What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms

Mark A. Nordenberg Lecture in Law, Medicine, and Psychiatry

Jonathan Metzl, PhD
Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Medicine, Health, and Society and Professor of Psychiatry
Director, Department of Medicine, Health, and Society
Vanderbilt University

Abstract: Dr. Metzl will present an in-depth analysis of his latest book, What We've Become: Living and Dying in a Country of Arms. Metzl reckons with the long history of distrust of public health and the larger forces—social, ideological, historical, racial, and political—that allow mass shootings to occur on a near daily basis in America. Looking closely at the cycle in which mass shootings lead to shock, horror, calls for action, and, ultimately, political gridlock, he explores what happens to the soul of a nation—and the meanings of safety and community—when we normalize violence as an acceptable trade-off for freedom.

Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh School of Law