Rating: 
Summary: Helpful in research
Review: This book was well written and very informative, although some of the information pertaining to video games was outdated. It has helped in my Masters research which is dealing with interactive violence in computer games and a possible correlation with reality. It is the sort of book that has to be approached with an open mind. If you are not willing to do so then don't waste your time reading it.
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Summary: A must read book for everyone!
Review: This is a book that I just could not put down. Every well thought out sentence speaks boldly about an increasingly deadly situation which is sweeping over our young people today. The authors have, with unequaled clarity and scholarly effort, distilled the undeniable truth from a vast number of resources dealing with the issue of youth and violence. They focus directly on the problem and its cure, and do not cloud the issue with fear tactics and sentimentalized meaningless diversions. Nobody can read their work and come away unresolved to take some definitive action to reduce childrens' exposure to the devastating violence in the media and many video games. The authors reveal a gripping moral imperative to diminish and hopefully to end the greed driven stampede to create venues which teach our precious children that violence is an acceptable means to resolve conflict be it with others in society or within themselves. The information contained in these pages is absolutely necessary for every parent, teacher, pastor, and friend of children to know and understand so that they can become pro-active in rescuing young people from the insideous instruction in killing that is being offered them under the guise of excitement and fun. We as a "civilized" people are becoming pawns of those who would wound our most sacred gift--children. As a priest and active, sworn police officer, I see the effects on children who have been reared on a diet of media and video game violence, and how uninformed parents have contributed to their dysfunction. Whole family systems and others are negatively affected, sometimes with devastating results. The authors deserve our grateful thanks for their diligent and skillful work in shining the light of truth into a dingy dark back alley that is crawling with characters ready to devour the developing moral and spiritual lives of children who deserve the very best security that we as adults can give them. We, in our parish family, are using the information and resources provided in this book to develop programs to guide and teach our kids in healthy ways of living. WELL DONE!
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Summary: Stop and Think
Review: I have always been on of the many who have rolled our eyes when people take up arms against media violence. I have said time and again that it is the parent's responsibilty, not the entertainment industry's, to monitor what their children watch, read, see and do. To some degree, I still believe that holds true. However, this book has given me great cause to think about those ideas. It was extrremely well written and researched. The ideas and facts were presented in a manner I, and those who thought as I have, could appreciate, understand and really chew on. Dave Grossman and Gloria Degaetano have presented their facts and ideas in a realistic way. They have a wonderful, seemingly inherent understanding and insight into the problem of the entertainment industry's power over the youth of our nation. This book is thorough and thought-provoking. I highly recommend it to anyone with or without children. There is something here for all of us.
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Summary: stop teaching our kids to kill
Review: Outstanding! A must read for parents! It is a wake up call for the future. You may think it won't happen to me, just ask the parents of those who have lost thier kids to those kids that played the video games. A sad state (nation) of affairs. Congradulation LtCol Grossman, well done, the media is back pedalling, deining the obvious as well as documented truths.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful, coherent book
Review: As a former reporter, I'm probably conditioned to be skeptical of claims that media violence is a problem. I was skeptical until I heard Colonel Grossman, then read his book. There is no doubt in my mind that Grossman is substantially right in his assertions. I now work for Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan, who, after consulting with Grossman, successfully urged at least two national chains, Sears and Montgomery Ward, to stop selling violent video games to youngsters. The immersion of our youngsters in violent imagery is a much bigger problem than our society acknowledges and promises to grow as an issue of public concern in the years to come.
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Summary: Stop Ignoring the Problem!
Review: Lets face it folks, we are inundated almost every day with prophecies of doom, strident warnings that if we do not address 'XYZ situation' - we're finished! Speaking as someone who confesses to being a little worn down, and perhaps even a touch complacent, in the face of such messages - Grossman and DeGaetano's book still managed to strike right to the bone! The book's argument is supported by abundant evidence and numerous references to authoritative studies. It is also refreshingly sober, and it was perhaps this last point which enabled me to come to the realisation that the problems attributable to media violence, are my problems too. Our problems. One does not have to go far into the book to realise that the violent behaviours the authors discuss are only the most shocking and appalling symptom of a 'toxic' disease with other far reaching consequences - like apathy. For me, the time has come to get off of the couch. Grossman and Degaetano have also devoted almost half of this excellent book to a comprehensive D-I-Y resource list to assist you to begin actually doing something about the problem (in addition to writing to your congressman)! You don't have to be a cop, a teacher, a medical professional, or a parent for this book to be meaningful. As an adult - this work concerns you. Read the book, you owe it to yourself, to your community, and to the kids, everybody's kids.
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING - If you don't like to think, skip this review
Review: This book is one of those pieces of pure, unadulterated nonsense that appears now and then when some 'crisis' has drifted across the American people's collective perception of their lives, as convieniently shaped for them by the absolutely unbiased and objective, not to mention all-knowing, news media. Grossman's ideas are patent nonsense, but given that a lot of fools in this country swallow tripe such as this every day, I am not surprised that people love this book. Why is Grossman wrong? Roughly speaking, he holds that children are being 'taught' to kill by violence portrayed in movies, on TV, and especially in video games. The first and second assertions are laughable at best, involving as they do the divorcing of the violence under consideration from the context in which it takes place. Under such circumstances, an equation is drawn between the immorality of, say, the concentration camp troopers portrayed in 'Schindler's List' and the battles fought against injustice by the heroic protagonists of such movies as 'Saving Private Ryan' and "Braveheart'. The essentially fraudulent nature of this should be readily apparent. Children are perfectly capable of telling the difference between good guys and bad guys, between crime and punishment, between attack and defense (why else do they so often complain that the other child they are fighting with started it?). As for the main supposed threat, video games, the book degenerates at this point into something beyond utter nonsense, that the English language has no word for. Grossman holds that video games exercise a sort of Pavlovian conditioning upon the kids who play them, making those kids more likely to kill and more able to do so. The problem with this is that the conditioning, if any, has little if any connection to the real world. Have you ever been attacked by a zombie? A dinosaur? A ninja? An alien space ship? No, you say? Well then if so, then how can it be that these nonexistent entities can possibly trigger a response in a child who has been 'conditioned' by these games? But, let's put aside the issue of stimulus, and examine response - even if the proper trigger did exist, what response would we get? In most cases, we would get the flexing of a finger to click a mouse button or to push a button on a key board. Tell me please, how many firearms are mouse-compatable? None, you say? Well then, even if we do get those impossible stimuli, how are the trained killers that America's children have become going to respond in a dangerous fashion? The answer is that they can't, because whatever these games may train one to do, it is not anything that can possibly be dangerous outside of the context of an electronic fantasy world. So, unless hordes of zombies, mutants, and prehistoric beasts start to roam the streets of America, we should be pretty safe. Why do people buy into this nonsense? - Because some folks are just plain dumb. - Because parents are naturally bound to feel that they are losing control of their teenagers, as in fact they are, because that is the age when children begin to form and seek identity apart from the family they grew up in and try to define themselves as persons. Alas, this gives these stifling and overprotective parents just the excuse they need to destroy their children's growing sense of self. - Because it is fashionable to denounce these sorts of entertainment, just like it is fashionable to despise the Christian Coalition and the NRA, and there will always be trash who want to join the latest crusade in order to look good (there were probably many more people in favor of civil rights after Dr. King won that struggle at the cost of his life than before). -Because some parents are incompetents and failures who will do _anything_, no matter how ridiculous, to cover up their own failures to their children. I'm sure other depressing reasons could be found. So, if you are an insecure parent hell-bent on grinding down your child's sense of self; or a moron; or a failure who must delude yourself; or a loser seeking social respectibility, then buy this book and treat it like the Bible. Give it five stars on review pages like this one. But if you are a human being with the slightest sense of integrity and a few particles of reason, then denounce it for the opprotunistic trash it is.
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Summary: Move Out and Draw Fire
Review: Dave Grossman and Gloria DeGaetano are sure to draw fire from the video and media industries for their analytical look at the impact that violent media has on our kids. This is a must read book for anyone that is serious about being a parent. They are not afraid to tell it like it is when they point how the exposure to violent media can have a harmful impact on our youth. They are not against the first amendment, but they are strong advocates for the responsible application of standards to the sale of violent videos. What is more important, industry profits or the safety of our children?
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Summary: Start the witch burning...
Review: I am a 16 year old male. I've been exposed to violenttelevision, music, and video games since I can remember. For somereason though, I have never felt inclined to bring a weapon to schooland start shooting. Everyone looks to tragic events such as Littleton or Springfield and is puzzled as to why things like this could happen. The authors of this book, with lack of a good reason, have chosen to make a scapegoat out of violence in the media, including TV, Music, and Video Games. Millions and millions of people not only in the United States, but all over the world are exposed to the same violence day after day, however maybe 0.1% of them are guilty of committing a violent crime as a direct result of the media. The problem with the kids who committed these crimes isn't going to be solved when we all isolate ourselves and our children from violence. I'm not trying to propose that I know how things like this can be prevented. What I do know is that people like Grossman and other right-wings are trying to strip us from our 1st amendment rights to choose what we can expose ourselves to. That's something I personally can't respect. If you're a parent, I say feel free to buy this book if you need something to blame rather than your own poor parenting skills. Otherwise I'd say this is fit for a quick chuckle, and then the trash heap.
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Summary: Just another way to find scapegoats for societies problems
Review: All this book does is try to blame all of today's problems on video games, and other media. Studies have recently shown that the kids who are most likely to play violent video games are LESS likely by far to commit real violence. They are able to let out their frustration in a fantasy setting, rather then on their peers. There is very little plausible evidence in this book, and more clinical studies should have been done before releasing a book such as this.
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