Memories of the Branch Davidians
The Autobiography of David Koresh's Mother
By Bonnie Haldeman Edited by Catherine Wessinger
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Subjects: All Sociology, All Texas/Regional |
The 1993 event at Mt. Carmel shocked all of America and has since spawned a plethora of books regarding the "truth" about the Branch Davidians. Memories of the Branch Davidians is the story told from the inside. The oral history of Bonnie Haldeman, the mother of Vernon Howell (David Koresh), it offers an intimate, first-hand account of how a boy named Vernon Howell became David Koresh. Haldeman paints a picture of Koresh that could only be told by one who knew both his greatest strengths and his deepest faults.
Foreword, Catherine Wessinger
1 Purpose of This Autobiography
2 Bonnie Clark
3 The Haldeman Family
4 Vernon Howell Becomes a Branch Davidian
5 Bonnie Haldeman Becomes a Branch Davidian
6 David Koresh's Shootout with George Roden at Mount Carmel
7 Resettling at Mount Carmel
8 Bonnie and Roy Leave Mount Carmel
9 Visits Back and Forth with Folks at Mount Carmel
10 The ATF Raid, February 28, 1993
11 The Siege
12 The Fire, April 19, 1993
13 1994 Criminal Trial
14 2000 Civil Trial
15 Life after the Fire
16 Going Back to Mount Carmel
17 Remembering the People and Lifestyle at Mount Carmel
18 Remembering the Children
19 Remembering David
Appendix: Poems by David Koresh
Works Cited
Notes
In Memories of the Branch Davidians, Catherine Wessinger's insightful interviews with Bonnie Haldeman provide a rare glimpse into David Koresh's childhood and his emergence as the spiritual leader of the Branch Davidians. In this plain-spoken account of her life and her son's life, Bonnie Haldeman puts a human face on David Koresh and his followers, offering a needed corrective to the predominantly stereotypical portrayals of the Branch Davidians.
—Dr. David G. Bromley, Professor of Religious Studies and Sociology, School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University
In the many analyses of the Branch Davidian tragedy, what are missing are precisely these autobiographical voices of the 'Branch Davidians' themselves. In Bonnie Haldeman, the mother of David Koresh, we hear their voice.
—James Tabor, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Cathy Wessinger's presentation of Bonnie Haldeman's oral history is an invaluable source of information for those endeavoring to learn more about a religious community that was virtually wiped out in an unprecedented standoff with the federal government in 1993. Wessinger has toiled to compile these stories for the historical record and provide researchers with rich insights into the little-known lives of sect members and its leader, David Koresh.
—Stuart A. Wright, Professor of Sociology and Assistant Director, Office of Research, Lamar University
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