Gary Noesner was not only the FBI's chief hostage negotiator for many years, but he was also a major player in developing their hostage negotiation progarm, period. Thus, he not only gives a lucid description of what makes for a good negotiation (stall for time, tell the truth, have firepower backing you up but not going in first)-- he also tells where this stuff comes from, mostly in the form of stories. (He doesn't
never lie, by the way. It's just that he does so very, very rarely.) He also gives a believeable description of what happened-- what went wrong-- both at Ruby Ridge and at Waco. I've been waiting for that explanation for a while, mostly because these sorts of domestic problems (Waco, Columbine, OK City bombing) have happened happen right around my birthday, in April. The writing is not always what I'd pick-- it sometimes feels a bit hodge-podgey to me-- but for the information it offers (not to mention the excellent storytelling) I found it well worth the read.
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