Ceremonial Violence : a psychological explanation of school shootings by
Ceremonial Violence analyzes the Columbine high school shooting and four other cases and explains for the first time why teenagers commit school rampage shootings. In addition to these cases, Fast provides a detailed, clear narrative of the Columbine shootings. With his grasp of the elements of abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, sociology, and neurology that contribute to the homicidal mindset, Fast offers us a means of understanding and coming to terms with these tragedies
College in the Crosshairs : An Administrative Perspective on Prevention of Gun Violence by
Gun violence - whether rampage shootings, homicides or suicides - is a potential reality all campuses have to face. This book provides leaders in higher education - and particularly those in student affairs - with data about past incidents, an analysis of trends, and background on the national debate about gun policies and how they impact colleges, state by state. It importantly raises issues about student psychological development, mental health, and the prevalence of alcohol and substance abuse on campus, to better inform discussion about allowing guns on campus and concealed carry. It concludes by sharing strategies for averting gun-related tragedies, and offering models for responding when they occur, based on lessons learned and best practices. The book addresses concealed carry legislation and its impact on campus policies by state, examining the concerns of administrators as they discharge their duty of care to students and comply with legal and regulatory frameworks. Asking "Are our students developmentally ready to make a morally sophisticated, life-changing decision to use firearms in response to a real or perceived threat?", it offers important perspectives and scientific data, so far absent from the debate, to shape the ongoing conversation with lawmakers and the public about what it takes to keep college communities safe. In addressing risk and prevention, contributors cover the relationship between violence and mental health, and the need to establish comprehensive strategic plans and a preventative framework that promotes help-seeking for those in need before they reach the point of crisis, as well as a campus-wide risk assessment team, stressing the importance of cultivating a community-wide approach to campus safety by empowering members to report suspicious behavior. They also offer guidance on improving effective behavior intervention and case management processes. The book concludes by outlining best practices, and providing guidance on developing an emergency plan, practicing and testing systems, and creating a robust communications strategy. Individual chapters focus on how small colleges with limited resources can develop effective plans into by partnering with local agencies; as well as on the steps that community colleges - who generally lack resident advisors and residential staff, and whose students are far more dispersed - can take to diminish risk and respond promptly and professionally to a crisis. This is an essential guide for all higher education leaders concerned about preventing violence on our campuses, and a call to action.
Columbine by
"On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their goal was simple: to blow up their school and to leave 'a lasting impression on the world.' Their bombs failed, but the ensuing shooting defined a new era of school violence ... Dave Cullen delivers a profile of teenage killers that goes to the heart of psychopathology. He lays bare the callous brutality of mastermind Eric Harris and the quavering, suicidal Dylan Klebold, who went to the prom three days earlier and obsessed about love in his journal. The result is an account of two good students with lots of friends, who were secretly stockpiling a basement cache of weapons, recording their raging hatred, and manipulating every adult who got in their way. They left signs everywhere. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of police files, FBI psychologists, and the boys' tapes and diaries, he gives a complete account of the Columbine tragedy ... A close-up portrait of violence, a community rendered helpless, and police blunders and cover-ups, it is a human portrait of two killers
Day of Reckoning : Columbine and the search for America's soul by
In Day of Reckoning, Wendy Murray Zoba vividly recounts the horrible events of April 20, 1999, and powerfully dissects controversies that still swirl in the aftermath of the Columbine High School shootings. Based on on-site visits and scores of interviews with survivors, parents, and friends of victims, her book gives unforgettable voice to the persons whose lives were most directly affected by the Columbine massacre.
Enough Is Enough : a student affairs perspective on preparedness and response to a campus shooting by
A joint publication of Stylus, Sterling, Virginia; ACPA, College Student Educators International; NASPA, Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.
#NeverAgain : a new generation draws the line by
From two survivors of the Parkland, Florida shooting comes a declaration for our times, and an in-depth look at the making of the #NeverAgain movement. On February 14, 2018, seventeen-year-old David Hogg and his fourteen-year-old sister, Lauren, went to school at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, like any normal Wednesday. That day, of course, the world changed. By the next morning, with seventeen classmates and faculty dead, they had joined the leadership of a movement to save their own lives, and the lives of all other young people in America. It's a leadership position they did not seek, and did not want--but events gave them no choice. The morning after the massacre, David Hogg told CNN: "We're children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together. Get over your politics and get something done." This book is a manifesto for the movement begun that day, one that has already changed America--with voices of a new generation that are speaking truth to power, and are determined to succeed where their elders have failed. With moral force and clarity, a new generation has made it clear that problems previously deemed unsolvable due to powerful lobbies and political cowardice will be theirs to solve. Born just after Columbine and raised amid seemingly endless war and routine active shooter drills, this generation now says, "Enough". This book is their statement of purpose, and the story of their lives. It is the essential guide to the #NeverAgain movement.
Newtown : an American tragedy by
In the vein of Dave Cullen's Columbine, the first comprehensive account of the Sandy Hook tragedy--with exclusive new reporting that chronicles the horrific events of December 14, 2012, including new insight into the dark mind of gunman Adam Lanza. Twenty-six people dead; twenty of them schoolchildren between the ages of six and seven. The world mourned the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012. Now, here is the startling, comprehensive look at this tragedy, and into the mind of the unstable killer, Adam Lanza. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and a decade's worth of emails from Lanza's mother to close friends that chronicled his slow slide into mental illness, Newtown pieces together the perfect storm that led to this unspeakable act of violence that shattered so many lives. Newtown explores the two central theories that have permeated the media since the attack: some claim Lanza suffered from severe mental illness, while others insist that, far from being a random act of insanity, this was a meticulously thought out, premeditated attack at least two years in the making by a violent video-gamer so obsessed with "glory kills" and researching mass murderers that he was willing to go to any length to attain the top score. Lanza's dark descent from a young boy with adjustment disorders to a calculating killer is interwoven with the Newtown massacre as it unfolded at the time, told from the points of view of eye witnesses, survivors, parents of victims, first responders, and Adam's relatives. A definitive account of a tragedy that shook a nation, Newtown features exclusive material including initial misinformation reported by the media and commentary on how this catastrophic event became a lightning rod for political agendas, much like Columbine did more than a decade ago
Parkland : birth of a movement by
The bestselling author of Columbine offers a deeply moving account of the extraordinary teenage survivors of the Parkland shooting who pushed back against the NRA and Congressional leaders and launched the singular grassroots March for Our Lives movement. Emma González called BS. David Hogg called out Adult America. The uprising had begun. Cameron Kasky immediately recruited a colorful band of theatre kids and rising activists and brought them together in his living room to map out a movement. Four days after escaping Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, two dozen extraordinary kids announced the audacious March for Our Lives. A month later, it was the fourth largest protest in American history. Dave Cullen, who has been reporting on the epidemic of school shootings for two decades, takes us along on the students' nine-month odyssey, from the shooting to the midterm elections and beyond. With unrivaled access to their friends and families, meetings and homes, he pulls back the curtain to reveal intimate portraits of the quirky, playful organizers who have taken the nation by storm. Cullen brings us onto the bus for the Road to Change tour, showing us how these kids seized an opportunity. They hit the highway to organize the young activist groups mushrooming across America in their image. Rattled but undeterred, they pressed on in gun country even as adversaries armed with assault weapons tailed them across Texas and Utah trying to scare them off. The Parkland students are genuinely candid about their experiences. We see them cope with shattered friendships and PTSD, along with the normal day-to-day struggles of school, including AP exams and college acceptances. Yet, with the idealism of youth they refuse victimhood, and continue to devise clever new tactics to stir their generation to action. Their goal is to build a powerhouse network to match that of the NRA. Parkland is a staggering story of empowerment and hope, told through the wildly creative and wickedly funny voices of a group of remarkable kids. This spellbinding book is a testament to change and a perceptive examination of a pivotal moment in American culture. After two decades of adult hand-wringing, the MFOL kids are mapping a way out. They see a long road ahead, a generational struggle to save every kid of every color from the ravages of gun violence in America."--Jacket.
Following the February 14, 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Cameron Kasky immediately recruited a colorful band of theatre kids and rising activists to map out a movement. A month later, their March for Our Lives was the fourth largest protest in American history. Cullen shows how these kids seized an opportunity, organizing the young activist groups mushrooming across America in their image. They foresee a generational struggle to save every kid of every color from the ravages of gun violence in America
School Shootings by 