Content warning. This episode contains detailed descriptions of sexual abuse and death, including the death of children.

Many of us remember what happened at Waco in 1993.

In February of that year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

led a raid on the Texas compound of the Branch Davidians, a religious group led by a man known

as David Kerech.

Things went very wrong, very quickly.

The raid turned into a standoff that lasted for weeks. On April 19, 1993, the

situation came to the worst possible end.

The Davidian compound went up in flames.

76 people died in that blaze, including many children.

Those are the facts, but they don't tell the whole story.

It is important to remember that the men and women who chose to follow Kerech were not outright nuts and outcasts. They were ordinary people like you and me who found

something of meaning in the Davidian faith. And the government agents were not evil monsters

intent on causing harm to the followers of a fringe religion.

They were ordinary people too, people who were only trying to enforce the laws they had sworn

to uphold.

Yet these two groups found themselves on opposite sides of an armed

conflict. We cannot think of anyone who better understands the story of how things reach that point than author Jeff Gwen. Jeff is a

terrific writer. You may have read his wonderful books on Charles Manson and

Jim Jones. His latest book Waco is just out in

paperback and it tells the story with compassion and insight. We highly

recommend it.

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