Those shot on any given day in different places and very different circumstances lack the critical mass and tragic drama to draw the attention of the nation's media in the way a mass shooting in a cinema or church might. Far from being considered newsworthy, these everyday fatalities are simply a banal fact of death. They are white noise set sufficiently low to allow the country to go about its business undisturbed: a confluence of culture, politics and economics that guarantees that each morning several children will wake up but no go to bed while the rest of the country sleeps soundly.

4.5
Reading Another Day in the Death of America is like holding someone's grief for a while, feeling the full weight of it, before putting it down and accepting the next one - for that reason, it's a very hard book to read. In each chapter, Younge details the events of the shooting, the life of the individual as well as their family/friends, the aftermath, and the questions left in its wake. What were the contributing factors? Could they be avoided? Why weren't they avoided? Who's to blame? Younge leaves you riddled with questions and the most heartbreaking part of it is that there is no straightforward, easy answer. The aim of this book isn't to provide solutions. Instead, it's more of a plea. Be angry about this, don't look away, this is happening.

A devastating, frustrating read that challenged me to approach this fraught, complex matter differently. There is no easy solution but things need to change.