Mr. Talty delves the deepest into the history and twisted personality of David Koresh ... It is impossible to turn David Koresh into a sympathetic character and very difficult to pity the deluded residents of Mount Carmel.
Talty, trying to grasp Howell’s nature from cradle to grave, lingers more on the details ... Through its close attention to Koresh’s life, Talty’s account ends up being in some respects the less sympathetic one.
Drawing on sources that include FBI files and eyewitness testimony, Talty focuses his thoroughly researched history on the troubled and troubling life of Vernon Wayne Howell ... A dark chronicle of hubris and violence.
