The book Columbine, by Dave Cullen, tells the story of the Columbine school massacre, which took place on April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado. It is a factual account of what happened that day, and also shares the events that led up to the massacre, as well as the aftermath and recovery process for the victims. The story is told from many perspectives, including the killers themselves (through use of their journals and videotapes they had made), the survivors, parents of both the murdered children and the children who survived, the FBI agent who profiled the killers, and the school principal. Since the Columbine massacre was so widely televised, I will skip the play by play of what happened and tell you my impressions of the book.
The book was not an easy read. It is a dark subject matter, and it took me much longer to read than a novel would have. However, it was extremely fascinating to read the background on Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, who were the shooters. An agent from the FBI profiled the boys as best he could, through the videotapes, journals, and speaking with basically everyone they had interacted with. The boys had very different personalities, and the agent believed that Eric was a psychopath. The book dispelled a lot of myths about the massacre. The media had been quick to make assumptions, and in the long investigative process, the sheriff's department found out that a lot of them were just not true. Witness accounts are notoriously unreliable, and many students talked to the media, which created a lot of conflicting stories.
I would highly recommend reading this book. It was very well written and researched, and it shows how this massacre impacted so many lives differently. Also I found it interesting to read about the myths that the media had portrayed, and how most of them turned out to be untrue. I won't spell them out for you in here though, as not to ruin the book. If you remember the Columbine massacre or are at all interested in it, you should definitely read this book.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks for the really nice review of my book, Columbine.
ReplyDeleteAn expanded paperback edition is just out this week. I spent a lot of time on the new material, so I hope it's OK to mention what we added:
— A 12-page afterword: “Forgiveness.” It includes startling new revelations on the killers' parents. The purpose, though, was to look at three victims in very different places 11 years later, and how forgiving played a pivotal role in their grief. I discovered the secret meetings with the killers' parents in the process.
— Actual journal pages from Eric Harris & Dylan Klebold.
— Book Club Discussion Questions (also available at Oprah.com).
— Diagram of Columbine High School and environs.
— A large-print edition is also now available.
Thanks again.