A novelist and psychiatrist reflect on school shootings

Guests: Tom McAllister, Steven Berkowitz

The aftermath of a school shooting is the subject of Philadelphia author and Temple professor TOM McALLISTER’S second novel, How to Be Safe. A recently fired English teacher briefly becomes a suspect in the shooting and as her life is turned upside down, she watches the all too familiar and inadequate responses to school shootings play out in the media and across the nation. McAllister joins us to talk his new book and why he chose to take on a school shooting, the news media and America’s gun culture. Then, adolescent psychiatrist STEVEN BERKOWITZ, from the University of Pennsylvania, discusses how adolescents cope with trauma and its enduring impact on their lives and the psychological factors that can lead someone to commit horrible acts.