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.

The author closes his winding but effective narrative, which incorporates everything from the latest federal statistics to scholarly views of human nature, with the observation that the National Rifle Association is becoming politically marginalized and, with it, the GOP.

... [a] wonky but fervent debut.