Mass

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.