Deep Dive Into Research

“The facts were coming together, but something was still missing from the story.”—Jim Redmond, PhD, Director of Academic Support Labs and Tutoring has published a new book, and his recount of working on it is just as gripping as the story he tells in They Know We’re Coming!: The True Story of the ATF Operation at Koresh’s Waco Compound. 

In the intensive process of his research collaboration and personal interviews with former ATF undercover agent Robert Rodriguez, Redmond could routinely and competently draw on his professional training as a writer, composition instructor, writing center director, and professional listener. “Knowing when to draw on what skillset allowed this book to finally come together,” he says.  

The challenge was to balance objective and anecdotal sources: Redmond diligently pieced together the fragments of hard evidence and human experience with an intimate view of the 1993 stand-off between law enforcement and religious cult members on the site of their compound near Waco, Texas. He sifted through countless documents such as official protocols, reports and records, as well as the first-hand recollections and often difficult details from countless hours of conversation with Rodriguez—the one on-duty agent with inside intelligence then and a biography deeply impacted by the events now. 

“My goal was to help Rodriguez tell that story, his story,” Redmond describes his role in the collaboration. “To clearly and convincingly present the entire chaotic sequence of events in an organized and engaging fashion. But we also both agreed that his book needed to be as factually accurate as possible. A huge part of this story was following the ‘facts’ as we have them to present a truthful depiction to the public of what happened, how it happened, and why. Given the number of competing voices, narratives, and agendas that occupy the space of ‘what really happened at Waco’, this was no easy task, nor was it easy to faithfully capture the difficult interiority of Robert’s experience before, during, and after the raid.” 

Redmond summarizes his work on the book, “It was a wonderful challenge. I got to make a great friend in the process, and we hope you enjoy the final product.”

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They Know We’re Coming!
The True Story of the ATF Operation at Koresh’s Waco Compound

By Robert X. Rodriguez, as told to Dr. Jim Redmond

Treaty Oak Publishers, 2024.
ISBN-10 ‏: ‎ 1959127284
ISBN-13 ‏: ‎ 978-1959127284