Columbine, The Book
I spent ten years on Columbine, and found a dramatically different story than we swallowed in 1999. It wasn't about the jocks, goths or the TrenchCoat Mafia.
 |
| NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER EDGAR AWARD WINNER |
I was driven by two questions: why did they do it, and how did this town respond? Thousands faced the unthinkable—most overcame it. How? I was amazed by their stories, and their resilience.
Critics
"What's amazing is how much of Cullen's book still comes as a surprise."
– New York Times Book Review
"Cullen makes it work because he insists on framing the killers in human terms . . . That's tricky ground for a writer to navigate, to ask, if not for understanding, for compassion for two boys regarded as monsters."
– LA Times
"The pacing of an action movie and the complexity of a Shakespearean drama.
– Newsweek
"Read this book for its unflinching honesty. . . . You may want to leave the horror behind you–that may be why you haven't yet picked up Columbine, journalist Dave Cullen's spectacularly gripping account. But Cullen's chilling narrative is too vital to miss."
– O: The Oprah Magazine
New Disclosures from Killers' Parents
The paperback edition (2010) adds accounts of four secret meetings with the Harris and Klebold parents: the first real insight into the mindset of Wayne and Kathy Harris. The expanded edition also adds:
- Journal pages from Eric and Dylan (scans).
- Diagram of the Columbine shooting.
- Book Club Questions (also at Oprah.com).
- "Forgiveness," an afterword. Updates on three families.
Intro Video
Book trailerColumbine surprises most readers. This tight video by a South Park filmmaker captures the essence of the book in 3 minutes.
You will meet Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and get a sense of what drove them to perpetrate the Columbine school shooting and what they wrought. The video includes footage of the killers from the tapes they made, and of them armed in the cafeteria during the attack.
This is probably the easiest way to gauge whether Columbine is the right book for you.
Help Spread The Word. Embed or paste this Columbine video link to your FB/blog/Twitter. Or just click thumbs-up or favorite at youtube, or add a comment. It makes a huge difference. Thanks.
If a friend is conflicted about reading, you might suggest they watch. I also created several videos about the Columbine school shootings and book on my youtube channel.
Description
Book jacketOn April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their plan was staggering: to blow up their school, surpass Oklahoma City in horror, and leave "a lasting impression on the world." The bombs failed. But the unprecedented attack unleashed a new era of violence in schools—branding every future shooting "another Columbine."
When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat Mafia; Cassie Bernall, mistaken Columbine martyr; and Patrick Ireland, "the boy in the window"—the whole world watching his gutsy escape. Now, in a gripping work of journalism a full decade in the making, comes the story we never knew. In this revelatory book, Dave Cullen produces a profile of teen killers that burrows to the core of psychopathology. He reveals two radically differnt killers: Eric Harris, the callously brutal mastermind, and Dylan Klebold, the quivering depressive who journaled obsessively about love and attended the Columbine prom three days before opening fire.
Columbine unfolds seamlessly, in an unforgettable tale of two honor students with a healthy circle of friends, secretly stockpiling a cache of weapons in the basement. They recorded their vitriol on film while manipulating every adult who could have stopped them.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold left warnings all around them—described by Cullen with a sharp investigative eye and psychological acumen. Culling from hundreds of interviews, thousands of police files, testimony from world-class psychologists brought in by the FBI, and the boys' videos and journals, he delivers the first comprehensive account of the tragic Columbine school shooting.
In the tradition of Helter Skelter and In Cold Blood, Columbine is destined to be a classic. A riveting tale of murder, redeption, police cover-up, and a town town apart, —the haunting cautionary tale for our age.
Recent Updates
- Skyping with schools example.
- Also see our Schools page and Instructor Guide. Videos for classes & book clubs.
Columbine in Schools
- Developed a cross-curriculm Instructor Guide (PDF) for colleges and high schools.
- Extended my college/schools tour. To book an event or Skype, email bethany@bethanybelle.com
More Critics on Columbine
"Beautifully written but deeply haunting."
– NY Observer
"Accomplishes an astonishing number of things in compelling, articulate prose . . . Most remarkable is Cullen's ability to present an onslaught of facts while recreating such anguish and fear. Columbine is a valuable historic resource, but it roils the heart, too."
– Miami Herald
"Makes us feel intensely for those who were killed and wounded."
– USA Today
"This remarkable account . . . readers will come away from Cullen's unflinching account with a deeper understanding of what drove these boys to kill."
– Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Graphic and emotionally vivid; spectacularly researched and analyzed."
– Booklist (starred review)
"It opens with a proclamation of love and concludes with an image of redemption, and what unfolds in the pages between them is extraordinary."
– Charlotte Observer
"I'm happy to report that [Cullen] hit it out of the ballpark."
– Denver Post
"An astonishingly comprehensive look at the incident and the decade of struggle."
– Chicago Tribune
"Cullen's Klebold is a lonely depressive, and all too easily manipulated. Harris is a genuine psychopath, a natural-born killer. And yet, both boys emerge as three-dimensional human beings. Throughout, Cullen refuses to sensationalize."
– Very Short List
"A definitive history of Columbine . . . Cullen writes about the people of Columbine with compassion."
– New York Post
"Finally dispelled are the prevailing simplifications . . . Cullen creates more than a nuanced portrait of school shooters as young men. He writes a human story–a compassionate narrative of teenagers with guns (and bombs, too), and the havoc they wreak."
– Esquire.com
"Cullen's study of Harris and Klebold in the months before the killing is fascinating."
– Bloomberg.net
"I defy anyone who is a parent of a teenager, especially a teenage boy, to read Dave Cullen's Columbine with any kind of dispassion or objectivity. . . . It is also a great piece of journalism, the likes of which we rarely see anymore."
– Daily Beast
"Dave Cullen is the Dante of this high school hell. I came away from it thinking of Jack Nicholson hollering 'You want the truth? You can't handle the truth!' Read this quietly powerful account of Columbine and find out if you can."
– Ron Rosenbaum
"Read Columbine for the stunning reportage. Admire the heroism of students and teachers."
– Huffington Post
"This superb work of investigation looks to be a definitive account."
– Columbia Journalism Review
More: Click for many more, with much longer passages and links to the full Columbine reviews.
Awards
Columbine won the Edgar Award, Barnes & Noble's Discover Award and the Goodreads Choice Award. It was a finalist for the LA Times Book Award, the American Library Association's Alex Award for young adults, the Audie Award, and the MPIBA Regional Book Award.
Columbine appeared on two dozen Best Books of 2009 lists, including the NY Times, LA Times and Publishers Weekly. It was declared Top Education Book of 2009 by the American School Board Journal.
Thanks for the outpouring of support for my first book. You can't imagine how it has helped. I am pouring all that energy into my next book. Click for details/links on awards and reviews.
Book Clubs
Thanks for the tremendous support from book clubs. We have discussion questions at Oprah.com, and other resources for clubs. I will also skype into a limited number of clubs for 30 minutes. More info on the Book Clubs page.
Other Recent Updates
— Students Page--June 2010
— I created a Discussion Board on the Columbine shooting.--June 2010
— Columbine won the Edgar Award--April 2010
— Instructor Guide PDF--April 2010
— Columbine won the Discover Award--March 2010
— Expanded paperback edition released--March 2010
Editor: Why I Published Columbine
Dear Reader:
I was drawn to Dave Cullen’s work by a New York Times column by David Brooks, who praised Cullen's freelance writing on the Columbine shooting. Cullen had been on the scene at Columbine High School from day one and had distinguished himself as the most authoritative writer on the subject. I asked him to write a short book on the massacre.
That was about ten years ago. Since then, this gifted and relentless writer has lived with this story every day, going to extraordinary lengths to understand this tragedy from every relevant perspective: through the eyes of the families, school officials, investigators, community leaders, and most amazingly, the killers themselves, who left behind such extensive personal testimony and evidence about their plans that the author has been able to do something truly remarkable—document the descent of two teenage boys from a typical adolescent life into madness and murder.
What is shocking about the Columbine shooting is just how ordinary these two boys seemed. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold loved their parents, did their homework, worked at the local pizzeria, and—contrary to widely reported accounts—were well-liked by their peers. With precision and perspective that will haunt and amaze you, Dave Cullen has crafted an indelible portrait of American youth that is at once familiar and horrifying. Better than any author I have ever read, he describes the psychological journey through which young men become killers.
This is not an easy story to confront, but I have no doubt that Columbine will be regarded as a classic of literary nonfiction and the definitive work on the community that suffered one of the most violent tragedies of our time.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Karp
Editor-in-Chief and Publisher
Twelve Books (Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Book Group)
The Edgar Award
Here's what it looks like (on the table just after the awards dinner):
