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The Waco siege: an American tragedy

Stephan Talty charts how a 1993 standoff between a religious cult and the FBI in Texas ended in disaster – and explores the ways it has influenced US politics since

Published: April 26, 2023 at 7:05 AM

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Thirty years ago, a deadly standoff in Texas between a religious cult and the FBI hit the headlines around the United States. The story of leader David Koresh and the power he held over the Branch Davidian religious group has fascinated and appalled in the decades since, and has cast an increasingly dark shadow over US politics. Matt Elton spoke to author Stephan Talty about what Waco tells us about 20th-century America, and the ways in which its mythologisation have come to inform extremism in the 21st century.

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Stephan Talty is the author of Koresh: The True Story of David Koresh and the Tragedy at Waco (Apollo, 2023)

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Authors

Matt EltonPodcast editor

Matt Elton is the podcast editor at HistoryExtra

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