The Violence Project

How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic

By: Jillian Peterson, James Densley

Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow

Using data from groundbreaking research on mass shooters, including direct accounts from the perpetrators themselves, The Violence Project charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence.

Peterson and Densley have examined hundreds of data points in the life histories of more than 170 mass shooters, from their childhood and adolescence to their mental health and motives, aiming to establish the root causes of mass shootings and figure out how to stop them. They’ve also interviewed living perpetrators of mass shootings and people who knew them, shooting survivors, victims’ families, first responders and leading experts, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the real stories, rather than the sensationalised media narratives that too often prevail.

Instead of offering mere thoughts and prayers for the victims of these crimes, this book shares data-driven solutions for exactly what we must do – at the individual level, in our communities and as a country – to put an end to these tragedies that have defined our era.

©2021 Jillian Peterson and James Densley (P)2021 Bolinda Publishing

Educational

Very interesting & informative.. Hopefully I have a better understanding of what triggers some of the behavior of others.

LOVED THIS BOOK

I've always been curious about the brains of mass shooters and this explains it in such a clear way. I'd recommend anyone who is having trouble dealing with our current gun crisis give this a listen. as well as ppl who have ppl in their life who their concerned COULD commit a mass shooting. it really breaks down on what we as a society can do to stop the epidemic.

Excellent clear eyed look at awful ongoing problem

I grit my teeth and plunged ahead into this incredible book. Discovering the book during news reports on the latest Texas school massacre, once I began listening it truly helped me understand the full complexity and proven solutions, This is a helpful hopeful book in the midst of gut wrenching ultimately preventable tragedy. Thanks for writing this book.

Excellent research and analysis of violence

A must read for anyone involved in anyway with violence!!!
A must read to all thick headed Republican elected officials who are blind to what is needed to stop mass shooting!

Review

The authors did very extensive research. This book was a very helpful guide to actually do something about this problem. Thank you very much for writing this book.

Very well researched and written

The book is part of a very in depth empirical study on mass shooter incidents in the United States. The authors off the book dissect the incidents by profiling the shooters, locations, methods and motivations. They draw several conclusions the most notable of all is that there is no easy button, no one law, program or funding solution that will prevent a complex problem. Instead they offer several plausible options that you are worth you time to listen to.

Incredible

This is an incredible book. I loved the straight-forward, no-nonsense, fact-based style it was presented in. Truly inspiring. I hope everyone in America will read it and be informed by it.

Important and Urgent

I read a few of the reviews saying it had a liberal bias and should have stuck to the facts. The facts are that the author explains in painstaking detail where the data came from, what methodology was used, where they are lacking data, etc. The author also provides many references, and has all of this information on the website. I suspect these reviewers are upset because some of the violent perpetrators specifically discuss online radicalization from right-wing extremist forums. That is a fact, not bias. The majority of church shootings happen in the South. That is a fact, verifiable. Not bias. It is factual to discuss how recent political events and media coverage have emboldened violent men, and this comes from those men themselves. This book is incredible, timely, and crucial.

Data driven

I appreciated the fact this book was consistently backed by data and not based on opinion. 

Interesting but Wanted More

I rated this 3.5, rounding up to a 4. There was a lot about this that was good. It held my interest, but didn't answer all my questions or go deep enough into the individual cases to understand if there were commonalities I wondered about. For instance, what percent had mental health diagnoses but had stopped attending counseling and taking meds? The authors' concluded that media attention is a motivation of shooters, and the FBI agrees. So why is there still so much media attention? The authors feel that squashing media attention is one of the big factors that significantly decreased serial killers. So many shooters had been identified as exhibiting high risk behavior, yet they were avoided rather than engaged. The Isla Vista shooter is an example, but though the authors mentioned this shooter, that element was never mentioned. Year after year roommates moved out and complained about him, yet still he remained and killed his current roommates, when after months and years of planning, he implemented his killing spree. Most of the suggested interventions I had heard before. One commonality many shooters had was having been bullied. There are actions that could be heightened--such as anti-bully programs--because programs don't seem as aggressive as they should be. That doesn't make the book bad, but there wasn't enough attention given to increasing the spotlight on actions that would help. That had a place in the book.