The Vine: June 22, 2012
I am currently reading about anger and violence in history and, combined with the trial of Anders Breivik in Norway, it reminded me of a book that I heard about on the radio that I would like to find.
From what I can remember of the broadcast, the main thesis of the book linked the (allegedly) increasing number of serial killings and massacres in the U.S. to the economic policies of Reagan. That is about all I can remember and I believe the broadcast was about the publication of the book; I heard it in the last 2-3 years. I haven’t had much luck searching Amazon and Google as I find a lot of stuff about Reagan and a lot of stuff about different massacres, but nothing that brings them together.
If you or Tomato Nation are able to help, I would be very grateful.
Kind regards,
Sarah
Tags: Ask The Readers popcult
Could it be “Going Postal: Rage, Murder, and Rebellion: From Reagan’s Workplaces to Clinton’s Columbine and Beyond”? From the Amazon description: “An eye-opening look at the phenomenon of school and workplace shootings in America, Going Postal explores the rage-murder phenomenon that has plagued — and baffled — America for the last three decades, and offers some provocative answers to the oft-asked question, “Why?” By juxtaposing the historical place of rage in America with the social climate that has existed since the 1980s — when Reaganomics began to widen the gap between executive and average-worker earnings — the author crafts a convincing argument that these schoolyard and office massacres can be seen as modern-day slave rebellions. He presents many fascinating and unexpected cases in detail. Like slave rebellions, these massacres are doomed, gory, sometimes even inadvertently comic, and grossly misunderstood. Taking up where Bowling for Columbine left off, this book seeks to set these murders in their proper context and thereby reveal their meaning.”
I think you want “Decade of Nightmares” by Phillip Jensen. I read this a few years ago and found it to be an interesting overview of the conservative movement in this country, but to be perfectly honest, it didn’t really dig deep enough.
Of course, I’m a dirty hippy several steps to the left of Ted Kennedy, so don’t take my opinion alone.
I am not sure if this is the specific book you’re seeking, but the topic is at least very similar to the one you seek, and may be of interest to you:
Why Some Politicians Are More Dangerous Than Others by James Gilligan
“James Gilligan has discovered a devastating truth that has been “hiding in plain sight” for the past century – namely, that when America’s conservative party, the Republicans, have gained the presidency, the country has repeatedly suffered from epidemics of violent death. Rates of both suicide and homicide have sky-rocketed. The reasons are all too obvious: rates of every form of social and economic distress, inequality and loss – unemployment, recessions, poverty, bankruptcy, homelessness also ballooned to epidemic proportions. When that has happened, those in the population who were most vulnerable have “snapped”, with tragic consequences for everyone.
These epidemics of lethal violence have then remained at epidemic levels until the more liberal party, the Democrats, regained the White House and dramatically reduced the amount of deadly violence by diminishing the magnitude of the economic distress that had been causing it.
This pattern has been documented since 1900, when the US government first began compiling vital statistics on a yearly basis, and yet it has not been noticed by anyone until now except with regard to suicide in the UK and Australia, where a similar pattern has been described.
This book is a path-breaking account of a phenomenon that has implications for every country that presumes to call itself democratic, civilized and humane, and for all those citizens, voters and political thinkers who would like to help their country move in that direction.”
Thank you for those suggestions! I think it could be “Going Postal” but I can’t find a record of an interview with the author on the radio station’s website. However, there is one with James Gilligan but that is from April 2012, so it wasn’t the book I was thinking of and was probably because we are staring down the barrel of a conservative government here in Australia (well, even more conservative than the one we have now – but I digress), so it is topical.
So I think the only solution is to read them all. Thanks again!
Those ones above are more likely to be right, but you might also be interested in the Freakonomics books (I think they wrote a second), which explore non-obvious connections like what you asked about.
It doesn’t sound like a topic he’s done, but Malcom Gladwell’s books make a lot of non-obvious connections like that. You might like his stuff.
If none of the readers at the Vine can help, you should try the book sleuth forum at Abebooks.com
Adding that I tried to Google for you and “Going Postal” really, really matches your description. I found an article in Vanity Fair by the author, Mark Ames, and if he hadn’t mentioned that he wrote that book, I would have suggested you might be talking about the article itself.