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A Sniper in the Tower: The Charles Whitman Murders. By Gary M. Lavergne. (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1997. xiv, 324 pp. Cloth, $29.95, ISBN 1-57441-021-0. Paper $18.95, ISBN 1-57441-029-6.)
Charles Whitman's murderous shooting rampage from the tower at the University of Texas at Austin on August 1, 1966, was a sensational event that shocked the nation during that violent summer at the height of the Vietnam War. Gary M. Lavergne has written the first fulllength treatment of Whitman and the troubled life that brought him to his mass killings and death at the hands of Austin Police Department officers. Based on official records, newspaper accounts, and some interviews, Lavergne's book provides a straightforward narrative of Whitman's upbringing, brief career as a student at the University of Texas, and the...