Sandy Hook Sandy Hook

Sandy Hook

An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth

    • 4.5 • 22 Ratings
    • $13.99
    • $13.99

Publisher Description

Carnegie Medal Nonfiction Longlist 2023

The Washington Post Best Non-Fiction Books of 2022

Publishers Weekly Best Books 2022

Kirkus Best Non-Fiction Books of 2022

Slate Best Books 2022

Chicago Tribune Best Books 2022

Los Angeles Times Best Books 2022

Based on hundreds of hours of research, interviews, and access to exclusive sources and materials, Sandy Hook is Elizabeth Williamson’s landmark investigation of the aftermath of a school shooting, the work of Sandy Hook parents who fought to defend themselves, and the truth of their children’s fate against the frenzied distortions of online deniers and conspiracy theorists. 


On December 14, 2012, a gunman killed twenty first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Ten years later, Sandy Hook has become a foundational story of how false conspiracy narratives and malicious misinformation have gained traction in society.
 
One of the nation’s most devastating mass shootings, Sandy Hook was used to create destructive and painful myths. Driven by ideology or profit, or for no sound reason at all, some people insisted it never occurred, or was staged by the federal government as a pretext for seizing Americans’ firearms. They tormented the victims’ relatives online, accosted them on the street and at memorial events, accusing them of faking their loved ones’ murders. Some family members have been stalked and forced into hiding. A gun was fired into the home of one parent. 

Present at the creation of this terrible crusade was Alex Jones’s Infowars, a far-right outlet that aired noxious Sandy Hook theories to millions and raised money for the conspiracy theorists’ quest to “prove” the shooting didn’t happen. Enabled by Facebook, YouTube, and other social media companies’ failure to curb harmful content, the conspiracists’ questions grew into suspicion, suspicion grew into demands for more proof, and unanswered demands turned into rage. This pattern of denial and attack would come to characterize some Americans’ response to almost every major event, from mass shootings to the coronavirus pandemic to the 2020 presidential election, in which President Trump’s false claims of a rigged result prompted the January 6, 2021, assault on a bastion of democracy, the U.S. Capitol.

The Sandy Hook families, led by the father of the youngest victim, refused to accept this. Sandy Hook is the story of their battle to preserve their loved ones’ legacies even in the face of threats to their own lives. Through exhaustive reporting, narrative storytelling, and intimate portraits, Sandy Hook is the definitive book on one of the most shocking cultural ruptures of the internet era.

GENRE
Nonfiction
RELEASED
2022
March 8
LANGUAGE
EN
English
LENGTH
496
Pages
PUBLISHER
Penguin Publishing Group
SELLER
PENGUIN GROUP USA, INC.
SIZE
3.2
MB

Customer Reviews

Colleen85928592 ,

Such an important book

This book is so beyond important and the timing is key. There is much work to be done. Truth matters. God bless those 26 innocent souls.

lokhfyk ,

Confusing and boring

The first several chapters reviewing Sandy Hook and the victims were interesting. After that, it jumped from one conspiracy theory to another. It was very confusing and also boring. The author also let her own political views bleed into the text, and I was looking for factual information.

None Of Your Bussiness, ,

.

Welcome to the new world order

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