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Yesterday's tragic news in Geneva County, Alabama raises many questions about rampage shootings, which are becoming an all too familiar news headline. Jonathan Fast, Associate Professor of Research at the Wurzwelier School of Social Work, Yeshivia University, addressed many of these complex issues in his groundbreaking study of school rampage shooting, Ceremonial Violence.

Jonathan Fast's Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Examination of School Shootings, is reviewed by Nicole Robson in the November issue of The Brooklyn Rail: "Readers looking for a clean-cut, definitive answer to why school rampage shootings occur will be disappointed. Fast acknowledges a multitude of variables, from malignant narcissism to identity confusion and mental disturbances, which contribute to a child committing mass murder and, in most cases, suicide. Yet the book distinguishes itself from mainstream media coverage by delving deeper not only into the candidates’ psyches, but also the social and historical context of the communities within which these tragedies took place."

Jonathan Fast, author of Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Explanation of School Shootings, will discuss his new book at Barnes & Noble in Greenwich Village on Wednesday, October 1, at 7:30pm. Recently featured in Salon, Time, and New York Times Book Review, Fast's Ceremonial Violence examines the motives behind these shocking acts of violence.

Salon's Laura Miller takes a look at what turns an angry, alienated teen into a school shooter in her penetrating review of Jonathan Fast's new book Ceremonial Violence: "School shootings, at least those that kill only one or two people, have come to seem almost commonplace. The killing of one 15-year-old by another 15-year-old in a Knoxville, Tenn., high school cafeteria on Aug. 21 barely registered on the national radar screen. In order to make a name for himself, any malignantly narcissistic adolescent with a dream will need to aim for a body count in at least the low two-figures. Gun control opponents assure us that allowing teachers (and even students) to carry guns will help the situation by enabling potential victims to defend themselves against the likes of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The Supreme Court seems inclined to oblige them, and perhaps regular shootouts will become a high school rite of passage, just like the prom and smoking behind the gym. Deeper, more systemic repairs to our culture will be harder to come by. Like the bullying prevention programs Fast describes in the final chapter of "Ceremonial Violence," such measures demand "attentiveness, self-scrutiny, consistency, detachment, and dogged attention to detail." And that sure just doesn't sound very American."

Jonathan Fast's new book Ceremonial Violence is reviewed in the current issue of Library Journal: "Fast, a novelist as well as a professor of social work (Yeshiva Univ.), explores the psychological roots of school violence through in-depth case studies of six young shooters, including Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine High. While the author hypothesizes that all of the shooters see their acts as cleansing and elevating rituals, he shows that there is no single underlying situation—parental neglect or low IQ, for example—that invariably led these young people into difficulty. Most of these teens felt alienated from their peers, although some seem to have been goaded into action by groups of aggressive so-called friends who pushed them to commit violent acts. The case studies are compelling; fans of true crime will like the book as pure narrative, while parents and educators will appreciate the suggestions for identifying potentially violent students. This is a good companion to Katherine S. Newman and others' Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings, which explores the same situations from a sociological viewpoint. Recommended for all academic and most public libraries."

Jonathan Fast's intriguing study on school shootings, Ceremonial Violence, is noted in Elissa Schappel's monthly column in Vanity Fair on hot new book releases. The result of over five years of research, Ceremonial Violence analyzes the events leading up to and comprising some of the most chilling school rampage shootings in recent years and their aftermath. For the first time, the tragic events of Columbine, Virginia Tech, and others are examined in a way that truly illuminates the causes and effects of this disturbing phenomenon.

Coming this September is an important new book on one of most serious issues of our times: school rampage shootings. Author Jonathan Fast, Ph.D., spent five years researching these senseless tragedies. Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Explanation of School Shootings analyzes the Columbine high school shooting and four other cases and explains for the first time why teenagers commit school rampage shootings. With a clear grasp of the elements of abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, sociology, and neurology that contribute to the homicidal mindset, Fast offers us a means of understanding and coming to terms with these tragedies.

Did you know that the average American will consume more energy between New Year's Eve and midnight on January 2nd than the average person from Tanzania consumes in a full year?

(Turning off the upstairs lights now...)

I'm borrowing this stat from environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben, who spoke in my community today.  McKibben, author of The End of Nature,  is an amazing leader promoting action on global climate change.  I didn't even know he was in town until I saw a tiny little blurb in the newspaper while I was having my coffee.  I threw on my jeans and flew out of the house at 8:50 to catch his 9:00 presentation.



His talk came just hours after the United Nations Conference reached its agreement on a global warming plan.  McKibben discussed the earlier disagreements between the United States and the European Union over the worldwide response to climate change.  Why the tension?  The average European (we're not talking about Tanzania here)  uses HALF as much energy as the average American each year.  Seriously...something to think about.

McKibben also wrote the introduction and annotations for a 2004 release of Henry David Thoreau's Walden.  (I'm re-reading Thoreau right  now because he's involved in a new historical novel that's taking shape in the dark corners of my brain.)  McKibben makes some great points, suggesting that Thoreau was a conservationist, if an accidental one, because he consumed so little, much like people in third world nations like Tanzania today.  McKibben suggests there may be answers to our modern crisis in Thoreau's 19th century reflections on getting by with less.

We have more than a foot of snow expected in the Champlain Valley, thanks to a big nor'easter arriving early tomorrow morning.  I think it's time to power down the computer and stereo.  The idea of lighting a candle,  sipping hot tea, and reading Walden sounds just about perfect.