- the powerful psychological influences that affect everyone involved, from street cop to bottle thrower to business owner
- typical conditions that set the stage for a major riot, and common triggers that set the violence in motion
- the many kinds of riots - race, sports, prison, political - and how they are all equally intense, destructive and deadly
Through his own experiences as a military and big-city police officer on the front lines of riots; interviews with protestors, cops, reporters, prison guards and a host of other players; and the words of experts on crowd psychology and mob violence, Christensen paints a graphic portrait of the riot experience in the streets of America and around the world.