Ceremonial Violence: Understanding Columbine and Other School Rampage Shootings - Softcover

Jonathan Fast

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0715638033 ISBN 13: 9780715638033

Publisher: Duckworth & Co, 2009

Synopsis

"A chilling, insightful look at school shootings." - Booklist

Ceremonial Violence analyzes thirteen school "rampage" shootings―including the Columbine High School massacre―and explains, for the first time, why teenagers commit these tragic atrocities. 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 shootings, and provides examples of what we should look for as early signs to prevent further tragedies.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Fast, Ph.D. was educated at Princeton, Columbia, and Yeshiva Universities. He is the author of eight novels and a Professor of Social Work at Yeshiva. He lives in Connecticut.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In this penetrating examination of the nation's school shootings, Fast, a professor of social work at Yeshiva University, explores such psychological theories as identity confusion and childhood abuse. Outlining 13 incidents, Fast concentrates on five between 1979 and the 1999 Columbine shootings. Each shooting is described in unflinching detail, from 16-year-old Brenda Spencer's declaration that her hatred of Mondays led her to kill two adults and wound eight children at a San Diego elementary school, to 16-year-old Luke Woodham's brutal matricide before killing two students and wounding six more at his high school. Avoiding simplistic labels, Fast builds a psychological profile of each teen, weighing upbringing and prior history of violence. His meticulously detailed portrait of Columbine's Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold anchors the work, and Fast dissects not only the boys themselves but the culture of Columbine as a school and Littleton, Colo., as a community. Although not a book about solutions, it is not without hope. Fast recognizes the impossibility of predicting school rampage shooters, but outlines clear and realistic goals for educators, community leaders, parents and students that could help prevent these violent attacks. (Sept.)
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About this edition

• Publisher: Duckworth & Co
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0715638033
• ISBN 13: 9780715638033
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336