Columbine By Dave Cullen
by Dave Cullen
This depressing book does much to clarify many of the murky details surrounding the Columbine shooting. Eric Harris emerges as the true villain and failed architect of what was in actuality a failed bombing rather than a mass shooting. His family and, and his father in particular are shown to have displayed such levity where the bad behavior of their son is concerned that they were practically complicit in his crimes. Dylan Klebold and the Klebold family are apparently correctly portrayed as sympathetically hapless, helpless, and oblivious onlookers to what they consider their son's suicide, and view the murders he committed as a secondary concern. The Klebolds are not totally exonerated, but the Brown family, the gothic subculture, video games, and Marilyn Manson are. Other major details and pop culture myths are sorted through and clarified here: the girl who was portrayed as a christian martyr, the existence of a conspiracy, how the two boys acquired their weapons, how long they planned the crime, and the inexcusable incompetence and obscurantism of the police department in Littleton, Co, who were actually aware of Eric Harris and his online activities for months before the shooting took place.
Contains quite a lot of bloody violence and first hand accounts of the shooting from victims and survivors, and some harsh language.