Columbine by Dave Cullen
I started reading Columbine by Dave Cullen (book #4 in my 30 Before 30 challengeyesterday and made it through a third of the book in a nonstop reading session. At that point, I physically had plenty of time to read more, but I had to make myself stop. I started becoming obsessed with the tragedy all over again, just like I was in high school when it happened. I even hit the information superhighway and started looking up YouTube videos and photos so I could put faces with names in the book – the faces I was so familiar with 11 years ago.
Cullen’s book is an excellent one so far, and I’m glad it was written. Like so many other tragedies, the media had this one all wrong: there was no bullying, no trenchcoat mafia, no targeting of jocks or black students. In fact, there was no targeting at all. This was a completely indiscriminate attack meant only to kill as many people as possible. But that’s not what we heard from the media. In short, pretty much everything you think you know about Columbine is wrong. This book is definitely worth a read if only to understand why critical media literacy is so important.
I became so obsessed with it all again, though, that I couldn’t sleep last night. I cried as Tim hugged me; it was like reliving it all over again. It may not be surprising to hear that this event really shattered my faith when it came to safety in school.
Tim asked me if I was so upset because everything I thought I knew was debunked. “No,” I responded. I was always pretty sure everyone had got it wrong. “I’m so upset because… they were just kids.” Nice kids. Kids people really liked. Kids with good parents and siblings. They weren’t “crazy” or “messed up” or obsessed with Marylin Manson or using drugs. They were just kids.
I don’t know if this gets to me more now that I’m a teacher or if it’d be the same if I had chosen some other job. But I do know I’m excited to finish the book both to find more answers and to be able to put the book behind me.
Hey Ashley. What a moving post. I’m glad it kept your attention, sorry it got to you. I had to keep writing in short bursts sometimes, too. Some parts were much easier than others.
And yes, just kids. Two VERY different kids, though.
That quote from Patrick is one of my favorites in the book.
Thanks for teaching. You–or students out there–may be interested in this. We’ve had a lot of interest on using the book in school, so we’re trying to make that easier. I spent a good chunk of the fall creating the Columbine Instructor Guide and Columbine Student Guide. They are now online and free. Please consider spreading the word. Thanks.
Whoops. I messed up on the Patrick Ireland quote. (That was in another blog I read this morning, and I think I conflated it with yours.) Ignore that part of my message.
Or, actually, here’s the quote, which you might like, too:
“When I fell out the window, I knew somebody would catch me. That’s what I need to tell you: I knew the loving world was there all the time.”
I hope you like the rest of the book.
Ashley,
I’ve been urging everyone who has read Cullen’s book to please give three other books on the same subject a try. And that’s mostly because I fear that the people who have read Cullen’s “Columbine” will think that what Cullen wrote is the absolute truth, that he had all the facts and wrote them down as such. Nothing could be further from the truth, in my opinion and that of others who have read his book and researched the Columbine attack. “Columbine” isn’t a horrible book but it is flawed and should not be accepted as the “definitive” book on the subject because it’s anything but.
There are three other books that have been written about Columbine and while they’re not perfect either, in my opinion they give a more accurate depiction of the events surrounding the attack on Columbine High School. The books are “Comprehending Columbine” by Ralph Larkin, “Columbine: A True Crime Story” by Jeff Kass (a staff writer for Denver’s Rocky Mountain News who has covered the Columbine story since the very beginning) and “No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death At Columbine” by Brooks Brown. The latter is more of a memoir by a classmate and friend of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. The first two books I believe take a much more accurate look than Cullen’s book at what happened at Columbine and why. Larkin’s book in particular makes a very strong case for the fact that indeed Harris and Klebold were bullied during their four years at Columbine and that this was probably a strong factor in why they attacked their school. Cullen would have you believe otherwise because it (the two boys being bullied) doesn’t fit in with his preferred profile of them. So he’s conveniently ignored evidence and recounts of their being bullied by eyewitnesses and simply leaves it out of his book. Larkin and Kass include these facts in their books, and more that Cullen doesn’t.
It’s my hope that anyone who has read or is contemplating reading Cullen’s book will go on to read the three books that I’ve mentioned. The books will give them a better and more accurate look at what happened at Columbine.
Lisa,
Thank you for your thoughts. While I do understand that there are many perspectives on the tragedy and that Cullen’s is just one, I wholeheartedly believe that looking at all perspectives to paint a complete picture is necessary. Cullen’s narrative does leave some holes and some unanswered questions, but I think the majority of his writing, research, and notes are solid and work well to back up his claims. As soon as I can mentally handle another book on the Columbine tragedy, I will happily check out some of your suggestions in order to have a well-rounded view of the event.
However, I do believe anyone who posits that Cullen does not believe that Eric and Dylan were bullied has a simplistic understanding of Cullen’s text. He states very clearly that the boys were, in fact, bullied, but does not cite that as the only motivation to their attack. I have yet to see any evidence that Eric and Dylan targeted students who bullied them; if they were incited to attack the school because of bullies, wouldn’t they seek those bullies out first?
Cullen also states: “Eric attacked the symbol of his oppression: the robot factory and the hub of adolescent existence… Fear was Eric’s ultimate weapon. He wanted to maximize the terror. He didn’t want kids to fear isolated events like a sporting event or a dance; he wanted them to fear their daily lives” (Kindle locations 4935-42). This statement and others like it in the book do not say to me: Eric and Dylan were not bullied, and they attacked the school for reasons other than bullying. It says to me that, in the eyes of these boys, there were a multitude of reasons for the attack and to chalk it up to simply bullying is over-simplifying the situation, as well as the psyches of these two boys. Was bullying part of their oppression? Of course. Were there other factors at play? You bet. And, as I stated before, it’s important to explore all of them.
But that’s just my two cents. I cannot speak for Cullen, and I cannot ever even begin to know even close to 100% of the truth. But I do think Cullen’s book is an important piece of the narrative surrounding this tragedy.