Almost five years to the date of the worst attack in Norway, Norwegian author and lawyer Unni Turrettini discusses her book The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer: Anders Behring Breivik and the Threat of Terror in Plain Sight, which examines the life and mind of Anders Behring Breivik in the context of wider criminal psychology.
July 22, 2011 was the darkest day in Norway’s history since Nazi Germany’s 1940 invasion. It was 189 minutes of terror—from the moment the bomb exploded outside a government building until Anders Behring Breivik was apprehended by the police on Utøya Island. Breivik murdered 77 people, most of them teenagers and young adults, and wounded hundreds more. The massacre left the world in shock.
Breivik is a new type of mass murderer, and he is not alone. Indeed, he is the archetypal “lone wolf killer,” often overlooked until the moment a crime is committed.
He has inspired others like him, just as Breivik was inspired by Timothy McVeigh and Theodore Kaczynski. No other killer has murdered more people single-handedly in one day. Newtown, Connecticut shooter Adam Lanza studied Breivik’s now infamous manifesto prior to his own unthinkable crime. Breivik was Lanza’s role model, as he will no doubt be for others in the future who find themselves frustrated with their societies, and, most of all, their own lives.
Breivik is also unique as he is the only “lone wolf” killer in recent history to be captured and imprisoned. With unparalleled research and a unique international perspective, The Mystery of the Lone Wolf Killer examines the Utøya massacre and why this lone-killer phenomenon is increasing worldwide.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing following the talk.
About Unni Turrettini
Unni Turrettini was born in northern Norway and grew up in Drammen, a city near Oslo, approximately 20 minutes from where Breivik was raised. As a foreign exchange student, she graduated from high school in Kansas City, Kansas, and she has law degrees from Norway, France, and the United States.
She currently lives with her family in Geneva, Switzerland, and is at work on a second book, a behind-the-scenes examination of the Nobel Peace Prize.
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Image by Linda Haglund/ASF
MON—7-18-2016—6:30 PM
free