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The Violence Inside Us: A Brief History of an Ongoing American Tragedy
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72
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
92/100Critics
53/100Scholars
Author:
Chris Murphy
Publisher:
Random House
Date:
April 21, 2020
A U.S. senator from Connecticut explores the origins of our violent impulses, the roots of our obsession with firearms, and the mythologies that prevent us from confronting our national crisis with gun violence.
What The Reviewers Say
Two of the many politicians who responded to...crime scenes shortly after they occurred have managed to produce worthy memoirs that are not simply rehashes. Tragedies, we learn through their reflective insider accounts, can both make political careers and break them.
... the passionate and often deeply moving story of Murphy's personal transformation. It is a well-informed, thoughtful exploration of the causes and potential solutions for the United States' epidemic of gun violence—one that claims around 90 lives every day—even as it addresses that vexing problem in a broader context.
With an insatiable thirst for fact-finding and a gift for forging a gripping narrative, Murphy posits the answers to...challenging questions through the personal journeys of those who have been most affected by gun violence. Disarmingly honest, philosophically astute, emotionally passionate, and bracingly realistic, Murphy’s clear-eyed assessment of the nature of violence in America is destined to provoke meaningful, urgently needed discussions..
The author’s conversational style manages to make a mountain of statistics readable, and brings the emotions of survivors far closer to the reader than media accounts. Murphy also addresses the cultural, economic, and racial reasons for America’s history of gun ownership and suggests how the many causes of gun violence can be mitigated.
