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The Violence Project  By  cover art

The Violence Project

By: Jillian Peterson, James Densley
Narrated by: Laurel Lefkow
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Publisher's summary

The Violence Project is about an examination of the phenomenon of mass shootings in America and an urgent call to implement evidence-based strategies to stop these tragedies.

Using first-person accounts from the perpetrators themselves, along with data from the writers’ groundbreaking research on mass shooters, The Violence Project charts new pathways to prevention and innovative ways to stop the social contagion of violence.

Two years ago, frustrated by reactionary policy conversations that never seemed to convert into meaningful action, special investigator and psychologist Jill Peterson and sociologist James Densley started building The Violence Project, the first comprehensive database of mass shooters. Their goal was to establish the root causes of mass shootings and figure out how to stop them. With funding from the United States Department of Justice, they have coded hundreds of data points in the life histories of more than 150 mass shooters - from their childhood and adolescence to their mental health and motives. They’ve also interviewed seven living perpetrators, along with families, friends, teachers, social workers, victims and leading experts.

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

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  • 04-17-23

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.

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Educational

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

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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.

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1 person found this helpful

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Data driven

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

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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!

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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.

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Very insightful, apolitical, and well written

If you care about this issue... read this book. If you're pro-gun, read this book; if you're anti-gun, read this book. If you think you "know everything" on the topic of mass shootings/mental health, read this book. They use interviews with parents of shooters, and interviews with some who are incarcerated for this type of violence as a way to show you how/where the media and society go wrong in speaking about and combatting this issue. Great book - hopefully it makes its way to both CNN and Fox for people to begin to de-politicize the issue

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4 people found this helpful