The People Behind School Shootings and Public Massacres

January 1, 2017
Grades 9-12 In brief, descriptive chapters, the Psychology of Mass Murderers series seeks to explain the behavior of some of the world's deadliest people, and wonders if such violent acts are preventable. The straightforward, factual segments occasionally dramatize but generally focus on the fact that, although mental illness does not normally lead to violent tendencies, untreated mental illness is often at the heart of mass killings. Unsurprisingly, School Shootings and Public Massacres is organized into before-and-after segments on Columbine, with an intermediate chapter on other public shootings. Notes on red flags, patterns of violence, and number of victims end each individual chapter. There's some overlap between books, and the layout is not always effectivestock images add little to the dense text, and numerous typographical errors make this most helpful as a supplementary resource. Notably, the series acknowledges the sensationalism behind its high-interest appeal, reminding readers to remember the victims as well as the killers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)