 | |
| Author | Carol Moore |
|---|---|
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Gun Owners of America Foundation and Legacy Communications |
Publication date | 1 July 1995 |
| Pages | 494 |
| ISBN | 9781880692226 |
| OCLC | 924909794 |
The Davidian Massacre: Disturbing Questions About Waco That Must Be Answered is a 1995 non-fiction book about the Waco siege written by Carol Moore. It was co-published by the Gun Owners of America Foundation (Springfield, Virginia) and Legacy Communications (Franklin, Tennessee).
The book presents Moore's interpretations of events concerning the lead up to, during, and after the Waco siege in 1993. The main argument of the book is that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents' fear of prosecution for mishandling their botched raid on 28 February 1993 led Federal Bureau of Investigation tactical agents to destroy evidence later into the siege. [1]
Wessinger, in her review essay reviewing six other works on the Waco siege, believes that the reporting of facts from Carol Moore is "compatible" with the other more scholarly works she reviews. Wessinger makes clear that Moore separates her speculations about the federal government's actions and the facts of the matter, and she compliments Moore's extensive citations. [1]
Dean M. Kelley notes that work is published through the Gun Owners of America Foundation, an American gun rights organization, which might impact the interpretation of events (though, he acknowledges that it does not make the speculations untrue). Kelley believes that Moore is not as trustworthy as credentialed scholars, but Moore also is not privy to wild speculations about the federal government's actions either like those of Linda Thompson and other critics of the federal government. Kelley concludes that, if handled with caution, the book can be "useful and informative". [2]
Gun rights and right-wing activists in the United States have utilized Moore's work for political gain or to push for a right-wing political agenda. For example, Peter R. Quinones for The Libertarian Institute argued that the federal government sought to regulate gun rights of the Branch Davidians despite the original ATF affidavit citing legal issues only with David Koresh, leader of the Branch Davidians, not all the rest of them. [3] Furthermore, according to United Press International, protestors in front of the White House handed out copies of Moore's book in 1997 on the anniversary (19 April) of the Waco siege's end and Oklahoma City bombing that was partially inspired by the siege. [4] According to The Philadelphia Inquirer , copies of Moore's book were found among the various books in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, sold by right-wing and radical right vendors fearful of the end of the world, particularly the Y2K bug. [5]
The Branch Davidians are an apocalyptic cult founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They regard themselves as a continuation of the General Association of Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists, established by Victor Houteff in 1935.
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the siege by U.S. federal government and Texas state law enforcement officials of a compound belonging to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians between February 28 and April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh, were headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, 13 miles northeast of Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh and several of the group's members.
The Mount Carmel Center was a large group of buildings used by the Branch Davidian religious group located near Axtell, Texas, 20 miles (32 km) north-east of Waco. The Branch Davidians were established by Benjamin Roden in 1959 as a breakaway sect from Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, and was later led by David Koresh starting in the 1980s. Named after the Biblical mountain Mount Carmel in Israel, it was the site of the 51-day Waco siege. The siege began on February 28, 1993, when federal agents attempted to execute a warrant and arrest some Davidians living inside. A subsequent firefight left four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents and six Davidians dead. At the end of the siege, on April 19, 1993, a fire started, leaving 76 Davidians dead.
Ronald G. Cole is a figure in the American militia movement in the United States. He was the founder and leader of the Colorado Light Infantry militia groups in 1993. Cole is the author of the book Sinister Twilight, in which he attempts to explain the Branch Davidian side of the standoff with federal authorities that took place in Waco, Texas in 1993. Cole became a national anti-government figure after the events of the Waco siege.
David Koresh was an American cult leader who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993. As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect and offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventists, Koresh claimed to be its final prophet. His apocalyptic Biblical teachings, including interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the Seven Seals, attracted various followers.
Douglas Wayne Martin, was an American Branch Davidian and Harvard-trained attorney who left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He worked as an attorney in multiple fields, including contract, child custody, and real estate law, and provided the proceeds to the Branch Davidians. He was nominally married to Sheila Judith Martin, another Branch Davidian, but she was "carnally" married to David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader. Wayne and Sheila had seven children, four of whom died in the 1993 fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13. Sheila Martin, who left Mount Carmel Center on March 21 in the middle of the siege, eventually won custody over the three surviving children: James, Daniel, and Kimberly Martin. Wayne Martin was present at Mount Carmel Center when the February 28, 1993, raid occurred. He was the first person in the compound to call 9-1-1 to local authorities and asked to call off the raid for risk of harming women and children. He was considered the second- or third-in-command at Mt. Carmel, behind or equal to Steve Schneider. He died in the April 19, 1993, fire with three of his children. Wayne Martin was a character in the 2018 miniseries Waco, played by Demore Barnes.
David Thibodeau is an American Branch Davidian, a survivor of the Waco siege, and a musician. He was born in Bangor, Maine. In early adulthood, Thibodeau sought to become a musician in Los Angeles, California, where he converted to Branch Davidianism after meeting David Koresh in a Guitar Center in 1990. Thibodeau was present at the Mt. Carmel compound on February 28, 1993, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) conducted a botched raid. He stayed for the 51-day siege until escaping, with eight other survivors, the fire that consumed the compound.
Clive Joseph Doyle was an Australian leader in the Branch Davidian movement after the Waco siege in 1993. He was a Branch Davidian and a Davidian Seventh-day Adventist before the Waco siege. Doyle was one of nine survivors of the 19 April 1993 fire that destroyed the Mount Carmel Center at the end of the siege. He along with other survivors built a new chapel on the site of the siege in 1999.
Sheila Judith Martin is an American Branch Davidian and a survivor of the Waco siege. She was the wife of Douglas Wayne Martin, a Harvard-educated lawyer, who died in the April 19, 1993, fire that destroyed Mount Carmel Center. Four out of her seven children died in the fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13. In September 1993, she received custody of James Martin (1982–1998) who has cerebral palsy and is blind because of a meningitis infection at 4 months old. By 1994, she obtained custody in Texas state court of her two other children – Daniel and Kimberly.
Livingstone Fagan – sometimes misspelled as Livingston Fagan – is a British Branch Davidian who survived the Waco siege in 1993. He was born in Jamaica but moved to Nottingham in 1964 with his parents as part of the Windrush generation. He joined the Branch Davidians in 1989 while studying to join the Seventh-day Adventist ministry in the United Kingdom. He moved to Mount Carmel Center with his wife, Evette, and mother, Doris Adina, both of whom would die in the 19 April 1993 fire. He left the Mount Carmel Center before the 19 April fire. He was tried and convicted in the United States of voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm during a crime. He was given a 30-year prison sentence and spent about half of it in various holding facilities in the United States. He was released in July 2007 and deported to the United Kingdom where he currently lives.
The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation is a 1995 non-fiction book by journalist Dick J. Reavis about the Waco siege. Reavis is a professor of English at North Carolina State University and former reporter for the San Antonio Light and San Antonio Express. The book was first published by Simon & Schuster in 1995, and it was later re-published by Syracuse University Press in 1998. According to Catherine Wessinger, Reavis argues that "the story of the Davidian tragedy was not reported fully, in part because the FBI controlled information, but also because reporters did not investigate". Reavis reportedly left his job from an "alternative" newspaper in Texas to research for the book.
Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict is a 1995 non-fiction anthology book on the Waco siege edited by Stuart A. Wright. It was published by the University of Chicago Press.
From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco is a 1994 non-fiction anthology book edited by James R. Lewis about the Waco siege. It was published Rowman & Littlefield. The book contains 46 essays from people like Franklin Littell, Stuart A. Wright, David G. Bromley, Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony, James A. Beckford, James T. Richardson, Dean M. Kelley, and Eldridge Cleaver. Some of the essays are scholarly articles, while others are opinion pieces. Other contents include press releases, personal correspondences, and a poem from a surviving Branch Davidian. Catherine Wessinger notes in her review of the book that it was a chance for new religious movement scholars to respond to the siege.
Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America is a 1995 non-fiction book written by James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher on the Waco siege and the anti-cult movement in America. It was published by the University of California Press. The same press reprinted it in 1997 in paperback. The appendix of the book contains an unfinished manuscript written by David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians, on the Seven seals in the Book of Revelation. The appendix has a preface written by Tabor and J. Phillip Arnold. The manuscript was obtained from a survivor of the fire, Ruth Riddle. The final pages of the book provide a list of Branch Davidians who died in the 28 February 1993 raid, the 19 April 1993 fire, and who survived.
Ruth Ottman Riddle is a Canadian Branch Davidian and survivor of the Waco siege. Riddle was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was born as Ruth Ellen Ottman. Riddle was one of nine survivors of the 19 April 1993 fire that destroyed the Mount Carmel Center and most of its occupants. She carried with her after leaving the compound a copy of David Koresh's final incomplete manuscript which after creating he agreed to leave. It was reprinted in James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher's book Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America. She was married to another Branch Davidian, James Loyle Riddle, who died in the 19 April 1993 fire. Her niece, Misty Dawn Ferguson, survived the fire as well. She was formerly of Tweed, Ontario. However, other sources indicate she is from Oshawa, Ontario.
Dana Okimoto is an American former Branch Davidian. She moved to Waco, Texas, from Los Angeles, California, in approximately 1988 with Robyn Bunds, a former Branch Davidian turned critic. She is originally from Hawaii and is a registered psychiatric nurse at Kaneohe State Hospital, and remarried to Roy Kiyabu, a chef, as of 2003. She gave birth to Sky or Skye Borne Okimoto and Scooter Okimoto, who are both children of David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians.
The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect is a 2006 nonfiction book by Kenneth G. C. Newport about the Branch Davidians before, during, and after the Waco siege. It was published by Oxford University Press. The book primarily addresses the beliefs, practices, and crucial events in Branch Davidian history through Victor Houteff to David Koresh and Clive Doyle.
Brad Eugene Branch is an American former Branch Davidian who was charged and convicted of aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter of federal agents during the 1993 Waco siege and weapons charges. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter charge and thirty years for the weapons charges. Originally, the charge of carrying a firearm during a violent crime was based on a conspiracy to murder charge on which Branch and other Davidians were acquitted, but federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to reinstate the weapons charges, which he did. The Branch Davidians, including Brad Branch, attempted to appeal the charges, but the appeals were turned down in 1997. The United States Supreme Court agreed to hear appellate arguments from the Branch Davidians including Branch in 2000. In response to the Supreme Court's ruling that Smith overstepped his power in his sentencing, he reduced his and other Davidians' sentences to five years for the weapons charges.
Waco Rising: David Koresh, the FBI, and the Birth of America's Modern Militias is a 2023 non-fiction book by journalist Kevin Cook about the Waco siege. It was published by Henry Holt and Company.
Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and a Legacy of Rage is a 2023 non-fiction book by journalist Jeff Guinn about the 1993 Waco siege. It was published by Simon & Schuster.