Another Day in the Death of America

This book is profound. This book is heartbreaking. This book is phenomenal!

Gary Younge effortlessly peels back and exposes the wider issues surrounding Americas toxic relationship with guns. Picking a day at random and using only social media and the internet as leads, Gary attempts to find and report about teenagers who suffered and died at the hands of gun related crime on the same day. This book is the result. Gary powerfully and beautifully traces these seemingly unrelated deaths and manages to weave a wider narrative about why Americans just can't seem to rid themselves of guns even when their own children are daily victims of its presence. This book perfectly connects gun related crime to race, culture, geographical locations in the USA and their context. As well as the context of certain cities, the high population of youth gangs in certain cities and how societal and political agendas, economics and class play a role in victimising and alienating the teenagers mentioned in this book. It's a breathtaking book and a must read for anyone interested in gun crime in America. This book has detailed source material and notes at the end of each case which is super helpful!

I am happily going to be looking up the articles mentioned in this book after this post to really invest in the stories of the boys mentioned in this book. An amazing book.I urge you to go read! An effortless 5 stars for me!!

Obviously heartbreaking but Younge tells this story with the clarity of a journalist paired with the empathy of a parent. The format is inventive and effective. Younge weaves in the necessary history to provide important context to the state of gun violence across the country.

The writer often tried to tie the stories to himself and his life. I wanted to know more about the kids, not about him. This book was hard to get through, not just because of the subject matter, but because the writing did not flow well.