Elizabeth Williamson is a feature writer for The New York Times. She joined the Times as a member of its editorial board, writing about national politics during the 2016 presidential campaign. Previously, she was a writer for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. On December 14, 2012, a gunman killed 20 first graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Ten years later, Sandy Hook has become a foundational story of how false conspiracy narratives and malicious misinformation have gained traction in society. Driven by ideology, profit, or for no sound reason at all, some people insisted the shooting never occurred or was staged by the federal government as a pretext for seizing Americans’ firearms. They tormented the victims’ families online and accosted them on the street and at memorial events, accusing them of faking their loved ones’ murders. Some family members were forced into hiding. Someone fired a gun into the home of one parent. The Sandy Hook families refused to accept this, and Williamson’s landmark Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and the Battle for Truth (Dutton) tells the story of their battle to preserve their loved ones’ legacies despite threats to their own lives.