Columbine
Selected Book Details
- Hardcover
- Edition: First Edition
- Author: Dave Cullen
- Publisher: Twelve
- Release Date: April 2009
- ISBN-10: 0446546933
- ISBN-13: 9780446546935
- List Price: $26.99
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Summaries and Customer Reviews provided by Amazon
SummaryOn April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their goal was simple: to blow up their school, Oklahoma-City style, and to leave "a lasting impression on the world." Their bombs failed, but the ensuing shooting defined a new era of school violence-irrevocably branding every subsequent shooting "another Columbine." |
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
One cursory review of a school tragedy.
Rating: 
At best, this book presents a cursory examination of a social problem. Examining this tragedy by itself, without examining school violence in relation to other events of similar violence over the past 15-years, is similar to examining a social phenomenon without taking into account demographics and other social correlates that may play a part in the phenomenon being examined. In other words, this work lacks the empirical evidence needed to have a better understanding of the events that lead up to the violence at Columbine.
When examining the home environment and the social aspects of the home of each individual involved in the shootings, the social interaction between these 2 students and their teachers, the manner in which they were treated by their peers at school, and the same social correlates in the other events of school violence at other schools, we may find some similar social swatches that presents a more helpful picture.
Excellent, factual post-mortem (sorry) of what went down at Columbine, and why.
Rating:
The story of the Columbine tragedy arose from confusion and from the beginning was riddled with misinformation and speculation.
This retelling, done nearly ten years after the event, provides a clear, factual account of what happened and why. The details of the event themselves are both chilling and fascinating, but Cullen goes further by providing a compelling look into the minds and thought processes of Harris and Klebold. So much so, that based on what was going on in their minds, their actions actually "make sense". Strangely, I was left with the impression that given the psychopathy of Eric Harris, his death at Columbine might actually have represented somewhere near a "best-case" scenario, i.e. not only could Columbine have been a lot worse, but if Harris hadn't unleashed his anger on his school, he probably would have committed even greater atrocities later.
Minor gripes: I wish there were photos, to more completely personalize the participants. And I would have liked a diagram, to make a bit more clear how the rampage unfurled.
Overall, this book is a definitive exposition of what occurred at Columbine and is well worth reading, even if this type of thing isn't really your cup-o-tea.
We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us
Rating:
Cullen is a journalist who has followed the Columbine story for some time. This is a thoughtful book that attempts to debunk the instant myths that our culture inevitably creates to explain a tragedy like this. Cullen argues that the killers were not bullied outcasts who targeted specific victims; that one victim was not in fact shot in the face for telling the killers that she believed in God; and that the law enforcement personnel on the scene quickly realized that this was not a hostage negotiation scenario and moved to assault the killers, though the whole effort involved a great deal of wasted time. Cullen does believe that the biggest law enforcement failing was the cover up of a file that the County had on the killers, viz., complaints about threats of violence by one of them, that arguably should have resulted in aggressive action that may have preempted the whole tragedy. Hindsight being 20/20, I don't necessarily buy that argument, but any cover up is unpardonable.
Cullen's most important observation is that the killers planned an extermination of the entire school via incendiary bombs that never went off. Had they been triggered competently, a fire could have destroyed much of the School and the two killers (Eric and Dylan) were camped out to shoot those who fled the exits. They even booby trapped the parking lot to blow up rescuing forces. Had the plan worked, thousands would have died. Instead, they shot a number of students, killing 13, and then killed themselves.
The motive, Cullen argues, was that these two youths hated the high school, hated themselves, and hated the whole world. Bringing the high school down with them was, for them, bringing their whole little world down with them. There is some appeal to this explanation when we consider the profound and sometimes violent emotions of adolescence and the alienation, depression, rage, and anxiety that the high school environment can inspire. Dylan and Eric are compelling not because they are monsters, but because we share many of their experiences, rage, and anxieties -- but they, for some reason, were overcome with the rage and went all the way down a path that none of us ever did. In this sense, Cullen undercuts his thesis with his "psychopath" diagnosis. Yes, these kids evolved to a point that they profoundly lacked all empathy, but why the diagnosis of Eric as someone who is totally outside the margins of our common experience -- as, essentially, a monster? He's scary because in some respects he resembles all of us. We have created a high school environment and culture that's very hard and alienating on these kids. Maybe there is no better way, but Eric and Dylan are not monsters. They are kids we can relate to in some respects, but ones who were able to do monstrous things by taking things to the extreme in the hothouse environment of coming of age.
The leading negative review questions the accuracy of much of Cullen's account. I can't comment on that, though one weakness of the book is that Cullen does not give us enough of the raw data from the basement tapes and other sources and is too busy interpreting for us.
Another weakness of the book is its organization. I think a chronological narrative in the form of "In Cold Blood" would have been more effective. Instead, he tells part of the tale, then jumps around in time. In addition, Cullen's uses slang and tends to "write down" to the reader.
Despite these criticisms, this is a very good and thoughtful book. Too often we are absorbed by a story like this when it occurs and don't go back to sift fact from fiction and to think hard about what the tragedy really means. Cullen's book attempts to do precisely that.
Columbine
Rating:
I thought the author did a thorough job on researching this book. It was shocking to read all this information on Columbine that I never knew after all these years. Very intense when it comes to the extensive planning that went down with these two boys prior to the day of the shooting. If you are looking for a dark read that shares the author's knowledge behind this school tragedy, then I recommend this book.
exposing psychopathy
Rating:
A psychopath can size up his or her mark within five minutes, and have you dancing to their tune without you even realizing what's happening. They can con law enforcement officials, federal court judges, media, attorneys, doctors and just about anyone. They know it too, and they brag about it. People who are the victims of psychopaths often will defend the psychopath, because the alternative is to acknowledge that you can't trust your own judgment. Consequently, psychopaths get away with a lot.
Psychopaths ruin the lives of their victims - and those of the people they manipulate into helping them ruin the lives of their victims, and thus do massive damage to many. They don't usually kill people, but in the case of Columbine, they did.
This book is an excellent book because it goes beyond the massacre into the minds of the killers.
It is too bad the parents of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold refused to be interviewed, because there is a lot missing that would help people understand about how these two boys evolved into the hatemongering killers they were. Were the parents to blame? I don't think so. They, too, were in the dark. Should they have known? Not necessarily.
What about law enforcement? They did know, but they failed to act soon enough. They didn't take it as seriously as they should have. Things have changed since. It's too bad so many had to die to effect that needed change. And many who didn't die will suffer for many years to come, many of their wounds being psychological.
The horrifying thing about Columbine is that something like that could happen at all.
We need to accept the fact that things like this can happen, and accept the fact that there are psychopaths among us - and they don't all look or act like Charles Manson. It may be a contractor working on your house, a nurse aiding your elderly parent - it could be anyone.
There are checklists that will help identify a psychopath, and maybe those should be taught to students when they are old enough to deal with the concept, like in high school.
People need to be able to see a psychopath for what he or she is sooner, not after the fact, and they need to be able to deal with the fact that yes, they got conned, and no, you can't trust your feelings where psychopaths are concerned. Getting defensive, failing to act, hiding and destroying evidence, like what happened in Columbine, is why things like Columbine happen.
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