The Trigger:
Narratives of the American Shooter
Six moving profiles reveal the complex realities behind gun violence in the United States. These are the stories of the shooters.
Each chapter of this unprecedented narrative nonfiction book features the compelling and true life story of an individual in America who has shot someone. A crack dealer from South Carolina, a Navy veteran from Michigan, a college football star from California, an abused young woman from rural Tennessee, a Chicago police officer, and a working man from Albuquerque.
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[Published in 2018 by Arcade Publishing]
Praise for
The Trigger
“An extraordinary read from first page to last, The Trigger: Narratives of the American Shooter will prove to be a welcome, thoughtful and thought-provoking contribution to the present national dialogue over the role of guns in our contemporary American society. . . . Very highly recommended for both community and academic library Contemporary Social Issues collections, and deserving of as wide a readership as possible." – Midwest Book Review
“A provocative, sometimes maddening, riveting examination of the lives of six ordinary Americans who share the experience of having shot someone…” – Washington Post
"Patinkin writes about these lives with bracing empathy, and he clearly engaged the trust of his subjects, whose perspective on their crimes is filled with horror and regret. . .” – Chicago Tribune
“A moving exploration of gun violence . . . With a distressing and challenging set of narratives, Patinkin gives a rare account of the perpetrator's perspective.” – oxygen.com
“Timely . . . His narratives, each complex in its own thorny way, humanize shooters for those who, like Patinkin before he embarked on this project, have had no previous exposure to them as people.” – Publishers Weekly
“Patinkin illuminates hard truths about American society that are not evident in commonly cited statistics or partisan talking points. The narratives challenge the reader to critically examine his or her own beliefs, and to either reaffirm them or abandon them. This is a powerful and unique contribution to the dialogue about gun violence in the United States.”
– Andrew Yang, author of The War on Normal People and 2020 US presidential candidate