A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman MurdersThis volume provides an analysis of American Charles Whitman (1941-1966), an American engineering student and former U.S. Marine, who killed seventeen people and wounded thirty-two others in a mass shooting rampage in and around the Tower of the University of Texas in Austin on the afternoon of August 1, 1966. Prior to the shootings at the University of Texas, Whitman had murdered his wife and mother the night before. The author attempts to answer the question "why?" with this historical analysis of the event. Using primary sources and photographs, the author details the significant events in Whitman's life that led to the massacre. The author details the life of Whitman, his relationships with his friends, mother and father, brothers and wife. He writes about the victims and where and what they were doing when they were gunned down. The author describes how civilians used their own guns to shoot back at Whitman and how an air attack from a helicopter was unsuccessful in gunning down the killer, but how Austin police were finally able to end the massacre by sneaking up to the Tower and catching Whitman off guard. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - dara85 - LibraryThingThis is about Charles J. Whitman, a student of the University of Texas in 1966. He went to the tower on the Austin campus on Aug 1 and shot and killed 14 people and wounded many others. He killed his ... Read full review
A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictIn the summer of 1966, America lost its innocence when two mass murders were committed. In Chicago Richard Speck murdered eight student nurses, and 19 days later, on August 1, Charles Whitman gunned ... Read full review
Contents
Austin Is Different | |
The Nice Facade | |
Oozing with Hostility | |
After Much Thought | |
The Neat Little House and the Swank Apartment | |
The General | |
Independent Actions | |
The White Headband | |
To Whom It May Concern | |
APD | |
Why Did He Do It? | |
Who Killed Charles Whitman | |
The Writer from Austin | |
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Common terms and phrases
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Bibliographic information
| Title | A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders |
| Author | Gary M. Lavergne |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | University of North Texas Press, 1997 |
| ISBN | 1574410296, 9781574410297 |
| Length | 324 pages |
| Subjects | › › › History / United States / General History / United States / State & Local / Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX) True Crime / Murder / General |
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