From a Taller Tower: The Rise of the American Mass Shooter

We, as a nation, have become desensitized to the shock and pain in the wake of mass shootings. In the bottomless silence between gunshots, as political stalemate ensures inaction, the killing continues; the dying continues. From a Taller Tower attends to the silence that has left us empty in the aftermath of these atrocities. Veteran journalist Seamus McGraw chronicles the rise of the mass shooter to dismantle the myths we have constructed around the murderers and ourselves. In 1966, America’s first mass shooter, from atop the University of Texas tower, unleashed a new reality: the fear that any of us may be targeted by a killer, and the complicity we bear in granting these murderers the fame or infamy they crave. Addressing individual cases in the epidemic that began in Austin, From a Taller Tower bluntly confronts our obsession with the shooters—and explores the isolation, narcissism, and sense of victimhood that fan their obsessions. Drawing on the experiences of survivors and first responders as well as the knowledge of mental health experts, McGraw challenges the notion of the “good guy with a gun,” the idolization of guns (including his own), and the reliability of traumatized memory. Yet in this terrible history, McGraw reminds us of the humanity that can stop the killing and the dying.

We, as a nation, have become desensitized to the shock and painin the wake of mass shootings. In the bottomless silence betweengunshots, as political stalemate ensures inaction, the killingcontinues; the dying continues. From a Taller Towerattends to the silence that has left us empty in the aftermath ofthese atrocities. Veteran journalist Seamus McGraw chronicles therise of the mass shooter to dismantle the myths we have constructedaround the murderers and ourselves.

In 1966, America's first mass shooter, from atop the Universityof Texas tower, unleashed a new reality: the fear that any of usmay be targeted by a killer, and the complicity we bear in grantingthese murderers the fame or infamy they crave. Addressingindividual cases in the epidemic that began in Austin, From aTaller Tower bluntly confronts our obsession with theshooters-and explores the isolation, narcissism, and sense ofvictimhood that fan their obsessions. Drawing on the experiences ofsurvivors and first responders as well as the knowledge of mentalhealth experts, McGraw challenges the notion of the "good guy witha gun," the idolization of guns (including his own), and thereliability of traumatized memory. Yet in this terrible history,McGraw reminds us of the humanity that can stop the killing and thedying.

"This book is a deep dive into mass shootings--events in which one or more gunmen shoot more than four people--which have become increasingly common, particularly in America, over the last six decades. The book opens on a personal note, describing an event in which the author failed to protect an innocent man from violence, which he likens to our national inability to act and protect each other from these atrocities. From there, he goes back to August 1, 1966, when Charles Whitman murdered more than a dozen people with a sniper's rifle from atop the University of Texas tower. McGraw posits Whitman as the first mass shooter of the era, and uses his case to begin exploring the myths, tropes, and truths of this phenomenon" Prologue. The deepest silence there is -- The Texas sharpshooter fallacy -- Deliver us from evil -- To kill the last killer -- 'Tis not alone my inky cloak -- Jokers wild -- If you see something, say something -- A good guy with a gun -- I cling to my gun, you cling to yours -- The fog of war in peacetime -- From a taller tower -- Epilogue. The silence between gunshots There is no silence on earth deeper than the silence between gunshots; From a Taller Tower faces the depths of that silence, which follows in the wake of the mass shootings that have plagued the United States.