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Matthew Lysiak
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Newtown: An American Tragedy Kindle Edition

by Matthew Lysiak (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 706 ratings
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A “meticulous account” of the devastating mass shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut from a journalist for the New York Daily News (Kirkus Reviews).

The world mourned the devastating shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, on December 14, 2012.

We remember the numbers: twenty children and six adults, murdered in a place of nurture and trust. We remember the names: teachers like Victoria Soto, who lost her life protecting her students. A shooter named Adam Lanza. And we remember the questions: outraged conjecture instantly monopolized the worldwide response to the tragedy—while the truth went missing.

Here is the definitive journalistic account of Newtown, an essential examination of the facts—not only of that horrific day but the perfect storm of mental instability and obsession that preceded it and, in the aftermath of unspeakable heartbreak, the controversy that continues to play out on the national stage. Drawn from previously undisclosed emails, police reports, and in-depth interviews, Newtown: An American Tragedy breaks through a miasma of misinformation to present the comprehensive story that must be told—today—if we are to prevent another American tragedy in the days to come.

“Packed with beautiful vignettes about the victims and some remarkably intimate details.” —USA Today

“Lysiak balances perfectly the ordinarily wondrous lives of [those] who were murdered against their killer’s depravity. Lysiak is a master of texture, at selecting precise, individualizing details.” —Salon

“A comprehensive, moving account . . . A chilling look at Lanza’s background and contributing factors . . . Readers will be hard-pressed to deny the raw emotional gut-punch.” —Publishers Weekly
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    Gallery Books
  5. Publication date
    December 10, 2013
  6. File size
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Lysiak’s examination of our burgeoning mental-health crisis, and how poorly equipped our health care system is to handle the needs of those who suffer from mental health issues,[is] something of a welcome surprise.” (San Diego City Beat)

“Packed with beautiful vignettes about the victims and some remarkably intimate details.” (USA Today)

“The real message of Newtown is clear: it is up to America and each and every American to decide whether or not this is going to happen again.” (Bookreporter)

“Lysiak’s descriptions are spare and chilling but in no way gratuitous.” (Los Angeles Times )

“Well-written, compassionate, and informative.” (Books & Reviews )

“This harrowing book might be a reminder that the debate generated by the tragedy needs reviving.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“A comprehensive, moving account. . . . A chilling look at Lanza’s background and contributing factors. . . . Readers will be hard-pressed to deny the raw emotional gut-punch.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Lysiak balances perfectly the ordinarily wondrous lives of [those] who were murdered against their killer’s depravity. Lysiak is a master of texture, at selecting precise,individualizing details.” (Salon)

“Although this is a difficult book to read, I recommend it highly for the very reason the author intended—to be better informed.” (Craig Daily Press)

“Newtown goes beyond the sensational news bytes we have become so accustomed to. . . . A vivid portrait of the remarkable heroism shown by those involved in the tragedy, and the sheer horror that occurred. . . .” (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence )

“Newtown goes beyond the sensational news bytes we have become so accustomed to. . . . A vivid portrait of the remarkable heroism shown by those involved in the tragedy, and the sheer horror that occurred. . . .” (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence )

“Illuminating . . . nota tell-all. . . . The Newtown that Matthew Lysiak describes is my Newtown, a town that stuck together and continues to.” (5 Minutes for Books)

About the Author

Matthew Lysiak is a staff writer for The Daily News (New York) who has received national recognition for his exclusive reporting on the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary and the Newtown killer Adam Lanza, the Aurora gunman James Holmes, the Tucson shooter Jared Loughner, the Fort Hood army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, and more. Lysiak currently lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and three daughters.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00E2RX13K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Gallery Books; Reprint edition (December 10, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 10, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3531 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 706 ratings

About the author

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Matthew Lysiak

Matthew Lysiak

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Matthew Lysiak is a nationally recognized journalist and author of Newtown: An American Tragedy (Gallery/Simon & Schuster, December 2013), Drudge Revolution, and several other books.

The story of his family is the subject of the series Home Before Dark which premiered April 3 on Apple TV Plus

As an investigative journalist for the New York Daily News, Mr. Lysiak has reported on hundreds of national stories and has appeared as a contributor on The Today Show, MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, and countless other national and local media outlets to discuss his work.

Mr. Lysiak is also co-author of the bestselling series Hilde Cracks the Case (Scholastic 2017), which is soon to be made into a television series by Paramount/Anonymous Content and of the young adult memoir of teen scientist Jack Andraka, Breakthrough: How One Teen Innovator Is Changing the World (Harper Collins March 2015 and Voted Best STEM Book of 2017 by the National Science Teachers Association),

His work has also appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, The New York Sun, AM New York, and The Guardian.

Mr. Lysiak and his family are also scheduled to be profiled in an upcoming episode of CBS 48 Hours.

Mr. Lysiak lives in an old bed and breakfast in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania with his wife, Bridget, and his four daughters, Isabel, 14, Hilde, 11, Georgia, 6, and Juliet, 3.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
706 global ratings
I am not a happy camper.
1 Star
I am not a happy camper.
This book came with missing pages. It's too late for me to return it because I had already written in it by the time I got to page 110 (which then skipped to 143). I am not a happy camper.
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Top reviews from the United States

Norman Guilbert Jr.
5.0 out of 5 stars Sensitive and Informative
Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2016
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Though I did not know most of the principals in this book, as a Catholic priest who has visited St. Rose many times, I read this book with tears for my neighbor, Fr. Weiss, for Newton, my sister village, and for the grieving who are still trying to make sense of the tragedy. I buried several 9/11 victims, and know that the pain never fully leaves, and probably never really should, but dealing with it is traumatic. My prayers and condolences to the families, the responders, and Msgr. Weiss, who was very kind to me as a newly ordained priest, because that's just the kind of guy he is: kind, just like Jesus. If I ever had a role model, it is him. The book itself was a respectful, sensitive essay, which sensibly addressed the many facets of the tragedy with the sensitivity, objectivity, and compassion that does justice to those who lost their lives, while honestly exploring the role and failures of the mental health systems. It objectively addressed the gun-control dimension; it was refreshing to hear the issues reported in a very unbiased way. A great and necessary book.
4 people found this helpful
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buyer1
5.0 out of 5 stars Great product
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2024
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Great product
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Teresa Buonomo
4.0 out of 5 stars A sad sad story that needed to be retold.
Reviewed in the United States on December 18, 2013
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Just like anyone else watching the tragedy unfold on Dec 14th, I cried all day watching as reports flooded out of 6 year old babies being massacred along with the sheer bravery of teachers and administrators who valiantly tried to protect them. The story hit home even more for me because I grew up in Newtown, am a teacher myself, and actually had interactions with Adam Lanza in Reed Intermediate School when he was in 5th grade.

The book does not shed much new light on the subject, but that wasn't my expectation going in. How many different news accounts can there possibly be? What drew me to the book was Nancy Lanza and her possible role in raising her son. The author did a fine job portraying her as a victim as well. The woman tried so many times unsuccessfully to get her son help. Maybe if the institutions for the mentally ill were still operational, tragedies like this may have been spared. I'm not advocating that I agree with her decision to have her son own guns or take him shooting, but from this report it appears that she tried time and time again for help only to be turned away. How frustrating as a mother!

The book is well written and pays tribute and homage to the 26 angels of the tragedy, giving each his/her own story as well as dedicating time to understand that Newtown as a community did what needed to be done in the minutes it took a madman to destroy innocent lives. I came away truly believing that the first responders and officers, who have been under scrutiny as of late, did everything in their power to stop the massacre and get help that was needed.

The issue of gun control will always be a hot button topic that I will refrain from voicing my opinion on, but the author did a stellar job remaining neutral. The issue as I see it from this author's perspective anyway, is the issue of the mentally ill and how to properly care for them so that maybe some of these terrible acts of violence can be prevented.

This is not a book for you if you are simply looking to rehash the day like many in the media do. It is for those who may want an insight into possibilities for why it happened although there will never be an answer and maybe how we as a society can examine the issues of guns and mental health so that further families can be spared the heartbreak.

As always, thoughts and prayers are with the families of every victim that terrible day a year ago. God bless those angels whose lives were taken too soon. Let them know that their lives were not taken in vain.
20 people found this helpful
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Edgar No-No
5.0 out of 5 stars A profound and devastating read.
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2013
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A clean, disciplined narrative, shattering and challenging. I'll be very interested to see whether or not a dialog between large minds - much larger than the one I possess - ever emerges on the subject of self-reprogramming of the human brain (mind?) through audio visual technologies (video gaming, etc.). Here's the thing that people need to understand: this kid TRAINED himself, very deliberately, to "take" this compound, an elementary school (though it's possible that the local high school was his first intended target). He studied the battle techniques employed by other mass murderers, and read their journals. He wanted to rise to the level of artistry (and I use that word deliberately) employed by the great masters he had grown to admire. He used the same video games they used for his training, refining the various operations necessary for quick and efficient killing, then unleashed his new found prowess on a community of helpless children. It's the ontological portrait of this guy - in action - that is so devastating. To him, the killing at Newtown was a work of art, and he was no longer the student, but the master, whose work would inevitably be studied by those certain to follow.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Charlie
5.0 out of 5 stars Written brilliantly, narrated tastefully and respectful.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2018
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We are Sandy Hook, we choose love.
One person found this helpful
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KölnerAmerican
3.0 out of 5 stars written too quickly
Reviewed in Germany on January 22, 2015
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good account but doesn't go deeply into the issues. there will be an opportunity for follow up books as we learn things.
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Jack Varley
4.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Sandy Hook?
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2022
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Although I've yet to read the newly released book on the subject, I do strongly suspect that this is the best book currently in print covering the Sandy Hook massacre. It is very balanced and covers every aspect of the incident you may wish to know. The chronology of the shootings are related in detail, as is the prior life of Adam and Nancy Lanza before the massacre. Furthermore the author also discusses at length the first responders on the scene of the shooting, as well as local journalists who covered the tragedy and the family members of those who were shot and killed inside the school. It is a fairly comprehensive book that I would recommend.

However, that being said, the book is not flawless and does repeat a number of inexcusable factual errors. These largely occur when discussing prior mass shootings in which Adam had an interest (particularly ironic given how the book described how careful Adam was to get all the details correct in his curated spreadsheet). For example, the book names the perpetrator of the Hungerford massacre as "Robert Ryan" (his name was Michael Ryan, Robert was his middle name) while also claiming that Jared Lee Loughner killed 12 people in his attack (in reality he only killed six). In isolation these might not bear mentioning but these errors crop up again and again throughout the book.

I also feel the book would have benefitted from having at least some pictures in the centre-fold, as actual photos are often described in detail when it surely would have just been simpler to include the pictures so they're readily visible to the reader without the need for them to jump back on Google. For the most part though the book is quite good and compulsively readable. If someone were to come to me seeking a recommendation for a book on the subject, I would (tentatively) direct them to this one. It's better than a lot of true crime books I've read, even ones which have received more widespread praise and attention than this one has.
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Elondongurl
4.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2022
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Absolutely heartbreaking read of how the failure of MH diagnosis and treatment can have such tragic consequences.
This takes no accountability away from the perpetrator of this terrible crime, but shows how there is a prevailing problem within today's society that fails to address and prevent these shootings.
The warning signs as with Columbine were never heeded and that is unforgivable.
A terrible account of a wholly preventable crime, and the destruction of so many families as a result.
I think the parents are so brave, their dignity in the face of such horror is humbling.
I reccomend this read.
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LUBNA AMIN
1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 10, 2015
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Written way too soon after the tragedy. Poorly written. No insight into anything, just all the newspaper articles jammed together to make a book.
7 people found this helpful
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