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The author of the landmark work On Killing reveals how violent video games have ushered in a new era of mass homicide--and what we must do about it. Paducah, Kentucky, 1997: a 14-year-old boy shoots eight students in a prayer circle at his school. Littleton, Colorado, 1999: two high school seniors kill a teacher, twelve other students, and then themselves. Utoya, Norway, 2011: a political extremist shoots and kills sixty-nine participants in a youth summer camp. Newtown, Connecticut, 2012: a troubled 20-year-old man kills 20 children and six adults at the elementary school he once attended. What links these and other horrific acts of mass murder? A young person's obsession with video games that teach how to kill. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who in his perennial bestseller On Killing revealed that most of us are not "natural born killers"--and who has spent decades training soldiers, police, and others who keep us secure to overcome the intrinsic human resistance to harming others and to use firearms responsibly when necessary--turns a laser focus on the threat posed to our society by violent video games. Drawing on crime statistics, cutting-edge social research, and scientific studies of the teenage brain, Col. Grossman shows how video games that depict antisocial, misanthropic, and casually savage behavior can warp the mind--with potentially deadly results. This book will kickstart a new national conversation about video games and the epidemic of mass murders that they have unleashed.--Adapted from dust jacket Introduction -- It's worse than it looks : the case against the media -- Guns, drugs, and denial : common excuses for the virus of violence -- The human brain on violence : how violent video games warp the mind -- The gangbanger's trainer : how video games train kids to kill -- Fiction or reality? : true crimes and the games that may be linked to them -- Failed attempts at change -- Calling on community -- The solution -- What you can do today -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Coauthor's note / Kristine Paulsen -- Editor's note / Katie Miserany -- Notes -- Index
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