"The world goes on fighting cold little wars but we must unite and all fight with one cause" — The Ugly's, "The Quiet Explosion"
He was described as a "seething compound of hostilities reaching critical mass." On a blazing August day, Joseph Whitman, 25, a student of architectural engineering at the University of Texas and honorably discharged from the Marines, barricaded himself, high-above, in an observation tower where he methodically killed 13 and wounded 31 others. An act of such wanton violence, according to Time, that "seized his grisly fame as the perpetrator of the worst mass murder in recent U.S. history." Whitman symbolized a "Gun Toting Nation" and the "Symptoms of Mass Murder." The year was 1966.
The languid days of summer's sizzling perfection will soon give way to sweater weather, and the chronic condition known as back-to-routine-itis. While there's still time to feel grains of sand between our toes, the splash of a cool pool, or the breezy shade of a mighty oak tree, the NewBostonPost shares with you a reading list culled from an eclectic group of avid page-turners who share their love of adventure, history, intrigue, personal reflection and a few fabulous classics.
