The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic
Brisk, outraged ... Sets out, in his typically engaging way, to explain what we’re missing. It’s a quick tour of American culture and history that feels more revelatory than it really is ... The American Way of Killing doesn’t ultimately get us much closer to understanding why the United States is so willing to tolerate this river of blood every year, year after year ... Gladwell behaves as though the answer lies in our failure to see something he can reveal to us with a flourish ... Doesn’t lend itself readily to Gladwell’s emblematic anecdotes or clever aphorisms. Shoot.
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Gladwell’s approach may appear to work when addressing a subject readers have never really thought about, but it breaks down with one – like guns in the US – that has been covered extensively ... Unlike in his previous books, he doesn’t aspire to construct a single argument and then write it through from beginning to end. Instead, he offers a series of discrete, and at times related, observations around America’s relationship to gun violence ... The reader is left with a sense that, when it comes to the US and guns, there are various things amiss, but with little idea of how substantial a difference they make to the problem, why they have not been addressed and who suffers as a result. Gladwell manages to skilfully depict the odd trunk, tusk and leg but somehow misses several elephants in the room.
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Calm, considerate and balanced ... The American Way of Killing may not change minds, but it may loosen them considerably. It’s a book for both sides, and for anyone who wants to save lives. Gun violence, as Gladwell shows, isn’t new news, but our attitudes and our work to end it might start here.
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