Columbine Book Summary

In 'Columbine', Dave Cullen unravels the chilling events surrounding the infamous 1999 school shooting, offering a meticulous exploration of the lives of the perpetrators and the impact on the community. He challenges common myths and misconceptions that have emerged in the aftermath, revealing deeper truths about fear, violence, and adolescence. Cullen's gripping narrative delves into the psychological profiles of the shooters and the systemic failures that led to this tragedy. As he reconstructs the fateful day and its long-lasting repercussions, readers are confronted with haunting questions about safety, empathy, and the societal dynamics at play. This powerful nonfiction account will leave you reflecting on the fragility of life and the complexities of human behavior.

By Dave Cullen

Published: 2010

"'We are a world that has forgotten how to listen; we have become spectators, watching our own tragedies unfold without truly seeing their impact on our lives.'"

Book Review of Columbine

EXPANDED WITH A NEW EPILOGUE "The tragedies keep coming. As we reel from the latest horror . . . " So begins a new epilogue, illustrating how Columbine became the template for nearly two decades of "spectacle murders." It is a false script, seized upon by a generation of new killers. In the wake of Newtown, Aurora, and Virginia Tech, the imperative to understand the crime that sparked this plague grows more urgent every year. What really happened April 20, 1999? The horror left an indelible stamp on the American psyche, but most of what we "know" is wrong. It wasn't about jocks, Goths, or the Trench Coat Mafia. Dave Cullen was one of the first reporters on scene, and spent ten years on this book-widely recognized as the definitive account. With a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen, he draws on mountains of evidence, insight from the world's leading forensic psychologists, and the killers' own words and drawings-several reproduced in a new appendix. Cullen paints raw portraits of two polar opposite killers. They contrast starkly with the flashes of resilience and redemption among the survivors.

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'We are a world that has forgotten how to listen; we have become spectators, watching our own tragedies unfold without truly seeing their impact on our lives.'

Columbine

By Dave Cullen