Schildkraut (public justice, SUNY Oswego) and Elsass (criminal justice, Texas State Univ.) provide a thoroughly researched, well-referenced examination of public mass shootings in the US. They argue that although completely eliminating mass shootings (which are statistically rare) is impossible, an unbiased, empirical approach to understanding their complex nature is best suited to developing effective policies that will reduce both their frequency and lethality. As such, the authors begin by providing a detailed examination of the role of the media and claims-makers in propagating myths, misunderstandings, and moral panics around mass shootings. A discussion of how mass shootings are defined, their history since the 1800s, and their statistical prevalence in the US and the rest of the world follows. This instructive scaffolding is followed by chapters that explore the more complex myths associated with mass shootings, including an examination of the usual causal factors attributed to their occurrence (guns, mental illness, and violent media), the types of safety devices and prevention strategies that have been implemented with varying degrees of success, and how shooters and their fan communities communicate their ideas through modern social media. An important contribution to criminology and the study of mass shootings. Summing Up: Essential. All public and academic levels/libraries. --Geraint B. Osborne, University of Alberta