If Only I Had Known

by William H. Dodson, Jen Maki (Illustrator), Paula LaRocque (Editor)

If Only I Had Known is the riveting account of the school massacre that started a global trend, and the proven strategy thousands of education, law enforcement, and mental health professionals have quietly used to stop countless attacks and threats for fifteen years.
On October 1, 1997, writes author William Dodson, when I was superintendent of Pearl Public Schools in Jackson, Mississippi, Luke Woodham, a sixteen-year-old sophomore, stabbed and bludgeoned his mother to death, then took a rifle to Pearl High School and shot nine students. Two died; seven were wounded. The act seemed to come out of the blue, with Luke Woodham randomly shooting anyone who moved. He did it in a safe and serene community. And he did it on my watch.
After the Pearl attack, many others followed in North America and Europe, like the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres in 1999 and 2007, and the Winnenden, Germany, attack in 2009. What happened at Pearl High School is the riveting story of a rampage by a student who was a member of a local suburban gang.
This is the only book ever written by a school executive who has experienced an attack. For over ten years, he searched for the answer to one What could we have done to prevent the attack? Dr. William Dodson, the former superintendent of Pearl Public Schools, tells the unvarnished truth of what happened and the strategy he found that has stopped countless attacks.
Unprecedented threats . . . 75-100 times a day , students are found with bombs, guns, and plots to commit school attacks. Unique in world history, these massacres typically only occur in the safest suburbs and small towns and not the inner-city.
WHY? . . . there are answers . . After numerous attacks, the FBI and Secret Service concluded that you can t identify these students before they strike or the communities where they will commit an attack. If they were right, Dodson says, I wouldn t have written this book. The fact is there are answers to the why questions we ve all had. Over 20,000 education and law enforcement professionals have successfully stopped countless threats and attacks since 1997, using the Random Actor violence prevention strategies uncovered by investigative journalist and author Dan Korem. If Only I Had Known weaves the tale of the attack on Pearl and the application of the solution that is saving lives. This book is for all parents and professionals who care about the safety and security of students in our schools.

Genres: Nonfiction

197 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

Reviews

[Ville Verkkapuro]

This has been sitting idly on my shelf forever. I found it from a second hand book exchange by the time I was reading Columbine by Dave Cullen and felt it was kind of an omen. I didn't expect this to be of quality but maybe more of a curiosity and an interesting angle. And I was right; it was written pretty badly, repetitive and hard to follow, while the dramatic scenes were overly dramatic. But as a document and as a suggestion this was a-ok. I thought it was even a bit funny that they had a question to point out potential shooters: Michael Jordan or Dennis Rodman? And the potential shooters picked Rodman every single time. If course they did – it's about confidence. So many things are. We are so fearful, so many times. Hate ourselves and blame the world. I think the best tip for this comes from Trey Parker and Matt Stone: life doesn't end in high school and you can overcome all the obstacles later in life. But it's hard to understand when the pressure is too high. Not a good book, but an important one. Must've saved a lot of lives.

[Off Market578 · Rating 4 out of 5]

In one sense, this is a very disturbing read. It depicts the horrific account of a teenage mass murderer, one of the first mainstream media school shooting stories. This book does something different than other similar literature does; it outlines a plan of prevention. Dr. Dodson was there, he saw this horror unfold and questioned himself, as others certainly did, could I have done more to prevent this? This book can help administrators as well as businesses recognize potential danger before it occurs. It is an important read for anyone.

Please bear in mind, when I say disturbing, I do not use that term lightly. The boy in question was deeply disturbed and this book goes into graphic detail about many of the horrific things that he did before and up to the murders.