A review by pattricejones
Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence by Geoffrey Canada

4.0

I'm going to echo all of the positive reviews here, with one quibble. On the last page of his own story,

Spoiler

Canada attributes his own decision to throw away a gun to his Christian faith (fair enough, if that was his experience) but then goes on to assert that young men not raised in the church cannot possibly have a moral center from which to make such ethical decisions. That left a bad taste in my mouth as I closed what was otherwise a remarkably insightful book. That one problematic page notwithstanding, this is indeed essential reading for anybody who hopes to understand, and thereby be in a better position to undermine, violence.