Play Book Tag discussion

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Kleybold, two Columbine high school students, killed twelve of their fellow students and one teacher in what was, at the time, the worst school shooting in America's history. After reading this book I felt that whatever I thought I knew about the Columbine massacre was completely wrong. The killers were neither unpopular nor resentful about wrongs done to them. There was no Trench-coat Mafia feud between the jocks and the goths. Speculation that the date (Hitler's birthday) was untrue. They planned to do the killings on April 19, but hadn't been able to get ammunition. Eric was a crafty and calculating psychopath who wanted to kill as many people as possible, and Dylan suffered from depression and just wanted to kill himself. Together, they decided that murdering as many people as possible was a great idea.

In Columbine, the author successfully argues that we should all be surprised that they only killed thirteen people in total. If the propane bombs they’d planted in the cafeteria gone off as planned, forcing the students out into the parking lot where they were waiting, they might have killed hundreds. Prior to writing this book, Dave Cullen researched everything available on the Columbine story and assembled a comprehensive account of what really happened at Columbine High School. The police went to huge lengths to cover up some of their own incompetence and refused to release numerous critical documents until years after the tragedy. Meanwhile, some people in Littleton embraced misinformation to advance their own requirements. Even though the massacre lasted less than an hour, press helicopters circled the school all day with nothing to report. That lead them to release some serious inaccuracies with their live reporting. The killers aren't the only people who look bad in this story.

What an interesting book. I really enjoyed the fact based narrative intertwined with the last moments of both the killers and the victims. I thought the author did a great job of humanizing both groups. The book gave the reader plenty of information to form their own opinions on what might, or might not, be the cause of this or any other school shooting.

I finally picked this up a couple years ago, right after the school shooting in Oxford, Michigan--only a few miles from my home.

The thing about this book that was most interesting to me was the detail about what a psychopath is and also things I was not aware of. Like, the cover-up executed by the Sheriffs department, that information was held back.

The Michigan prosecution of both parents of the shooter just ended recently. I know that both of them being found guilty is controversial. but for us who were so close to it, it was a sort of closure. This case was a lot different than then the Colorado case, as these parents gave the child the gun, and then ran when the unthinkable happened. Evidence was clear that they needed to take some responsibility.

Not a book to say "glad you enjoyed it"- but glad to see another reader pick it up.

I couldn't make myself read this one, but I did read Parkland: Birth of a Movement, the author's subsequent book. He talked about his personal trauma following the reporting on the Columbine and other incidents. There is a syndrome called VT, vicarious traumatization, that had a serious impact on his own life.

I spent more than 30 years as a public school educator. I tend to feel personally involved in every one of these tragedies. (Don't get me started on the first grade teacher who was shot by her student.) I read every account of yet another one with a sense of survivor guilt.
There but for the grace....

I loved this book for exposing the truth of the story. Mainly, like you already mentioned, that they were not at all outcasts and in fact had many friends. The media spun this narrative that the massacre happened because they were bullied, etc, but there was no truth to it. The media interviewed traumatized students AS THEY WERE ESCAPING the scene. Completely insane. I was also shocked to find out the "She Said Yes" story was tweaked to push Christian propaganda, and the fact the NRA swooped in on this town like a day later to make sure people weren't going to blame guns. A mess of a story with so much exploitation after the fact. Pretty infuriating.

OM, thanks for the review! This book has been on and off my TBR several times. I am worried it might be too intense for me. It does sound like a good idea to get to the truth versus all the misinformation that has been spread.

What a great review!

I have this on my "maybe" list for this month, but I need to wait until I have the emotional bandwidth for this one.

It might have been 10 years ago when I read this, and I also gave it 5 stars.

Jgrace wrote: "I couldn't make myself read this one, but I did read Parkland: Birth of a Movement, the author's subsequent book. He talked about his personal trauma following the reporting on the ..."

Thanks for this suggestion. I'm going to take a look.

I thought the author did a wonderful job with his research and his unvarnished reporting of the facts, all of the facts. Living so close to Uvalde, as I do, it is heartbreaking to see that this violence is still happening. How many mistakes must be overcome before it never happens again!