Discusses in detail the shooting at Virginia Tech in 2007 and the media's portrayal of the event, the victims, and the shooter.
On April 16, 2007, at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (commonly called Virginia Tech), undergraduate student Seung-Hui Cho embarked on a shooting spree that resulted in 33 fatalities and, unsurprisingly, wall-to-wall media coverage. In this volume, Agger (sociology and humanities, U. of Texas at Arlington) and Luke (political science, Virginia Tech) present 16 essays that explore different meanings these events may reveal for understanding American society. Among the topics discussed are massacre as media spectacle, the display of civic ritual in the media, Seung-Hui Cho as a manifestation of aggrieved entitlement or American social psychosis, Virginia Tech administration reaction to the events of the day, and the use of mental health language about Cho as a means of excluding the political. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
On April 16, 2007, a Virginia Tech student killed 32 of his classmates and professors and then turned the gun on himself. The media focused their power and our attention on the campus, the students and faculty of Virginia Tech, and the gunman and his victims. But we have yet to understand fully what happened in Blacksburg. There is a Gunman on Campus brings our thoughts back to the shocking campus shootings and the public reactions to the event, shining needed light on what occurred at the university, how American society reacted, and how it all fits into contemporary culture.
