Sutherland Springs

God, Guns, and Hope in a Texas Town

De: Joe Holley

Narrado por: Joe Holley

One part Columbine, one part God Save Texas, Joe Holley's riveting, compassionate book examines the 2017 mass shooting at a church in a small Texas town, revealing the struggles and triumphs of these fellow Texans long after the satellite news trucks have gone.

Sutherland Springs was the last place anyone would have expected to be victimized by our modern-day scourge of mass shootings. Founded in the 1850s along historic Cibolo Creek, the tiny community, named for the designated physician during the siege of the Alamo, was once a vibrant destination for wealthy tourists looking to soak up the "cures" of its namesake mineral springs. By November 5, 2017, however, the day a former Air Force enlistee opened fire in the town's First Baptist Church, Sutherland Springs was a shadow of its former self. Twenty-six people died that Sunday morning, in the worst mass shooting in a place of worship in American history.

Holley, who roams the Lone Star State as the "Native Texan" columnist for the Houston Chronicle and earned a Pulitzer- Prize nomination for his editorials about guns, spent more than a year embedded in the community. Long after most journalists had left, he stayed with his fellow Texans, getting to know a close-knit group of people - victims, heroes, and survivors. Holley shows how they work to come to terms with their loss and to rebuild shattered lives, marked by their deep faith in God and in guns. He also uses Sutherland Springs' unique history and its decades-long decline as a prism for understanding how an act of unspeakable violence reflects the complicated realities of Texas and America in the twenty-first century.

©2020 Joe Holley (P)2020 Hachette Books

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A harrowing story of good and evil that gives way to hope, but also a window into the frustrating irony of America's gun culture. Veteran Texas journalist Joe Holley tells this tragedy with empathy and love. You will pray for the people of Sutherland Springs after reading this book, and you just may hope that they're praying for all of us who live in a dangerous time." (Barry Hankins, Professor of History, Baylor University)

"I have been a Joe Holley fan from my earliest days in Texas. Sutherland Springs is Holley at his best, coupling his brand of immersive journalism with empathy and insight to help us understand a nightmare that keeps repeating itself in other places." (Abraham Verghese, author of Cutting for Stone)

"The rawness of this story reflects not just the resilience of communities of faith but also the insanity of our accommodation of gun violence that creates the need for resilience in the first place. The question is finally not "Why, God?" but "Why, us?" Joe Holley helps us to get to both." (Katie Day, Charles A. Schieren Professor Emerita of Church and Society, United Lutheran Seminary)

Lacking Research

I am a family member of 2 victims of this shooting. Facts and research is lacking. Very disappointed.