Columbine by Dave Cullen

As a teacher, the subject of school shootings is deeply disturbing to me.  While it's a troubling thing to consider, I've spent time thinking about what I would do if violence ever erupted at my school.  I know my school's crisis plan, of course.  If a shooter entered campus, we would go into lockdown, turn out the lights and huddle under our tables. When we drill this procedure with the kids, my heart starts beating faster as I watch them scramble onto the floor.  Just seeing what it would look like if such an event were to happen is enough to set me on edge.  I can't imagine the terror I would feel if it were all real.  This is exactly what happened at Columbine in 1999 when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their classmates, killing 13 people and injuring 21 more in the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history.  Interested in finding out more, I picked up what critics call the definitive text on this tragedy. 

Columbine by Dave Cullen is a highly detailed account of the Columbine school massacre. It focuses on the event itself, the background of the killers, their actions leading up to the shooting, and the aftermath that rocked the small Colorado community in its wake.  Cullen's account of the attack is well-researched and excellently written.  He uses police reports, news footage, interviews and the killers' personal journals and videos in constructing his narrative.  His writing is fast-paced and immersive, making the reader feel like they are peeking over the shoulders of everyone involved in the situation.  Reading this is interesting and heartbreaking, all at once.

One issue that stood out to me immediately as I read was how very poorly the media reported on this incident.  The whole idea of a trench-coat-wearing pair of outcasts gunning down the jock bullies that tortured them throughout high school was completely false.  Harris and Klebold were mentally ill teenagers.  Harris' writings, which weren't released until years after the incident, reveal a young psychopath, intent on showing his superiority over the human race by attempting to blow up his school.  Klebold's writings, similarly suppressed by the police for years, show that he suffered from severe depression. Their actions on April 20, 1999, are better described as a failed bombing than as a school shooting.  This  is completely different from the narrative presented by reporters and TV anchors at the time.  I was shocked to discover that most of the things I thought I knew about this tragedy were wrong.

My edition of this novel had an updated epilogue, and I appreciated Cullen's point of view throughout this section.  He describes how deeply he was affected by his investigation of this event and encourages schools and communities to focus more on diagnosing and treating teen depression.  He also takes the 24 hour news cycle to task for their near-obsessive focus on shooters, and suggests that reporters focus more on the victims in these attacks than on their killers.  Cullen also advocates for increased gun legislation, and bemoans that fact that the American public has utterly failed in creating laws strong enough to hinder teens from acquiring powerful firearms.

My one small issue with the text is how the events aren't portrayed in chronological order.  Instead, scenes from the planning and implementation of the shooting are mixed in with chapters about the aftermath of the attacks.  It become a bit difficult to follow at times.  Regardless, I stayed immersed in the story until I reached the end.

Columbine is a powerful and thought-provoking examination of a terrible tragedy. Anyone interested in true crime novels, or in the Columbine shooting itself will appreciate this account.  It is only by analyzing what happened on that awful day that we can hope to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.  I (naively) hope for a future in which violence like this doesn't exist, but until that time comes, we need books like this to show us how and why it happens.