Description
Literary Nonfiction. On August 1, 1966, after murdering his wife and mother at home, Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower at UT Austin and ordained himself high priest of the first televised mass shooting and "domestic terror" spectacle in American history. Without realizing it, Whitman replicated a twisted version of the Catholic rituals he had learned as an altar boy, in a culture where he saw how priests and fathers could get away with almost anything. This gruesome liturgy has continued to repeat on TV and in headlines for more than half a century. In MASS: A SNIPER, A FATHER, AND A PRIEST Jo Scott-Coe uncovers a buried story to probe the hidden wounds of paternal-pastoral failure and to interrogate our collective American conscience. Contains extensive supplementary materials, including author's notes and sources.
Author Bio
Jo Scott-Coe is the author of MASS: A Sniper, a Father, and a Priest (Pelekinesis, 2018) and TEACHER AT POINT BLANK (Aunt Lute, 2010). Her first-ever portrait of Kathy Leissner Whitman, Listening to Kathy (Catapult) received a Notable listing in Best American Essays and is now available in print. Scott-Coe's nonfiction has appeared in Talking Writing, Tahoma Literary Review, Cultural Weekly, American Studies Journal, Pacific Coast Philology, Superstition Review, Fourth Genre, Ninth Letter, Salon, and many other publications. She is an associate professor of English composition at Riverside City College, where she was named 57th Distinguished Faculty Lecturer for her research on the epistolary history of Kathy Leissner. Scott-Coe also facilitates community writing workshops for the Inlandia Institute.
Author City: RIVERSIDE, CA USA