Waco Rising

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.

Synopsis
Cook covers the history of the Branch Davidians, starting with a biography of David Koresh, the eventual leader of the Davidians. He then covers in-depth the Waco siege itself, especially life while under siege in the Mt. Carmel compound. Cook discusses at length the aftermath of the siege, including the litigation against Waco survivors, growth of right-wing support for the Davidians and opposition to the US government, and life for survivors in the decades after the end of the siege.

Reception
Michael Rodriguez for Library Journal calls the book "[t]hrilling, evenhanded, and liable to resonate with readers to true crime and current events". Gary Day for Booklist writes that Cook does a "good job explaining how Koresh's sad saga unfolded", but he added that the "why of Koresh remains elusive". A reviewer from Publishers Weekly commented that Cook is "at his strongest when discussing the day-to-day life of the Davidians". However, the reviewer notes a lack in critical perspective of many of the eyewitness accounts in the book, especially that of Gary Noesner, an Federal Bureau of Investigation negotiator who was replaced during the Waco siege. A reviewer from Kirkus Reviews writes that the author "masterfully portrays the scope of the violence and heartbreak on all sides", and they commend Cook for addressing the militia movement through his book. In reviewing other 2023 books about the Waco siege, Eric Benson notes that Cook's book rides closest to survivor narratives of the siege like that of David Thibodeau, Sheila Martin, and Clive Doyle. Benson, however, does not believe that that makes Cook's narrative of the siege and aftermath naive or misguided, especially since Cook agrees with other scholars that the Branch Davidians caused the 19 April fire that destroyed the compound and ended the siege. Quinta Jurecic for The Washington Post commends the book for adequately addressing the legacy of the Waco siege on present-day politics like the January 6 United States Capitol attack.