In the US, about 12,000 people die in murderous gunfire. Kellner (philosophy of Education, U. of California Los Angeles) calls the situation a national scandal and finds plenty of causes, including the process of male socialization in the US, the popularity of gun culture and its increasingly deadly technologies, the prevalence of militarism, and the preoccupation of the mass media with violence. However, he also looks deeply into the psyches of the men and boys who shoot down family, friends and strangers, finding a fundamental insecurity as men that triggers quests for ultra-masculine identity. Kellner notes that stricter gun laws and tighter security could help, but that moving beyond violence and instituting a positive, peaceful model of masculinity in schools, mental health treatment, juvenile offender programs, prisons, and other institutions is bound to be more effective than the violence perpetuated in such current techniques as capital punishment. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)