A Safeway in Arizona
What the Gabrielle Giffords Shooting Tells Us about the Grand Canyon State and Life in America

A riveting account of the state of Arizona, seen through the lens of the Tucson shootingsOn January 8, 2011, twentytwoyearold Jared Lee Loughner opened fire at a Tucson meet and greet held by US representative Gabrielle Giffords. The incident left six people dead and thirteen injured, including Giffords, whom he shot in the head. Awardwinning author and fifthgeneration Arizonan Tom Zoellner, a longtime friend of Giffords and a field organizer on her congressional campaign, uses the tragedy as a jumpingoff point to expose the fault lines in Arizonas political and socioeconomic landscape that allowed this to happen: the harmful political rhetoric, the inept state government, the lingering effects of the housing markets boom and bust, the proliferation and accessibility of guns, the lack of established communities, and the hysteria surrounding issues of race and immigration.Zoellner offers a revealing portrait of the southwestern state at a critical moment in historyand as a symbol of the nations discontents and uncertainties. Ultimately, it is his rallying cry for a saner, more civil way of life.