Stalling for Time

My Life as an FBI Hostage Negotiator

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Stalling for Time

By: Gary Noesner

Narrated by: Gary Noesner

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About this listen

The FBI’s chief hostage negotiator recounts harrowing standoffs, including the Waco siege with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, in a memoir that inspired the miniseries Waco, now on Netflix.

“Riveting . . . the most in-depth and absorbing section is devoted to the 1993 siege near Waco, Texas.”—The Washington Post

In Stalling for Time, the FBI’s chief hostage negotiator takes readers on a harrowing tour through many of the most famous hostage crises in the history of the modern FBI, including the siege at Waco, the Montana Freemen standoff, and the D.C. sniper attacks. Having helped develop the FBI’s nonviolent communication techniques for achieving peaceful outcomes in tense situations, Gary Noesner offers a candid, fascinating look back at his years as an innovator in the ranks of the Bureau and a pioneer on the front lines. Whether vividly recounting showdowns with the radical Republic of Texas militia or clashes with colleagues and superiors that expose the internal politics of America’s premier law enforcement agency, Stalling for Time crackles with insight and breathtaking suspense. Case by case, minute by minute, it’s a behind-the-scenes view of a visionary crime fighter in action.

Law

True Crime

Exciting

Siege

Montana

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The author (also narrator), with his account of the genesis and evolution of negotiation tactics, helps erode the fallacy that all American law-enforcers are gung-ho hotheads who engage lethal force at any given opportunity. The seige at Waco - amongst others - is described excellently and it evokes great sympathy for the negotiators who came so close to peacefully defusing the situation and rescuing the 76 vulnerable people that died and great disdain for their bumbling, knuckle-dragging colleagues in the FBI who favoured brute force.