Mass shootings are unfortunately one of the most urgent and unsettling issues facing society. They often lead to heated policy debates around gun control, mental illness, and other contested issues in American life. Even though there are a growing number of studies on this important issue, Understanding Mass Shootings by Greene-Colozzi and Schildkraut adds a lot to this literature. This book provides a clear and comprehensive examination of how these attacks emerge, and what can be done to prevent them. This important volume traces the historical evolution of mass shootings, explores how scholars define and categorize them, examines potential causes, and discusses the individuals who carry them out. It also unpacks the impact and consequences of mass shootings, discusses prevention strategies, and analyzes legal and other types of responses to mass shootings. Unlike many other works, it is careful to ground their arguments and claims in empirical data. This book will quickly become a go to volume to understand mass shootings. It could be assigned to undergraduate, MA, and PhD courses on mass shootings, terrorism, targeted violence, deviance, prevention and policy, and research methods. It should be an essential resource for scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and anyone seeking to understand one of the most complex forms of violence of our time. -- Joshua Freilich, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, USA In the aftermath of mass shootings, people often rush to judgment without a clear sense of the type of crime or criminal theyre talking about. This book provides a valuable starting point for anyone hoping to understand the key definitions, profiles, prevention strategies, and consequences that help explain this terrible violence. -- Adam Lankford, The University of Alabama, USA
