Shocked by the epidemic of gun violence in America, acclaimed writer Peter Manseau found himself absorbed by the 'melancholy accidents' that appeared in 19th century newspapers: daily accounts of accidental gun deaths that seemed as unfortunate as they were unavoidable. In Melancholy Accidents, Manseau collects, annotates and introduces many of these articles, painting a devastating portrait of America's long, bloody relationship with firearms.

Author Biography

Peter Manseau holds a doctorate in religion from Georgetown University and is currently a fellow at the Smithsonian. He is the author of Rag and Bone, Songs for the Butcher's Daughter, Vows, and One Nation, Under Gods. He is the winner of the National Jewish Book Award, the American Library Association's Sophie Brody Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Jewish Literature, the Ribalow Prize for Fiction, and a 2012 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and he has also been shortlisted for the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize and the Prix Medicis etranger, awarded to the best foreign novel published in France. He is a founding editor of Killing the Buddha, and he lives in Annapolis, Maryland.