Gary Lavergne
Gary Lavergne | |
|---|---|
| Born | Gary Mitchell Lavergne October 28, 1955 Church Point, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Occupation | Author |
| Education | University of Louisiana at Lafayette (BA) McNeese State University |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Website | |
| garylavergne | |
Gary Mitchell Lavergne (born October 28, 1955) is an American non-fiction author. Among his subjects are killers Charles J. Whitman and Kenneth Allen McDuff.
Career
[edit]Lavergne was born in October 28, 1955[1] Church Point, Louisiana, son of Nolan and Bobbie Lavergne. He attended Church Point High School and graduated in 1973. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in social studies education and a master's in education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 1988, he earned an education specialist degree in educational administration and supervision from McNeese State University.[2] He was a social studies teacher, held administrative positions for both the SAT and the ACT[2] college entrance exam companies, and in between jobs performed stand-up comedy.[citation needed] He worked for the College Board traveling to universities helping administrators understand the SAT. [2]
Lavergne retired as director of admissions research for the University of Texas in 2019.[3]
Among Lavergne's books is 1997's A Sniper in the Tower about the 1966 shooting rampage of Charles Whitman,[4] which according to a 2007 Associated Press article is "considered the definitive account of the massacre"[5] and to Frank Rich in a 1997 The New York Times piece is "the authoritative account of the Whitman case".[4] He decided to write the book after watching a TV special on mass murder, realizing that there had never been a book published about the shooting.[2]
His 2003 book Worse Than Death: The Dallas Nightclub Murders and the Texas Multiple Murder Law discusses the 1984 Dallas nightclub shooting, perpetrated by Abdelkrim Belachheb.[6][7][8][9][10]
Published works
[edit]- Before Brown (2010), about the struggle for civil rights in higher education, centered on the Sweatt v. Painter case at the University of Texas at Austin.
- Worse than Death (2003), about mass killer Abdelkrim Belachheb, who killed 6 people in a Dallas nightclub in 1984. Published by UNT Press.
- Bad Boy from Rosebud (1999), about serial killer Kenneth McDuff. Published by UNT Press.
- A Sniper in the Tower (1997), about Charles Whitman, who shot people from the University of Texas at Austin's tower in 1966. Published by UNT Press.
References
[edit]- ^ "Family of Gary Mitchell Lavergne and Laura Gwen Clayton". Gary M. Lavergne. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
- ^ a b c d "Church Pt. native writes book on Texas Tower sniper". Daily World. Vol. 57, no. 78. Opelousas. March 18, 1997. p. 5. Retrieved January 4, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "UT Austin Retirement". Gary M. Lavergne. 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2025.
- ^ a b Rich, Frank (September 25, 1999). "Journal; The Long Shadow of the Texas Sniper". The New York Times.
- ^ "Campus killings tarnished Kent State, Texas". Reading Eagle. Associated Press. April 25, 2007. Retrieved February 19, 2010.
- ^ Walker, Jason; Lavergne, Gary M. (2005). "Review of Worse than Death: The Dallas Nightclub Murders and the Texas Multiple Murder Law". The Southwestern Historical Quarterly. 108 (3): 421–422. ISSN 0038-478X. JSTOR 30242259.
- ^ Friedman, Barry D.; Lavergne, Gary M. (2004). "Review of Worse Than Death: The Dallas Nightclub Murders and the Texas Multiple Murder Law". International Social Science Review. 79 (1/2): 73–74. ISSN 0278-2308. JSTOR 41887175.
- ^ Baker, T. Lindsay (2006). "Worse Than Death: The Dallas Nightclub Murders and the Texas Multiple Murder Law". Legacies. 18 (1): 62–63. ISSN 1071-0426.
- ^ Ellis, Mark (2005). "Worse Than Death: The Dallas Nightclub Murders and the Texas Multiple Murder Law". Journal of the West. 44 (1): 108–109. ISSN 0022-5169.
- ^ McDonald, Archie P. (September 2004). "Worse Than Death ( Book)". East Texas Historical Journal. 42 (2): 89–90. ISSN 0424-1444.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
- Living people
- 1955 births
- 20th-century American novelists
- 21st-century American novelists
- American male novelists
- American non-fiction crime writers
- University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni
- Cajun people
- Novelists from Louisiana
- People from Church Point, Louisiana
- 20th-century American male writers
- 21st-century American male writers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- American male non-fiction writers