Synopses & Reviews
Review
"An artful slice of the story of what may be the greatest shame we as a nation have tried...to hide from ourselves....Fascinating." Chicago Sun-Times
Review
"Larson interweaves the story of a boy and his gun...with a study of the causes and effects of our gun-happy society." Library Journal
Synopsis
This devastating book illuminates America's gun culture -- its manufacturers, dealers, buffs, and propagandists -- but also offers concrete solutions to our national epidemic of death by firearm. Itbegins with an account of a crime that is by now almost commonplace: on December 16, 1988, sixteen-year-old Nicholas Elliot walked into his Virginia high school with a Cobray M-11/9 and several hundred rounds of ammunition tucked in his backpack. By day's end, he had killed one teacher and severely wounded another.
In Lethal Passage Erik Larson shows us how a disturbed teenager was able to buy a weapon advertised as "the gun that made the eighties roar." The result is a book that can -- and should -- save lives, and that has already become an essential text in the gun-control debate.
With a new afterword.
"Touches on all aspects of the gun issue in this country.Gives great voice to that feeling...that something real must be done." --San Diego Union-Tribune
"One of the most readable anti-gun treatises in years." --Washington Post Book World"
About the Author
Erik Larson is the bestselling author of the National Book Award finalist and Edgar Award-winning The Devil in the White City. He lives in Seattle with his wife, three daughters, and a dog named Molly.