“I was standing in that most eloquent of modern American settings—the aftermath of a mass murder attack on children. But still, astonishingly, it was what we affectionately call “real life,” meaning not some ghoulish darkness to which we must surrender, but an act of collective imagination uniting past and present, drawing people together. For what? For the future, of course.”—Patricia Hampl, “Shattered”

Plus: Philip Alcabes explores the fantasy of American psychiatry, Jess Love embraces the DVD, Natalie Angier goes back to Bellevue, and much more