Take a photo of a barcode or cover
aejohnson85 's review for:
Columbine
by Dave Cullen
After reading Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes, a friend suggested I read Columbine. I was a bit reluctant to pick it up for a few reasons. First of all, other than memoirs, I'm not much of a non-fiction reader and second of all, I knew how heavy the material would be. However, I'm glad I read this - it's a wonderfully written and extensively researched account of the horrible events that occurred at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.
The first thing I realized while reading is that whatever you think you know about Columbine is likely wrong. Cullen sets out to tell the truth and dispel a number of myths that were perpetuated by the media immediately after the tragedy. This was not supposed to be a school shooting - rather, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold originally planned for this to be a school bombing. It became a shooting only after the original plan failed.
These boys were not loners and this was not to gain revenge over those who bullied them. Rather, Cullen shows that they were average teenagers who had a number of friends (Dylan even attended prom with a large group a few days before the shooting) and that if anything, they were the bullies - often vandalizing other students lockers. They were not members of the Trench Coat Mafia - they just happened to think dusters were useful the day of the shooting to cover their arsenal.
Cullen stresses the point that psychologists on the case believe that Harris was most likely a psychopath - he was manipulative and felt he was superior over everyone. In his mind, the human race had no worth and were therefore expendable. Klebold is portrayed as a depressive follower. His journals show that he often toyed with the idea of suicide (though apparently he never attempted it). Cullen draws from the extensive journals, online posts and videos that the killers left behind to try to show the path they took to April 20th. It's extremely disturbing to read their words, especially since we know how their twisted thinking culminated in one of the worst school shootings on record.
Cullen intertwines the evolution of the killers' plan with images from that day but he also follows the victim's families and those who survived - a strong emphasis is put on Mr. D, the beloved principal, and Patrick Ireland, better known as the boy in the window. The image of Ireland falling from the window is something that I will never forget - I was horrified as a 13 year old grade 8 student in 1999 watching him on the news. I was so happy to hear that he has recovered so well from the attack and is now happy in his life.
I was horrified by the coverup by the Jeffco police department - they had been alerted to Eric's website (where he threatened to kill a number of students) a year before the shooting. Due to other more pressing cases, a search warrant was never obtained. I just kept thinking that if the police had followed through, perhaps this wouldn't have happened - at that point Harris had already stockpiled a number of pipebombs. Cullen details how any evidence of this was purged from the department in order to save face after the shootings.
It was also interesting to see how the media framed the shootings. With a lack of information, they were responsible for creating most of the myths that people now just accept as fact about the shooting. Cassie Bernall, the victim famous for saying "yes", apparently never said this before she died. Instead another student had a similar exchange with the killers but witnesses in the library attributed it to Bernall in all the confusion. Even when this was proved to be untrue, it didn't get much play in the media - the story of a martyr sold more papers.
There are quite a few moments in this book where I had to set it aside as the images were just too much to take. These included the description of teacher, Dave Sanders, trying to save as many students as possible. Sanders bleeding to death in the Science Room because the police were still unsure of whether or not to approach the school and then the SWAT team leaving him behind as the uninjured survivors were deemed the priority in the room - this is something that brought me to tears. The first victims, Rachel Scott and Danny Rohrbough left outside overnight...the families who were not contacted about their murdered child/spouse. Cullen telling us that Rohrbough's mother requested (and received) the piece of sidewalk where her son was killed. Some of these moments were too much to take and I know they will stay with me forever.
Despite all of this, I still think this is something that people need to read if only to remember the victims, the survivors, and to help ensure that something like this never happens again.
The first thing I realized while reading is that whatever you think you know about Columbine is likely wrong. Cullen sets out to tell the truth and dispel a number of myths that were perpetuated by the media immediately after the tragedy. This was not supposed to be a school shooting - rather, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold originally planned for this to be a school bombing. It became a shooting only after the original plan failed.
These boys were not loners and this was not to gain revenge over those who bullied them. Rather, Cullen shows that they were average teenagers who had a number of friends (Dylan even attended prom with a large group a few days before the shooting) and that if anything, they were the bullies - often vandalizing other students lockers. They were not members of the Trench Coat Mafia - they just happened to think dusters were useful the day of the shooting to cover their arsenal.
Cullen stresses the point that psychologists on the case believe that Harris was most likely a psychopath - he was manipulative and felt he was superior over everyone. In his mind, the human race had no worth and were therefore expendable. Klebold is portrayed as a depressive follower. His journals show that he often toyed with the idea of suicide (though apparently he never attempted it). Cullen draws from the extensive journals, online posts and videos that the killers left behind to try to show the path they took to April 20th. It's extremely disturbing to read their words, especially since we know how their twisted thinking culminated in one of the worst school shootings on record.
Cullen intertwines the evolution of the killers' plan with images from that day but he also follows the victim's families and those who survived - a strong emphasis is put on Mr. D, the beloved principal, and Patrick Ireland, better known as the boy in the window. The image of Ireland falling from the window is something that I will never forget - I was horrified as a 13 year old grade 8 student in 1999 watching him on the news. I was so happy to hear that he has recovered so well from the attack and is now happy in his life.
I was horrified by the coverup by the Jeffco police department - they had been alerted to Eric's website (where he threatened to kill a number of students) a year before the shooting. Due to other more pressing cases, a search warrant was never obtained. I just kept thinking that if the police had followed through, perhaps this wouldn't have happened - at that point Harris had already stockpiled a number of pipebombs. Cullen details how any evidence of this was purged from the department in order to save face after the shootings.
It was also interesting to see how the media framed the shootings. With a lack of information, they were responsible for creating most of the myths that people now just accept as fact about the shooting. Cassie Bernall, the victim famous for saying "yes", apparently never said this before she died. Instead another student had a similar exchange with the killers but witnesses in the library attributed it to Bernall in all the confusion. Even when this was proved to be untrue, it didn't get much play in the media - the story of a martyr sold more papers.
There are quite a few moments in this book where I had to set it aside as the images were just too much to take. These included the description of teacher, Dave Sanders, trying to save as many students as possible. Sanders bleeding to death in the Science Room because the police were still unsure of whether or not to approach the school and then the SWAT team leaving him behind as the uninjured survivors were deemed the priority in the room - this is something that brought me to tears. The first victims, Rachel Scott and Danny Rohrbough left outside overnight...the families who were not contacted about their murdered child/spouse. Cullen telling us that Rohrbough's mother requested (and received) the piece of sidewalk where her son was killed. Some of these moments were too much to take and I know they will stay with me forever.
Despite all of this, I still think this is something that people need to read if only to remember the victims, the survivors, and to help ensure that something like this never happens again.