Twenty Traumas That Shaped America

Download or read book Twenty Traumas That Shaped America written by Howard Epstein and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-26 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty National Traumas have battered America in the 80 years between the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the nadir of the Credit Crunch in 2009. Some were non-violent:-∎ two major fiscal crises ∎ two presidential impeachments ∎ a 444 day crisis over 52 diplomat hostages;but many did involve violence:-∎ three significant political assassinations (the two Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King) ∎ three major wars (World War II, Korea and Vietnam) and two other cusp-of-war incidents (the Bay of Pigs fiasco and the Cuban Missile Crisis -- almost leading to global nuclear holocaust) ∎ the gunning down of students at Kent State and other universities ∎ years of urban rioting ∎ numerous school and college massacres; and ∎ almost certainly, most damaging to the national psyche, 9/11 - itself exceedingly cruel and very recent;and the worst of them - the 30 (some say 90) deaths a day caused by firearms - is a continuing trauma.No comparable nation or federation of nations (eg Europe, Russia) has suffered anything like that, and in none of them is gun crime so prevalent and damaging.Everyone knows there is an exceptional level of gun crime in America. Sadly, from the President down, all seem to believe that gun control alone is the answer. This work examines gun culture, and explains why that may be the way to approach gun crime. This holds out a big promise and a big challenge - but America can make it work, for America is exceptional in many more good ways than bad.And seeing guns through the prism of gun culture may create an even more exceptional America.