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4.32 AVERAGE
4.32 AVERAGE
I was winding up my second year of teaching when the Columbine shooting occurred, so I remember the flurry of rumors that surrounded this tragic event.
The intensity of the media coverage was unforgettable. And then I watched school policies change as Columbine's ripple effect reverberated. I'm still practicing or participating in lock-downs every year.
This book has been on my to-be-read pile for quite some time. After spending ten years on the research to set the record straight, Dave Cullen's account of this shooting is widely considered to be the most comprehensive.
The sobering tone of this narrative began with the description of the events of the shooting, and then alternated between details about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and their families, and the victims, their families, and the Columbine community.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Don Leslie. His reading was just as objective as Dave Cullen's writing. Nothing was over-dramatized, which I appreciated. My goal in listening to this book was to hear the facts about this tragedy to try to find some understanding of why. Leslie's reading provided a clear picture of the events without making me feel like an intruder or voyeur. His narration was easy to listen to, which was critical when I was listening to some of the most horrific details that are not easy to process.
Going into this book, I knew that the Trench Coat Mafia was a myth. Some oddball yearbook photo that had nothing to do with Eric or Dylan or the shooting. I knew that in the rush to get the story, other details were reported incorrectly, but I had no idea which ones. Most details blurred in my mind.
And last spring I came across this really inspirational blog post about a teacher who changed her seating chart every week. She would ask her students to identify a few peers they wanted to sit near the next week, and then she used her discretion to create a new seating chart. Her aim was to track the students who were never chosen. Identify the outsiders. When asked when she began this practice, her answer was "After Columbine."
Now, as a teacher, I am 100% on-board with the idea that we should all be finding the kids who don't quite fit in to help them build relationships. And I'm of the Bill Murry Meatballs attitude: "You make one good friend a summer and you're doing pretty well."
So what this teacher was doing was a good thing, but her motivation was totally misinformed. After reading the blog post, I dug a little deeper into Columbine details and learned that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were not bullied or goth loners.
When I realized how blurred my mental picture of Columbine was, I moved this book higher up on my reading list. And after reading Cullen's research, I learned that both Eric and Dylan were bullies picking on freshmen. They weren't the victims.
Some of the details were oddly eerie. Like the Columbine principal had the security cameras installed in the cafeteria just four months prior to the shooting. He was big on making sure the students cleaned up their own trash, so he wanted proof of any litterbugs. And now we have video footage of these two killers stalking through that cafeteria preserved forever on YouTube.
I don't write that to be critical of principal Frank DeAngelis. I just remember watching that cafeteria footage on the news a lot, and I do wonder how this story may have been reported differently if those cameras were not in place.
As far as DeAngelis, he certainly found a way to take back that school for the students and the community after this shooting. The ceremony where the parents formed a human shield to shut out the majority of the media, but applauded each student as they walked back onto campus for the first time was chilling reading. Truly inspirational.
The entity that infuriated me was the Jefferson County government.
To start, at the time of the shooting, their sheriff was holding press conferences and making up facts. I don't have words for this kind of glaring mess.
But even worse were the revelations about how the sheriff's department and JeffCo officials suppressed evidence that community members had raised the alarm on Eric.
Brooks Brown had an on-and-off-again friendship with Eric. The Brown family met with the sheriff's department 15 times. All with concerns about Eric. The sheriff's department denied that any investigator ever met with the Brown family.
Mrs. Klebold wrote apologies and condolence letters to every victim. She sent the letters to JeffCo asking them to deliver them to the families. JeffCo officials wouldn't read or deliver these letters. Eventually, Mrs. Klebold was able to get the addresses of every person, so she wrote again and sent them directly. But my stomach churned that the officials of this community wouldn't even read her letters.
And the worst piece of information about JeffCo? A few days after the shooting, when the FBI had descended and the investigation was in full swing, top JeffCo officials met secretly to decide how to handle the bungled sheriff's department investigation on Eric and Dylan. Not only had the Brown family reported concerns about Eric, the sheriff's department had a file on Eric and Dylan that included violent writing from Eric's website.
So then, why did Eric and Dylan plan and execute this attack? The simplest, but most spine-chilling sentence in the book explained, "Dylan was an angry depressant conscripted by a psychopath." That sentence still haunts me.
A good section of the book delved into the research history on psychopaths. Dr. Robert Hare created the psychopath checklist and confirmed that there is no treatment or cure for a psychopath. Any attempt at treatment basically results in the psychopath having access to a finishing school where they can practice their lies and learn how to better charm their victims.
Cullen traced the FBI investigation focusing on agent Dwayne Fuselier, who poured over the writings from both killers, watched and analyzed various videos, including the Basement Tapes, and helped interview over 5,000 people. Fuselier's conclusion was that Eric Harris was a psychopath and Dylan Klebold was an angry depressant.
These two young killers didn't plan a school shooting. Columbine was a failed bombing. There were 100 bombs, many of them pipe bombs, spread over the campus. In the cafeteria, the larger bombs made out of propane tanks were meant to blow up the entire school. When the bombs failed, the killers just kept shooting.
The chapters on the victims were equally sobering as the ones about the killers. I vaguely remember hearing about Cassie Bernall, the girl who Eric shot in the library after he asked her if she believed in God and she responded yes. Turns out, that story doesn't hold.
Then there was the teacher who died: Dave Sanders. I knew that it took several hours for the paramedics to be cleared to go into the school, and that Dave Sanders bled to death in one of the science rooms.
What I didn't know was that the Sanders family didn't blame the SWAT team who responded. They recognized that it was the system that delayed the SWAT arrival into that science room. The family invited the entire SWAT team to Dave's funeral. Every officer showed up. That's community.
The survivor who made the biggest impression on me was Patrick Ireland, the boy in the window. After learning how to walk and talk again, he led the students back into Columbine High the fall after the shooting. Cullen details his rehabilitation process and the successes he found after this tragedy.
Listening to this narrative certainly helped me understand why these killers acted. The problem now is how to identify the psychopaths among us.
As a result of Columbine and subsequent school shootings, the Secret Service published the results of their report examining this issue. The downside is that there's no useful profile of a shooter. No piece of data about the shooters tracks accurately across the board. One piece of good news is that most shooters leak information about their plans prior to carrying them out, so the push for "See something. Say something" is definitely relevant.
Reading this book was disturbing. I'm glad that I have the facts, but I can't help but feel incapacitated by them. As a teacher, I can help the outsider. But how do I identify the monsters?
The intensity of the media coverage was unforgettable. And then I watched school policies change as Columbine's ripple effect reverberated. I'm still practicing or participating in lock-downs every year.
This book has been on my to-be-read pile for quite some time. After spending ten years on the research to set the record straight, Dave Cullen's account of this shooting is widely considered to be the most comprehensive.
The sobering tone of this narrative began with the description of the events of the shooting, and then alternated between details about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and their families, and the victims, their families, and the Columbine community.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by Don Leslie. His reading was just as objective as Dave Cullen's writing. Nothing was over-dramatized, which I appreciated. My goal in listening to this book was to hear the facts about this tragedy to try to find some understanding of why. Leslie's reading provided a clear picture of the events without making me feel like an intruder or voyeur. His narration was easy to listen to, which was critical when I was listening to some of the most horrific details that are not easy to process.
Going into this book, I knew that the Trench Coat Mafia was a myth. Some oddball yearbook photo that had nothing to do with Eric or Dylan or the shooting. I knew that in the rush to get the story, other details were reported incorrectly, but I had no idea which ones. Most details blurred in my mind.
And last spring I came across this really inspirational blog post about a teacher who changed her seating chart every week. She would ask her students to identify a few peers they wanted to sit near the next week, and then she used her discretion to create a new seating chart. Her aim was to track the students who were never chosen. Identify the outsiders. When asked when she began this practice, her answer was "After Columbine."
Now, as a teacher, I am 100% on-board with the idea that we should all be finding the kids who don't quite fit in to help them build relationships. And I'm of the Bill Murry Meatballs attitude: "You make one good friend a summer and you're doing pretty well."
So what this teacher was doing was a good thing, but her motivation was totally misinformed. After reading the blog post, I dug a little deeper into Columbine details and learned that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were not bullied or goth loners.
When I realized how blurred my mental picture of Columbine was, I moved this book higher up on my reading list. And after reading Cullen's research, I learned that both Eric and Dylan were bullies picking on freshmen. They weren't the victims.
Some of the details were oddly eerie. Like the Columbine principal had the security cameras installed in the cafeteria just four months prior to the shooting. He was big on making sure the students cleaned up their own trash, so he wanted proof of any litterbugs. And now we have video footage of these two killers stalking through that cafeteria preserved forever on YouTube.
I don't write that to be critical of principal Frank DeAngelis. I just remember watching that cafeteria footage on the news a lot, and I do wonder how this story may have been reported differently if those cameras were not in place.
As far as DeAngelis, he certainly found a way to take back that school for the students and the community after this shooting. The ceremony where the parents formed a human shield to shut out the majority of the media, but applauded each student as they walked back onto campus for the first time was chilling reading. Truly inspirational.
The entity that infuriated me was the Jefferson County government.
To start, at the time of the shooting, their sheriff was holding press conferences and making up facts. I don't have words for this kind of glaring mess.
But even worse were the revelations about how the sheriff's department and JeffCo officials suppressed evidence that community members had raised the alarm on Eric.
Brooks Brown had an on-and-off-again friendship with Eric. The Brown family met with the sheriff's department 15 times. All with concerns about Eric. The sheriff's department denied that any investigator ever met with the Brown family.
Mrs. Klebold wrote apologies and condolence letters to every victim. She sent the letters to JeffCo asking them to deliver them to the families. JeffCo officials wouldn't read or deliver these letters. Eventually, Mrs. Klebold was able to get the addresses of every person, so she wrote again and sent them directly. But my stomach churned that the officials of this community wouldn't even read her letters.
And the worst piece of information about JeffCo? A few days after the shooting, when the FBI had descended and the investigation was in full swing, top JeffCo officials met secretly to decide how to handle the bungled sheriff's department investigation on Eric and Dylan. Not only had the Brown family reported concerns about Eric, the sheriff's department had a file on Eric and Dylan that included violent writing from Eric's website.
So then, why did Eric and Dylan plan and execute this attack? The simplest, but most spine-chilling sentence in the book explained, "Dylan was an angry depressant conscripted by a psychopath." That sentence still haunts me.
A good section of the book delved into the research history on psychopaths. Dr. Robert Hare created the psychopath checklist and confirmed that there is no treatment or cure for a psychopath. Any attempt at treatment basically results in the psychopath having access to a finishing school where they can practice their lies and learn how to better charm their victims.
Cullen traced the FBI investigation focusing on agent Dwayne Fuselier, who poured over the writings from both killers, watched and analyzed various videos, including the Basement Tapes, and helped interview over 5,000 people. Fuselier's conclusion was that Eric Harris was a psychopath and Dylan Klebold was an angry depressant.
These two young killers didn't plan a school shooting. Columbine was a failed bombing. There were 100 bombs, many of them pipe bombs, spread over the campus. In the cafeteria, the larger bombs made out of propane tanks were meant to blow up the entire school. When the bombs failed, the killers just kept shooting.
The chapters on the victims were equally sobering as the ones about the killers. I vaguely remember hearing about Cassie Bernall, the girl who Eric shot in the library after he asked her if she believed in God and she responded yes. Turns out, that story doesn't hold.
Then there was the teacher who died: Dave Sanders. I knew that it took several hours for the paramedics to be cleared to go into the school, and that Dave Sanders bled to death in one of the science rooms.
What I didn't know was that the Sanders family didn't blame the SWAT team who responded. They recognized that it was the system that delayed the SWAT arrival into that science room. The family invited the entire SWAT team to Dave's funeral. Every officer showed up. That's community.
The survivor who made the biggest impression on me was Patrick Ireland, the boy in the window. After learning how to walk and talk again, he led the students back into Columbine High the fall after the shooting. Cullen details his rehabilitation process and the successes he found after this tragedy.
Listening to this narrative certainly helped me understand why these killers acted. The problem now is how to identify the psychopaths among us.
As a result of Columbine and subsequent school shootings, the Secret Service published the results of their report examining this issue. The downside is that there's no useful profile of a shooter. No piece of data about the shooters tracks accurately across the board. One piece of good news is that most shooters leak information about their plans prior to carrying them out, so the push for "See something. Say something" is definitely relevant.
Reading this book was disturbing. I'm glad that I have the facts, but I can't help but feel incapacitated by them. As a teacher, I can help the outsider. But how do I identify the monsters?
emotional
informative
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
Wow, What an incredibly well researched and balanced book! Obviously, the subject matter is horrific, and extremely disturbing, but the author writes in a straightforward, non- exploitative style that is easy to follow. I remember this mass murder very well and remember being shocked, scared and transfixed by the press coverage, I am glad that I read this book as it dispels myths, inaccuracies about the killers and their motives. Mass murders and school shootings continue. This book offers possible guidance that we can learn from. My son was 9 when Columbine happened. I cannot even begin to comprehend the death of my son! I lost my husband to suicide, so I know that pain and all it entails. I highly recommend this book for many reasons.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Toxic friendship
Cried every time I read this book. Could not get more than a chapter without having to take a break for a day and was just too disturbing.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
I am not sure there is much I can say that has not already been posted as a review. This is one of few non-fiction books that I stayed up late to keep reading and finished all 400 pages in just over 2 days.
The in depth look at not only the motivation of the killers, but also of how family, friends, victims, school personal, police and religious organizations handled both the signs that this was coming and the aftermath are fascinating.
I picked this book up after it was mentioned in an article on the school shooting in Connecticut and am glad I did. As one of the first school shootings that the media took hold of (before most social media was popular), it shows you all of the myths and why they took hold. It also explains why the same types of things happened recently in CT and why they will probably continue to.
Highly recommended.
The in depth look at not only the motivation of the killers, but also of how family, friends, victims, school personal, police and religious organizations handled both the signs that this was coming and the aftermath are fascinating.
I picked this book up after it was mentioned in an article on the school shooting in Connecticut and am glad I did. As one of the first school shootings that the media took hold of (before most social media was popular), it shows you all of the myths and why they took hold. It also explains why the same types of things happened recently in CT and why they will probably continue to.
Highly recommended.
Took me a while to finish this book...not unusual for me due to its length.
Cullen's story of the Columbine attack is masterful. He was one of the 1st reporters on the scene and continued to investigate and report on it for days and months to follow.
There are so many layers to the story. After having read Sue Klebold's book about Columbine and how it impacted her and her husband's life, I felt compelled to read Columbine to see how much info seemed to 'line up'.
I will say Klebold's portrayal of her son, Dylan, and Cullen's portrayal were very similar as well as their reports of the incident. Although, many of the stories wildly fluctuated about what actually happened, there were certain parts of the 2 stories that corroborated.
Kudos to Cullen for immersing himself in this and exposing himself to so much trauma which was a result of not only being a reporting it but to better understand what lead up to the attack and what (if anything) anyone could do in the future to prevent it. Sadly, Columbine has only sparked the many school attacks we've witnessed since the 1999 incident. He also gives accounts of many, many planned school attacks which have been thwarted since then... The also incredibly sad part of the post incident attacks is a majority of the attackers modeled their planned attacks after Klebolds' and Harris' avenging their hatred of people.
If you can handle the intense content, I highly recommend this book. Cullen's writing flows and really pulls you into the incident before, during and after its occurrence. He interviewed so many people affected by the tragedy and he is able to immerse you in what the experience was like for them. It is definitely not reported as if he was on the outside looking in... Cullen immersed himself so much into trying to help survivors and understand their stories, it left him battling with depression and anxiety for which he sought help and was able to work through...
As for society's damnation of Dylan and Eric's parents for not seeing the signs of the imminent attack and stopping it... after reading Sue Klebold's book and Cullen's... all I can say is that the bigger culprit of fostering this attack was the Jeffco police department for burying the alarming behaviors of Eric Harris which started approximately 2 years before the attack. Quite honestly, if they had taken action when they learned about Eric's hate mongering website with reports of how he wanted to kill people (combined with many other factors) and they didn't dismiss the fact they found pipe bombs Eric had made, the Columbine attack could probably have been stopped.
Are the parents of Klebold and Harris without fault? Read the book and let me know what you think. It's easy to damn them, but once you read this very detailed story, you begin to have a bit more empathy for them... Eric Harris' parents reported their concerns to the police about Eric's behaviors and their concerns were basically dismissed. Sue Klebold admits to not seeing, Dylan's signs of depression ... However, in both her story and Cullen's, it's easy to see how the Klebolds did not get too alarmed about it... Dylan had a certain endearing quality to him that would pop out just after behaviors of concern which any parent would see as, "he's doing much better now."
I am a licensed clinical social worker and if Dylan were my client, I'm not sure I would be alarmed by some of his behaviors because he seemed to bounce back rather quickly.
Eric Harris, on the other hand, was a bonafide psychopath with behaviors that were significantly alarming!! The even more frightening aspect of Harris is how he could turn on the charm and say just the right thing to get officials and his parents off his back while he carried on with pipe bomb making/detonating, nazi style behaviors, and writings about killing and rape. Dylan would likely have not carried out the attack had he not been fueled by Harris' rage. They were like gasoline and a spark when together... Eric definitely sparked Dylan's capacity to rage. Was Dylan innocent? Absolutely not... but in my clinical opinion had Dylan received counseling and been kept away from Eric, he would not have been capable of killing.
Sadly, Eric Harris, was just a very frightening person with a innate rage towards mankind in general. Had Dylan been kept separated from Harris, could Harris still have been capable of killing... Absolutely!!
Harris and Klebold along with the many shooters since Columbine are fueled by the fame and theatrics their attacks create.
Cullen's take on it... "We (the media) supple the audience. They (the shooters) supply the show."
Cullen's story of the Columbine attack is masterful. He was one of the 1st reporters on the scene and continued to investigate and report on it for days and months to follow.
There are so many layers to the story. After having read Sue Klebold's book about Columbine and how it impacted her and her husband's life, I felt compelled to read Columbine to see how much info seemed to 'line up'.
I will say Klebold's portrayal of her son, Dylan, and Cullen's portrayal were very similar as well as their reports of the incident. Although, many of the stories wildly fluctuated about what actually happened, there were certain parts of the 2 stories that corroborated.
Kudos to Cullen for immersing himself in this and exposing himself to so much trauma which was a result of not only being a reporting it but to better understand what lead up to the attack and what (if anything) anyone could do in the future to prevent it. Sadly, Columbine has only sparked the many school attacks we've witnessed since the 1999 incident. He also gives accounts of many, many planned school attacks which have been thwarted since then... The also incredibly sad part of the post incident attacks is a majority of the attackers modeled their planned attacks after Klebolds' and Harris' avenging their hatred of people.
If you can handle the intense content, I highly recommend this book. Cullen's writing flows and really pulls you into the incident before, during and after its occurrence. He interviewed so many people affected by the tragedy and he is able to immerse you in what the experience was like for them. It is definitely not reported as if he was on the outside looking in... Cullen immersed himself so much into trying to help survivors and understand their stories, it left him battling with depression and anxiety for which he sought help and was able to work through...
As for society's damnation of Dylan and Eric's parents for not seeing the signs of the imminent attack and stopping it... after reading Sue Klebold's book and Cullen's... all I can say is that the bigger culprit of fostering this attack was the Jeffco police department for burying the alarming behaviors of Eric Harris which started approximately 2 years before the attack. Quite honestly, if they had taken action when they learned about Eric's hate mongering website with reports of how he wanted to kill people (combined with many other factors) and they didn't dismiss the fact they found pipe bombs Eric had made, the Columbine attack could probably have been stopped.
Are the parents of Klebold and Harris without fault? Read the book and let me know what you think. It's easy to damn them, but once you read this very detailed story, you begin to have a bit more empathy for them... Eric Harris' parents reported their concerns to the police about Eric's behaviors and their concerns were basically dismissed. Sue Klebold admits to not seeing, Dylan's signs of depression ... However, in both her story and Cullen's, it's easy to see how the Klebolds did not get too alarmed about it... Dylan had a certain endearing quality to him that would pop out just after behaviors of concern which any parent would see as, "he's doing much better now."
I am a licensed clinical social worker and if Dylan were my client, I'm not sure I would be alarmed by some of his behaviors because he seemed to bounce back rather quickly.
Eric Harris, on the other hand, was a bonafide psychopath with behaviors that were significantly alarming!! The even more frightening aspect of Harris is how he could turn on the charm and say just the right thing to get officials and his parents off his back while he carried on with pipe bomb making/detonating, nazi style behaviors, and writings about killing and rape. Dylan would likely have not carried out the attack had he not been fueled by Harris' rage. They were like gasoline and a spark when together... Eric definitely sparked Dylan's capacity to rage. Was Dylan innocent? Absolutely not... but in my clinical opinion had Dylan received counseling and been kept away from Eric, he would not have been capable of killing.
Sadly, Eric Harris, was just a very frightening person with a innate rage towards mankind in general. Had Dylan been kept separated from Harris, could Harris still have been capable of killing... Absolutely!!
Harris and Klebold along with the many shooters since Columbine are fueled by the fame and theatrics their attacks create.
Cullen's take on it... "We (the media) supple the audience. They (the shooters) supply the show."
When Columbine happened I was still a child and so I only had a vague recollection of what happened, two gunmen, drove to the edge by bullying, went on a rampage through their high school killing many. However, after reading this book I have realised there is a lot more to the event than that, particularly Cullen disproves the widely held notion that the killers were victims of bullying, instead providing evidence of depression and psychopathy. This is a big strength of the book how it debunks so many of the myths surrounding that day including the involvement of the 'Trenchcoat Mafia', and addresses how these myths got started.
The books is comprehensibly detailed and switches between the events of that tragic day, the years leading up to it and the police investigation and public recovery afterwards. Sources of information are clearly stated and easily checked for those who read non-fiction for reference rather than pleasure. Cullen does not shy away from the tough aspects of the events, how police and psychologists missed warning signs in the killers, how one victim was left to bleed to death by the SWAT team and how one victim's religious legacy comes from a simple confusion in the chaos. He also stays away from vilifying the killers and parents, showing that they were human not evil, which gave a more balanced view to the book.
David Cullen has a website that accompanies the book, which not only contains some of his information sources, but also has detailed resources for educators teaching Columbine as part of the curriculum. Although I would say the contents of the book was not appropriate for younger teens.
I got through the book in under a day as it is gripping, vivid and readable, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone wishing to know the truth about this tragedy, as well as those who like true crime books.
[Cross-posted from tomesofthesoul.blogspot.com]
The books is comprehensibly detailed and switches between the events of that tragic day, the years leading up to it and the police investigation and public recovery afterwards. Sources of information are clearly stated and easily checked for those who read non-fiction for reference rather than pleasure. Cullen does not shy away from the tough aspects of the events, how police and psychologists missed warning signs in the killers, how one victim was left to bleed to death by the SWAT team and how one victim's religious legacy comes from a simple confusion in the chaos. He also stays away from vilifying the killers and parents, showing that they were human not evil, which gave a more balanced view to the book.
David Cullen has a website that accompanies the book, which not only contains some of his information sources, but also has detailed resources for educators teaching Columbine as part of the curriculum. Although I would say the contents of the book was not appropriate for younger teens.
I got through the book in under a day as it is gripping, vivid and readable, and I would strongly recommend it to anyone wishing to know the truth about this tragedy, as well as those who like true crime books.
[Cross-posted from tomesofthesoul.blogspot.com]