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Tragedy in Aurora: The Culture of Mass Shootings in America
Tragedy in Aurora is about the 2012 murder of budding sports journalist Jessica (Jessi) Redfield Ghawi in a public mass shooting, and the widening circle of pain it inflicted on her family, friends, police, medical first responders, and others. The book is at the same time a deep examination of the causes and potential cures of the quintessential 21st century American sickness—public mass shootings. At the heart of that examination is an unpacking of America’s deep polarization and political gridlock. It addresses head on the question of why? Why is American gun violence so different from other countries? Why does nothing seem to change?
The “Parkland kids” inspired hope of change. But the ultimate questions stubbornly remain—what should, what can, and what will Americans do to reduce gun violence? Tragedy in Aurora argues that the answer lies in a conscious cultural redefinition of American civic order.
Over recent decades, America has defined a cultural “new normal” about guns and gun violence. Americans express formalistic dismay after every public mass shooting. But many accept gun violence as an inevitable, even necessary, and to some laudable part of what it means to be “American.” Although Americans claim to be shocked with each new outrage, so far they have failed to coalesce around an effective way to reduce gun death and injury. The debate is bogged down in polarized and profoundly ideological political and cultural argument. Meanwhile, America continues to lead the globe in its pandemic levels of gun deaths and injuries. Combined with the cynical “learned helplessness” of its politicians, the result is gridlock and a growing roll of victims of carnage.
Is there a path out of this cultural and political gridlock? Tragedy in Aurora argues that if America is to reduce gun violence it must expand the debate and confront the fundamental question of “who are we?” Tom Diaz gives a new understanding of American culture and the potential for change offered by the growing number and ongoing organization of victims and survivors of gun violence. Without conscious cultural change, the book argues, there is little prospect of effective laws or public policy to reduce gun violence in general and public mass shootings in particular.
The “Parkland kids” inspired hope of change. But the ultimate questions stubbornly remain—what should, what can, and what will Americans do to reduce gun violence? Tragedy in Aurora argues that the answer lies in a conscious cultural redefinition of American civic order.
Over recent decades, America has defined a cultural “new normal” about guns and gun violence. Americans express formalistic dismay after every public mass shooting. But many accept gun violence as an inevitable, even necessary, and to some laudable part of what it means to be “American.” Although Americans claim to be shocked with each new outrage, so far they have failed to coalesce around an effective way to reduce gun death and injury. The debate is bogged down in polarized and profoundly ideological political and cultural argument. Meanwhile, America continues to lead the globe in its pandemic levels of gun deaths and injuries. Combined with the cynical “learned helplessness” of its politicians, the result is gridlock and a growing roll of victims of carnage.
Is there a path out of this cultural and political gridlock? Tragedy in Aurora argues that if America is to reduce gun violence it must expand the debate and confront the fundamental question of “who are we?” Tom Diaz gives a new understanding of American culture and the potential for change offered by the growing number and ongoing organization of victims and survivors of gun violence. Without conscious cultural change, the book argues, there is little prospect of effective laws or public policy to reduce gun violence in general and public mass shootings in particular.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published October 31, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 3, 2019
The title of this book is very misleading. I was hoping for an indepth look at what happened in the movie theater in Aurora and the aftermath.
Instead this book is a brief overview of some of the mass murders in the United States. Focusing on the Assault Rifle, Charles Whitman, and then the fragmentation of the gun control advocates.
When the author does mention the Phillips its very brief and I felt very disjointed to where it was inserted in the story.
I would have loved to hear how the Phillips decided to become pro gun control, how they felt the weeks after the shocking murder of their daughter, and what they are doing NOW to spearhead gun control.
The title fooled me, however, the book did provide some insight into gun culture in the US, the mass murderers themselves, and what COULD be done.
Instead this book is a brief overview of some of the mass murders in the United States. Focusing on the Assault Rifle, Charles Whitman, and then the fragmentation of the gun control advocates.
When the author does mention the Phillips its very brief and I felt very disjointed to where it was inserted in the story.
I would have loved to hear how the Phillips decided to become pro gun control, how they felt the weeks after the shocking murder of their daughter, and what they are doing NOW to spearhead gun control.
The title fooled me, however, the book did provide some insight into gun culture in the US, the mass murderers themselves, and what COULD be done.
July 16, 2019
First, thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the Advance Readers Copy of TRAGEDY IN AURORA: THE CULTURE OF MASS SHOOTINGS IN AMERICA. I wanted to read this book to gain a better understanding of the psychological profile of a mass shooter. However, what I got was a long and detailed history of the 2nd Amendment vs. gun control debate in America, with exhaustive analysis of how each side got to where it is today. There were some good insights related to the pro-gun / NRA lobby's organizational abilities, contrasted with the inability of the gun control forces to organize in any coherent and national way. This is an extensively researched and footnoted book, but the organization and storyline was not easy for me to track, as it bounced around a lot from one anecdote to another. Nor really what I was looking for.
January 17, 2020
Having just finished one book involving psychobabble (Madness), I can’t believe the incompetence of psychiatrists that is obvious in this book as well. If patients threaten to kill or exhibit bizarre behavior maybe someone should be listening more carefully - three of theses senseless murders were predictable and competent doctors might have been able to prevent them. (At least Marya only hurt herself, but that might have been avoidable too.)
Don’t even start me on the NRA - this book just proves how wrong Trump and his cronies are.
Don’t even start me on the NRA - this book just proves how wrong Trump and his cronies are.
September 10, 2022
And with that, I’m done with the 2022 PopSugar Reading Challenge! It was by no means a pleasant topic, but the book was well researched and very thorough in its analysis of gun usage and misusage in America. I learned a lot.
February 21, 2020
Tom Diaz is no stranger to guns. He was born into a military family. He served in the military. Sandy and Lonnie Phillips are no stranger to guns. They own guns. But these three have collaborated on a book about our American culture that offers "thoughts and prayers" instead of real action to stop the epidemic of mass shootings in our schools, theatres, churches and synagogues, malls, music festivals and workplaces.
This is the second book I have read by Tom Diaz on the subject, and, again, his research is impeccable. In fact, Tragedy in Aurora has 60 pages of endnotes and bibliography to back him up. He has become a friend of Sandy and Lonnie Phillips who lost their beautiful daughter Jessi to a monster with a deadly arsenal of weapons in a crowded Colorado movie theatre. They have shared with him the journey they have been on since the night they received that horrific phone call from Jessi's friend while still inside the theatre. They have turned their lives over to helping, all over the country, survivors and loved ones of those killed in mass shootings. They have lost everything in court due to broken promises from a famous gun control organization. But they continue to travel to Washington, D.C. to testify in congress and to appear on national news shows in order to help America understand that we cannot continue to put our love for assault weapons over our duty to protect our children, to protect all of us. In this book, they make a good team with Tom Diaz in presenting, along with his discussion of congressional inaction, handguns and assault weapons, what it's like living with the loss of a loved one due to our lack of common sense gun regulations.
As you prepare to join a crowd of people for any reason, has the thought crossed your mind that one semi-automatic weapon could wipe out most, or many, of you in seconds? Do you look for the nearest exit in a movie theatre, not because of possible fire, but because of your vulnerability to a shooter with a weapon with a large capacity magazine? Please support those who are trying to make our country safer, people like Sandy and Lonnie Phillips.
This is the second book I have read by Tom Diaz on the subject, and, again, his research is impeccable. In fact, Tragedy in Aurora has 60 pages of endnotes and bibliography to back him up. He has become a friend of Sandy and Lonnie Phillips who lost their beautiful daughter Jessi to a monster with a deadly arsenal of weapons in a crowded Colorado movie theatre. They have shared with him the journey they have been on since the night they received that horrific phone call from Jessi's friend while still inside the theatre. They have turned their lives over to helping, all over the country, survivors and loved ones of those killed in mass shootings. They have lost everything in court due to broken promises from a famous gun control organization. But they continue to travel to Washington, D.C. to testify in congress and to appear on national news shows in order to help America understand that we cannot continue to put our love for assault weapons over our duty to protect our children, to protect all of us. In this book, they make a good team with Tom Diaz in presenting, along with his discussion of congressional inaction, handguns and assault weapons, what it's like living with the loss of a loved one due to our lack of common sense gun regulations.
As you prepare to join a crowd of people for any reason, has the thought crossed your mind that one semi-automatic weapon could wipe out most, or many, of you in seconds? Do you look for the nearest exit in a movie theatre, not because of possible fire, but because of your vulnerability to a shooter with a weapon with a large capacity magazine? Please support those who are trying to make our country safer, people like Sandy and Lonnie Phillips.
July 2, 2022
The main problem with this book is the title and the way it's presented: as a nonfiction look at the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado in 2012. Instead, the book is about various mass shootings in the US (and Canada) and how our culture has been affected by these events. It was interesting to see how pretty much nothing has changed since this book was published in 2019 - just more thoughts and prayers and a whole lot more deaths from gun violence.
I think this book suffered from a lot of readability issues but mainly the structure was just super confusing. It was hard to follow where the author's train of thought was going as it sped from a different mass shooting event to historical details about the US and guns. There were way too many tangents about topics that were not necessary to the thesis of the book (for example, when discussing the Aurora shooting, there was a whole section about Batman because "The Dark Knight" was being shown during the shooting). There was also a lot of jumping back and forth between events and then offshoots into history (like the establishment of the NRA or guns as a big US business).
There was some information that was interesting and Diaz's assessments of why we can't pass simple gun control laws and how gun culture has seeped into our nation's core were spot-on. I just wish the book had been a lot more easy to read. Similarly, to say this book was co-authored by the parents of an Aurora shooting victim was odd. You don't actually hear much from them in the book and there's no resolution to how that case ended or what its true impacts were.
This is a fascinating issue that unfortunately is ever more pressing in today's world. But this book was just too hard to follow for me to really say I was a fan.
*Free copy provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
I think this book suffered from a lot of readability issues but mainly the structure was just super confusing. It was hard to follow where the author's train of thought was going as it sped from a different mass shooting event to historical details about the US and guns. There were way too many tangents about topics that were not necessary to the thesis of the book (for example, when discussing the Aurora shooting, there was a whole section about Batman because "The Dark Knight" was being shown during the shooting). There was also a lot of jumping back and forth between events and then offshoots into history (like the establishment of the NRA or guns as a big US business).
There was some information that was interesting and Diaz's assessments of why we can't pass simple gun control laws and how gun culture has seeped into our nation's core were spot-on. I just wish the book had been a lot more easy to read. Similarly, to say this book was co-authored by the parents of an Aurora shooting victim was odd. You don't actually hear much from them in the book and there's no resolution to how that case ended or what its true impacts were.
This is a fascinating issue that unfortunately is ever more pressing in today's world. But this book was just too hard to follow for me to really say I was a fan.
*Free copy provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews