“An engrossing, moving, and utterly motivating account of the human stakes of gun violence in America.”—Samantha Power, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Education of an IdealistIs America destined to always be a violent nation? This sweeping history by U.S. senator Chris Murphy explores the origins of our violent impulses, the roots of our obsession with firearms, and the mythologies that … and the mythologies that prevent us from confronting our national crisis.
In many ways, the United States sets the pace for other nations to follow. Yet on the most important human concern—the need to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe from physical harm—America isn’t a leader. We are disturbingly laggard. To confront this problem, we must first understand it. In this carefully researched and deeply emotional book, Senator Chris Murphy dissects our country’s violence-filled history and the role that our unique obsession with firearms plays in this national epidemic.
Murphy tells the story of his profound personal transformation in the wake of the mass murder at Newtown, and his subsequent immersion in the complicated web of influences that drive American violence. Murphy comes to the conclusion that while America’s relationship to violence is indeed unique, America is not inescapably violent. Even as he details the reasons we’ve tolerated so much bloodshed for so long, he explains that we have the power to change. Murphy takes on the familiar arguments, obliterates the stale talking points, and charts the way to a fresh, less polarized conversation about violence and the weapons that enable it—a conversation we urgently need in order to transform the national dialogue and save lives.
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This superb book will enlighten any reader who has wondered why humans are violent and why Americans are so much more violent than the citizens of other affluent democracies. It combines extensive learning, fine writing, and a richness of experience that could come only from a dedicated public servant with a deep connection to the lives of his constituents. The Violence Inside Us is an excellent contribution to our understanding of human lethal aggression and how it can be reduced.
An engrossing, moving, and utterly motivating account of the human stakes of gun violence in America… From his earliest days in the Senate, when he grieved with the families of the children of Sandy Hook Elementary, Chris Murphy has fearlessly challenged the fatalism of those who have resigned themselves to mass shootings. All the while he has exposed the cynicism of those in America who put profit over people. With a historian’s talent for narrative and a memoirist’s gift for introspection, Murphy shines a light on the men and women who will not rest until American laws are changed to protect our citizens, while offering an inspiring blueprint for how this struggle can—and will—be won.
In 1764, my sixth great-grandparents were murdered and scalped by Simon Girty and a group of Native Americans whose reign of terror was waged to scare settlers out of the Shenandoah Valley. The Rev. John Rhodes, a Swiss Brethren and a pacifist, was an early settler in the valley.
Unable to defend themselves, the community built underground cellars, but eventually they were converted by a visiting Baptist. One advantage of this change in faith was that they were allowed guns for self-protection.
Our immigrant ancestors employed guns for hunting game and to defend themselves against the people whose lands they stole. Guns were safeguards in far-flung lawless frontiers and they were needed by state militias before a centralized government created the first American army.
American has long embraced gun ownership. In The Violence Inside Us, Senator Chris Murphy notes that the Pilgrims required every man to have a gun.
Murphy’s life was changed with the shooting of school children in Newtown. As a newly elected senator, he saw the pain close up. Gun violence became his bailiwick.
Our son was in junior high at the time of the Columbine shooting. A student at his school talked about bringing a gun to school. Our son insisted he stay home the next day. The threat was investigated and the student punished. But our son never again felt safe at school.
Years later, and many school shootings later, we still can’t guarantee our children that they will be safe in their classrooms.
This passionate and well-thought out book addresses the central questions behind violence. Is it human nature to be violent? Why is America the most violent nation in the industrialized world? What can we do to alter the violence? Why are our political leaders loathe to pass legislation that protects innocent victims of gun violence? He looks beyond our borders to how America has taken violence abroad through war and weapons sales.
Carefully building an understanding of the use and misuse of guns as rooted in human nature and American society, Murphy argues for reasonable legislation, on which the majority of Americans agrees, and explains the forces that prevent that legislation from passing.
Murphy’s personal transformation makes a connection and the stories he shares grabs you by the heart.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.