Bonnie Haldeman was the mother of David Koresh and a surviving Branch Davidian. She lived, traveled, and worked with the Branch Davidians in Texas, California, and Hawaii from 1985 until 1991.

Catherine Wessinger (Ph.D. University of Iowa) is the Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor in Arts and Sciences, and she is Professor of the History of Religions in the Religious Studies Department, Loyola University, New Orleans. She is the author of How the Millennium Comes Violently: From Jonestown to Heaven's Gate, editor of Millennialism, Persecution and Violence: Historical Cases, and co-general editor of Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions.