Review Of Columbine By Dave Cullen

9218
Lamar State College-Orange
HIST 1302
E. Jeter
23 April, 2015
Review of Columbine by Dave Cullen (New York, Hachette Book Group, 2009, x + 417 pp.)
Dave Cullen’s historical non-fiction book “Columbine,” is an examination of the events that lead up to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold’s act of terrorism on Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999, the attack itself, and the aftermath that followed such a horrific event. Cullen’s desire to publicize the killers’ stories, the survivors’ healing processes, and the nations’ need for answers, were the two questions he kept asking himself: “Why did they kill?” and “What became of the survivors?”. Cullen took it upon himself to provide the community that surrounded Columbine, along with the entire

People wanted other reasons to blame the boys for their actions like targeting their bullies for revenge, the jocks, specific races or ethnicities. All of these rumors were reported as truths by the media which only hindered the investigation more. It was extremely difficult for law enforcement to analyze all the information, because the magnitude of the evidence was so high. As families still felt in the dark, they began to sue Jefferson County for sole purpose of gaining evidence. These same families, wanted Eric Harris’ and Dylan Klebold’s parents to answer for what their kids had

The fingers kept pointing in different directions for many different reasons, because law enforcement still didn’t have any answers themselves. Since the boys had committed suicide after killing thirteen and injuring many more, no one had anyone specific to blame. The human psyche is always looking for an answer, and this was no different. Many fingers pointed to the boys’ parents, while others blamed the man who sold the boys the guns in the beginning. Klebold’s parents blamed law enforcement for not using more force against their son, when they arrived on