Murders Most Foul: And the School Shooters in Our Midst
“Mostly by males, and mostly by gun” may sound too much like “One if by land, and two if by sea.” But it’s really the extent of the commonality that psychologists, sociologists, and criminologists have found in the 85-year history of school rampages in America. By mid-February 2012, twenty-five murderers had killed 165 people in 23 different multi-fatality bloodbaths at grade schools, middle schools, high schools, and universities. The attacks had happened in good neighborhoods and sweet towns easily as often as they had in bad neighborhoods and large cities.
But “guys with guns?” Without a more substantive profile, how are educators and law enforcement agencies to stop the next killer?
Rebecca Coffey’s MURDERS MOST FOUL: And the School Shooters in Our Midst examines the roster of America’s atrocities, and pulls into rhetorical light open questions remaining from rampages like those at Columbine, Virginia Tech, Cleveland Elementary School, and Westside Middle School. Is better gun control the answer? Can safety nets be woven tightly enough to contain potential school shooters? Is an entirely new approach to identifying potential mass murderers called for? Coffey’s MURDERS MOST FOUL identifies what Donald Rumsfeld might call the “known knowns,” “known unknowns,” and “unknown unknowns” of school slaughter, and looks at new glimmers of hope presented by psychologists and law enforcement officials who have made preventing school massacres their life work. Full of lively questions, MURDERS MOST FOUL contains no firm answers. For, truly, the debate must continue.
A “Readers’ Favorite” Review on GOODREADS:
“Rebecca Coffey explores the topic of school shootings and tragedies at the hands of seemingly innocent individuals, individuals we see and interact with on a daily basis. I remember Columbine very vividly, and reading the description of this tragedy and many others that span the years back to the 1920’s refreshes the horrible emotions I felt when word of Columbine circulated through the halls of my own junior high school. For all the bravado that my eighth graders demonstrate for peer approval and teacher disdain, their 14-year-old egos were shattered on that day. Suddenly we, the teachers, were no longer the “enemy,” but their protectors until the ringing of the dismissal bell. Unfortunately many of those students do not have the luxury of heading home to the comforts of a loving and secure family situation. So, where does that leave them? Where does it leave our innocent children who only want to feel safe in school as well as home?
“I commend Rebecca Coffey for her diligent research of the many situations of school/campus violence. Without stating so literally, she has made the fragility and vulnerability of our young people quite clear. –Lisa McCombs, GOODREADS.”
Vook Press, 2012