In the last decade, school shootings have decimated communities and terrified parents, teachers, and children in even the most "family friendly" American towns and suburbs. These tragedies appear to be the spontaneous acts of troubled, disconnected teens, but this important book argues that the roots of violence are deeply entwined in the communities themselves. Rampage challenges the "loner theory" of school violence, and shows why so many adults and students miss the warning signs that could prevent it. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with town residents, distinguished sociologist Katherine Newman and her co-authors take the reader inside two of the most notorious school shootings of the 1990s, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Paducah, Kentucky. In a powerful and original analysis, she demonstrates that the organizational structure of schools "loses" information about troubled kids, and the very closeness of these small rural towns restrained neighbors and friends from communicating what they knew about their problems. Her conclusions shed light on the ties that bind in small-town America.

Autorentext

Katherine S. Newman is the Malcolm Wiener Professor of Urban Studies at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Dean of Social Science at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She lives in Newton, MA.

Cybelle Fox is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology and Social Policy Program at Harvard University.

David Harding is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology and Social Policy Program at Harvard University.

Jal Mehta is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology and Social Policy Program at Harvard University.

Wendy Roth is a doctoral candidate in the Sociology and Social Policy Program at Harvard University.