalls would be very long.) By way of background, explaining where I am coming from: I have a personal opinion about the fire, which is that is was done to protect J. William Buford head of the bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Fire- arms in Little Rock who had murdered three agents under his command. they were not former Clinton boodyguard, Bill Clinton himself was responsible for starting that story by claiming in a speech to Treasury department employees in March 1993 that they had been assigned to his security something most likely untrue and if true very incidental. His motive may have been to disguise the reason for their murder. Clinton sent Roger Altman to personally speak to Buford after the raid - this was ovrheard by a Wall Street journal reporter present in the White House to do a story about a week in the President's life. (the story was in the March 9, 1993 Wall Street Journal - and it is the only place this connection was mentioned in all the news coverage about Waco. It is mentioned in Carol Moore's book, because I wrote her and told her about it. After the fire the place of the death of the three agents, originally placed in a room on the second floor (see March 17, 1993 newsweek diagram) was moved outside, and Buford himself was moved into the room into which he shot. This would probably not have been posisble without the destruction of the building and the deaths of so many of the people in it and their deaths also disguised how the shooting began on Feb. 28. I think the reason for Buford machine-gunning three of the men under his command was that he knew the warrant, which he had helped prepare, was not good and the intention from the start was to have a shootout. In order to make that shootout look justified or necessary Buford arranged to kill three men under his command and blame their deaths on koresh (prior approval by Clinton is possible too - or it may be the McArthur murder in 1982 (see the book Widow's Web) that may have been reason Clinton arranged tp protect him. The timing of the planning of the raid followed Clinton's eelection prospects: starting in earnest in June 1992, right after he won the Californoa primarty, slowing down in July, starting again right after the November election - and on january 1 and 3 1993 Buford got personally involved, putting the sex allegations into the warrant, although they were legally irrelevant to the matter at hand, which was guns. In any case, the plan to kill three agents and have their deaths blamed on Koresh, relying on the confusion to hide the true cause, fell apart because Koresh had access to a cellular phone and a second phone billed to a law firm in Waco also still worked and also maybe because the shooting got videotaped by TV station KWTX-TV , Channel 10 in Waco. There was a BIG problem for Buford now. It took seven weeks for Clinton to finally save Buford's skin. On April 19 there was a plan on paper with a loophole authorizing the real plan to be implemented. It was vital it include tear gas and that was why FBOI Director Sessions's plan for water cannon had to be argued down so hard. The fire was caused by the injection of CS tear gas near 12 P.M. Before that they used other tear gas. There ought to be things in this book to bear out or dispute many theories about Waco, and the more you know the more you will be able to use this.
Rating: 
Summary: Thought-provoking; makes me want to read more
Review: I am always interested in why people do the things they do, and this book answers the question of why someone like David Thibodeau became part of the Mount Carmel community. I think the author tries very hard to be unbiased. I didn't understand everything Koresh taught, but I think it's important to read about all sides of the Waco story. I think the author accomplishes his stated purpose of trying to make the world understand that this was not about a bunch of wackos, but about real people with real spiritual needs under the leadership of a flawed man.
Rating: 
Summary: The Evil One Koresh!!!
Review: I met David Koresh on two occasions and I thought he was a sociopath with all the charisma of Homer Simpson. David Thibodeau details in his book how David Koresh was having sex with girls as young as 11 . Instead of being disgusted and outraged by this the author says he felt merely "uncomfortable". The book shows that their "tin god messiah" was really in fact a child molesting, wife stealing tax evading monster.To the author and the rest of Koresh's followers it was a case of 'Take my wife, take my daughter, take my wallet but show me The Truth" Instead the author details how David Koresh promised them all Heaven and instead took them to Hell in a fiery inferno. A more accurate account of Waco can be found in Marc Breault's book "Inside The Cult".
Rating:
Summary: A down at the foot book.
Review: I would consider this book as important for an understanding of what happened to the Branch Davidians in 1993 as the C.I.A. might consider having a secret office in New York City a possible gain for American intelligence. The events of April 19, 1993 are not perfectly clear from the account in this book, but the screaming of Serenity Sea Jones, who was four years old at the time, is one of the details which is as striking in this account as in official testimony before Congress or wherever screaming children are discussed. The TV quiz show, "What Do Kids Know" in the movie "Magnolia," was strictly for ladies and germs, compared to the horror that the children in this book observed. The author of this book was joined in a Branch Davidian marriage to the Jones girl who was the mother of Serenity Sea Jones, but he reports, "She knew who her real father was." As sacrilege goes, it is hard to beat what happened on April 19, 1993 as a collective re-enactment of the crucifixion, with a few modern public relations techniques thrown in, and the psychic sense of displacement can only be increased by recent reports that at a secret CIA office in a building at the foot of the World Trade Center towers was destroyed by falling buildings on September 11, 2001, so that security measures had to be taken to evacuate a large area and keep people out until every trace of American intelligence from that office had been found and destroyed. This reminds me of what happened to the place the Branch Davidians were living in, particularly when the U.S. Congress was interested in finding their front door to check which directions the bullets going through that door had been fired from. This book reports that David Koresh was shot on February 28, 1993, and I think it happened about the time he answered the door. This book might also appeal to people who are not interested in what happened to American intelligence in New York City in 2001, but they may wonder why the author was so concerned that Waco, Texas was not actually located in Iraq.
Rating:
Summary: David Thibodeau does not want to convert you.
Review: I, like many, was subjected to a very biased view of what happened at Mount Carmel in 1993. Because the notion of such an unconventional religion scared me, I allowed myself to accept that one-sided negative view without question. After reading this book, however, I learned that you don't have to agree with the rules and practices of the Branch Davidians to realize that there was NO NEED for the actions undertaken by the government of this country. You may expect a biased view to come from someone who lived by David Koresh's teachings, but Mr. Thibodeau is remarkably objective considering his experiences. The parts of this story that will infuriate you are based on documented fact regarding the ATF, FBI and Department of Justice. Read with an open mind. We owe it to those people who died in this siege to hear their story.
Rating: 
Summary: A lot of truth and a lot of lies
Review: If they were so peaceful then why did they not just exit the compound? Why have such a long standoff which they knew would end that way? Overall, this book answers a lot of questions and raises more. The conduct of the followers was atrocious and the conduct of the FBI was less than professional, but I must say that I don't feel bad for any of the people that died other than the children who had been raped, physically abused (spanking), and never given a chance.
Rating:
Summary: The Evil One Koresh!!!
Review: In this book the author details how no female between the ages of 11 and 68 was safe from Koresh's unwanted sexual attentions. The fact that Koresh was having sex with 11 year old girls made the author feel merely "uncomfortable" instead of being outraged and disgusted like any normal sane person would be. This shows the extent of Koresh's brainwashing on his followers. The author tells how it was a case of "David take my daughter, take my wife, take my bank account just show me the "truth". Koresh promised them all Heaven but instead took them to Hell in a fiery inferno killing 86 of his devoted followers. In my opinion anybody who thinks he can get "Enlightenment" from a child molesting, wife stealing , tax evading ninth grade dropout deserves everything he gets. For a more accurate portayal of Waco and David Koresh may I suggest Marc Breault's excellent book "Inside The Cult"
Rating:
Summary: Tragedy at Mt. Carmel
Review: Most everyone knows about the federal government's disastrous debacle at Waco, Texas back in 1993. We have watched the testimonies, the congressional investigations, and the flames engulfing the building that housed the Branch Davidian religious sect. Some of us have even read books on the event, and many have been written. This book, written by survivor David Thibodeau, is one of the best yet.
Thibodeau was right there, in the middle of the standoff with ATF and FBI agents, so his perspective is unique from others who have written about the event from the outside. Starting with the time when he first met David Koresh while playing in various bands in Los Angeles, Thibodeau talks about his interest in the Branch Davidians and explains what got him involved in the group; why he became interested in religion after never having much interest or instruction during his youth; why he decided to follow Koresh and his teachings; why he decided to stay at Mt. Carmel during the siege; how he handled the media and press following his escape from the fire; and his post- Mt. Carmel life, touring the country as an informational speaker.
Thibodeau has a lot of anger to share in this book, not toward Koresh or the other members of the religious group, but toward the press and the U.S. government. He fully admits that Koresh wasn't perfect and that certain actions taken by Koresh (like sleeping with young girls) wasn't right and should have landed him in jail. But above all, he is most scornful of the media and the U.S. government. The members of the media acted like lap dogs during the siege, reporting on anything told to them by the ATF and FBI as if it were absolute truth. Thibodeau and the other members of the Davidians were saddened and angered by, for example, the reference to their group as a cult and the reference to their building as a compound. The various government reporting agencies promoted these terms to turn the public against the Davidians. Thibodeau is correct in his assertions about the government's actions in this area, and he makes some good points about this. It is true that Koresh himself was a little strange, but he was no real threat and the things he taught were hardly radical. If his teachings qualify the Branch Davidians as a cult, then many mainstream Protestant groups would also be cults. It is known, too, that the FBI deliberately prevented the release of a video tape that featured the different members of the group talking to the camera about their families and lives because the FBI was worried that, once the public saw this tape, they would see that these people were pretty ordinary and it would sway public opinion over to the Davidian's side.
The government's handling of the investigation was purely political, with Democrats taking the side of the ATF and FBI, in order to protect the Clinton administration, and the Republicans taking the side of religious freedom in order to make Clinton and his administration look bad. Thibodeau talks about how sickening it was to watch this unfold. No one really seemed to care about truth or justice. All they cared about was protecting their own fellow politicians or making the opposing politicians look bad.
The writing in this book is excellent, and Thisbodeau was very wise in making the decision to hire a professional editor to help with the work. Other victims of well- publicized tragedies have also written books, but many of them rely on their own amateurish writing skills to carry them through, often resulting in a book that is sub-par at best and that often fails to be as effective as it could have been. The writing in this book, thanks to the assistance of Leon Whiteson, is nearly flawless and it kept my attention throughout the reading.
Thibodeau spends his time touring the nation now, giving speeches to different groups around the country about what happened and what needs to be done in the future to prevent any more Wacos. He shows some strong courage in writing this book, openly admitting that certain actions taken by his own friends were wrong and were deserving of punishment. But he places the bulk of the blame on the ATF and FBI for starting all the trouble in the first place. Like Ruby Ridge, Waco is yet another example of what can happen when government power goes unchecked. And Thibodeau makes a strong case for reigning in the power of government in this well- written, personal book about the tragedy at Waco that killed more than eighty people.
Rating:
Summary: An Insider's Perspective
Review: Thibodeau does a good job in humanizing the individual members of the community. He takes us right inside the compound and introduces us to real flesh and blood people who we can identify with. He also enables us to understand the nightmare they had to go through. Reading between the lines, Thibodeau and the other followers of Koresh were not people who could stand on their own feet and think for themselves. Koresh provided the inspiration and vision that alot of these people needed to give their lives meaning. The tragedy was, they were partly responsible for their own demise by allowing a pervert and egomaniac to lead them into such a hellish situation. Anybody who was truly strong in their own moral convictions would be able to see Koresh for what he was. These people were not. Thibodeau admits to being uncomfortable with Koresh siring children through underage girls but seemingly turned a blind eye towards it. This says alot about him and the followers of David Koresh. This is a one-sided account, but a side which can't be totally ignored.
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