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charmingrogue 's review for:
Columbine
by Dave Cullen
Wow. What a powerful, riveting, and compelling book. It's been less than 48 hours since I picked it up and I read everything, including all the notes at the end. I picked this up because I started listening to Wondery's new podcast, "Confronting Columbine," which is just as riveting. It is really interesting to hear directly from the survivors and those involved and hear about their lives more than two decades later.
Columbine had a profound impact on me. I was in eighth grade in April 1999, about to leave the tiny private school that I had attended since kindergarten and move to the large public school system in the town where I lived. I remember being in the car and hearing the first new reports over the radio. I don't remember exactly how I followed the news in those days before the Internet was everywhere, but somehow I did. I absorbed all the initial myths that were reported in those days, and while I gradually became aware that that wasn't the real story, there are definitely things I was not aware of before reading this book.
I read in another review of this book the question of why Columbine became (and at least to a certain extent, still is) such a big deal. And while there was plenty of exploration of that in this book, I feel like at least part of that was only briefly mentioned and maybe not given the weight it deserved. I think part of the reason Columbine took such a hold (certainly why I became so aware of it) was that Evangelicals who pushed the story, particularly the story regarding Cassie Bernall and her supposed martyrdom. Yes, Misty's book was mentioned in here, along with quotes from Cassie's pastor: "You will never change the story of Cassie... The church is going to stick to the martyr story. You can say it didn't happen that way, but the church won't accept it." That was entirely true. I had a copy of Misty's book, probably pretty shortly after it was published (I don't remember if I wanted to get it or if it was just given to me). I was enthralled by her story. And it wasn't just Misty's book - there was a "She Said Yes" music project that put out a compilation album a year after the book was released, with songs written specifically about Cassie by some of the leading Christian artists of the day. It seemed like everybody in the church knew the story of the girl who died because she believed in God. (The story was still referenced in presidential debates in 2016.)
During that time period, late 90s - early 2000s, it seemed like the church was obsessed with stories of martyrs - I had at least two other books that were simply collections of stories of martyrs throughout history, starting from the earliest days of the church up through the present day. I don't know if it was specifically a millennium thing or just the end-of-days stuff that was prevalent back then. Dying for your faith was considered the most amazing thing that you could possibly ever do, and they exploited the story of Cassie for all it was worth. They also treated the girl that the story was *actually* about horribly, saying she was lying. But she survived, and could very well have upset their narrative by not remaining as firm in her faith in the future. It's easy to make a saint out of a dead person, they can't make any further mistakes.
I didn't know for years that the story wasn't true, and even then, it was a "well, it might not have happened that way." Reading that they knew unequivocally that the story wasn't true even before the book was published upset me so much. They decided not to let the facts get in the way of the story, because they felt the story would be the catalyst to lead a generation to Christ. Guess what? It didn't work. There are countless stories about how millennials, including those who were raised in the church, are not as involved in organized religion as previous generations. I wonder if at least part of the reason that so many people decided to leave is that they saw situations like this, where church leaders decided the truth didn't matter, that the ends justified the means. I was also incredibly saddened by the story of the Lutheran minister who did the funeral for the Klebold family and continued to offer support to the parents, and lost his position in his church and had to leave the state in order to find a new job, at least for a while. Aren't Christians supposed to be compassionate to those who are suffering? The victims and their families did not have a monopoly on suffering. The idea that a congregation could so vehemently oppose their pastor counseling the parents of one of the killers that they would run him out of their congregation sickens me, though doesn't necessarily surprise me.
This has turned more into an essay about the failings of the American church at this time than about the book itself, but these are the thoughts that came up as I read it. It reads like a novel, and even the dryer psychological analysis parts were fascinating to read. I don't know that it gives us any answers about how to prevent another tragedy, but maybe there are no answers. It certainly hasn't stopped happening in the 22 years since.
Columbine had a profound impact on me. I was in eighth grade in April 1999, about to leave the tiny private school that I had attended since kindergarten and move to the large public school system in the town where I lived. I remember being in the car and hearing the first new reports over the radio. I don't remember exactly how I followed the news in those days before the Internet was everywhere, but somehow I did. I absorbed all the initial myths that were reported in those days, and while I gradually became aware that that wasn't the real story, there are definitely things I was not aware of before reading this book.
I read in another review of this book the question of why Columbine became (and at least to a certain extent, still is) such a big deal. And while there was plenty of exploration of that in this book, I feel like at least part of that was only briefly mentioned and maybe not given the weight it deserved. I think part of the reason Columbine took such a hold (certainly why I became so aware of it) was that Evangelicals who pushed the story, particularly the story regarding Cassie Bernall and her supposed martyrdom. Yes, Misty's book was mentioned in here, along with quotes from Cassie's pastor: "You will never change the story of Cassie... The church is going to stick to the martyr story. You can say it didn't happen that way, but the church won't accept it." That was entirely true. I had a copy of Misty's book, probably pretty shortly after it was published (I don't remember if I wanted to get it or if it was just given to me). I was enthralled by her story. And it wasn't just Misty's book - there was a "She Said Yes" music project that put out a compilation album a year after the book was released, with songs written specifically about Cassie by some of the leading Christian artists of the day. It seemed like everybody in the church knew the story of the girl who died because she believed in God. (The story was still referenced in presidential debates in 2016.)
During that time period, late 90s - early 2000s, it seemed like the church was obsessed with stories of martyrs - I had at least two other books that were simply collections of stories of martyrs throughout history, starting from the earliest days of the church up through the present day. I don't know if it was specifically a millennium thing or just the end-of-days stuff that was prevalent back then. Dying for your faith was considered the most amazing thing that you could possibly ever do, and they exploited the story of Cassie for all it was worth. They also treated the girl that the story was *actually* about horribly, saying she was lying. But she survived, and could very well have upset their narrative by not remaining as firm in her faith in the future. It's easy to make a saint out of a dead person, they can't make any further mistakes.
I didn't know for years that the story wasn't true, and even then, it was a "well, it might not have happened that way." Reading that they knew unequivocally that the story wasn't true even before the book was published upset me so much. They decided not to let the facts get in the way of the story, because they felt the story would be the catalyst to lead a generation to Christ. Guess what? It didn't work. There are countless stories about how millennials, including those who were raised in the church, are not as involved in organized religion as previous generations. I wonder if at least part of the reason that so many people decided to leave is that they saw situations like this, where church leaders decided the truth didn't matter, that the ends justified the means. I was also incredibly saddened by the story of the Lutheran minister who did the funeral for the Klebold family and continued to offer support to the parents, and lost his position in his church and had to leave the state in order to find a new job, at least for a while. Aren't Christians supposed to be compassionate to those who are suffering? The victims and their families did not have a monopoly on suffering. The idea that a congregation could so vehemently oppose their pastor counseling the parents of one of the killers that they would run him out of their congregation sickens me, though doesn't necessarily surprise me.
This has turned more into an essay about the failings of the American church at this time than about the book itself, but these are the thoughts that came up as I read it. It reads like a novel, and even the dryer psychological analysis parts were fascinating to read. I don't know that it gives us any answers about how to prevent another tragedy, but maybe there are no answers. It certainly hasn't stopped happening in the 22 years since.