Take a photo of a barcode or cover
booksandtealady 's review for:
Columbine
by Dave Cullen
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."