On 20th April 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made their bid to leave 'a lasting impression on the world'. They drove to school, planted two huge bombs in the dining area, then positioned themselves outside the main entrance to pick off the fleeing teachers and students. The bombs failed, but the ensuing massacre defined a new brand of school violence - one that has started to cross the Atlantic. In the tradition of Truman Capote's In Cold Blood and almost ten years in the making, Columbine is the definitive account of those terrible events. Cullen lays bare the callous brutality of mastermind Eric Harris, and the timid, suicidal Dylan Klebold, who had been to the prom just three days earlier and wrote obsessively about love in his journal. A close-up study of violence, grief and an all-consuming media frenzy, Columbine is above all a compelling, tragic and utterly human portrait of two young killers.
Columbine
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Review
'Stunning... Blunt, brutal and shocking in equal measure, Columbine is a story that peels away the veneer of lazy media stereotyping while surely re-injecting an unhealthy dose of fear into the heart of Middle America.'
Esquire
'Fascinating . . . The detailed account of the siege gave me nightmares. Cullen has done an amazing job of assembling a coherent and often gripping narrative out of truckloads of documents and often conflicting testimony.'
Irish Times
'Dave Cullen's masterful retelling of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, Colorado, is the latest addition to the true-crime page-turner genre exemplified by Norman Mailer's The Executioner s Song and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood'
Financial Times
'Dave Cullen's Columbine, a heartbreaking and thoroughly researched investigation into the notorious school shootings, is a must-read.'
Fatima Bhutto for New Statesman
'Gripping and authoritative'
Guardian
'Definitive . . . so vivid you can almost smell the gunpowder and fear . . . has the pacing of an action movie and the complexity of a Shakespearean drama'
Newsweek
'A staggering feat of reporting'
GQ Magazine
'Graphic and emotionally vivid; spectacularly researched and analysed'
Booklist
'Dave Cullen has been on top of the Columbine story from day one'
New York Times
'Comprehensively nightmarish . . . Columbine is a necessary book. . . . The actual events of April 20, 1999, are exactly as appalling as you'd expect, and Cullen doesn't spare us a second of them.'
Time Magazine
'[A] book that hits you like a crime scene photo, a reminder of what journalism at its best is all about'
Los Angeles Times
'This superb work of investigation looks to be a definitive account... the author's investigative reporting techniques are on abundant display, not only in the text but in the forty pages of endnotes and bibliography. Columbine promises to be a classic of in-depth journalism'
Columbia Journalism Review
'Dave Cullen's Columbine is the more ambitious and ultimately compelling take on the tragedy . . . he breaks new ground . . . dispels myths . . . and makes us feel intensely for those who were killed and wounded.'
USA Today
'A definitive history of Columbine'
New York Post
'Astonishingly comprehensive'
Chicago Tribune
--**
Esquire
'Fascinating . . . The detailed account of the siege gave me nightmares. Cullen has done an amazing job of assembling a coherent and often gripping narrative out of truckloads of documents and often conflicting testimony.'
Irish Times
'Dave Cullen's masterful retelling of the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, Colorado, is the latest addition to the true-crime page-turner genre exemplified by Norman Mailer's The Executioner s Song and Truman Capote's In Cold Blood'
Financial Times
'Dave Cullen's Columbine, a heartbreaking and thoroughly researched investigation into the notorious school shootings, is a must-read.'
Fatima Bhutto for New Statesman
'Gripping and authoritative'
Guardian
'Definitive . . . so vivid you can almost smell the gunpowder and fear . . . has the pacing of an action movie and the complexity of a Shakespearean drama'
Newsweek
'A staggering feat of reporting'
GQ Magazine
'Graphic and emotionally vivid; spectacularly researched and analysed'
Booklist
'Dave Cullen has been on top of the Columbine story from day one'
New York Times
'Comprehensively nightmarish . . . Columbine is a necessary book. . . . The actual events of April 20, 1999, are exactly as appalling as you'd expect, and Cullen doesn't spare us a second of them.'
Time Magazine
'[A] book that hits you like a crime scene photo, a reminder of what journalism at its best is all about'
Los Angeles Times
'This superb work of investigation looks to be a definitive account... the author's investigative reporting techniques are on abundant display, not only in the text but in the forty pages of endnotes and bibliography. Columbine promises to be a classic of in-depth journalism'
Columbia Journalism Review
'Dave Cullen's Columbine is the more ambitious and ultimately compelling take on the tragedy . . . he breaks new ground . . . dispels myths . . . and makes us feel intensely for those who were killed and wounded.'
USA Today
'A definitive history of Columbine'
New York Post
'Astonishingly comprehensive'
Chicago Tribune
--**
About the Author
Dave Cullen is a journalist and author. He has contributed to the New York Times, Slate.com and Salon.com, and is considered the foremost authority on the Columbine killers. He has also written extensively on Evangelical Christians, politics, and pop culture
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was looking forward to reading this book and I wasn't let down when I got round to buying it. A vivid and thoroughly researched account of the Columbine Massacre which I think nothing else before or after has come close to rivaling.
However, there are two small points which I'd like to pick up on that I did not think the authour addressed:
Firstly, I read or heard from other sources that Wayne Harris (Eric Harris' father) phoned 911 during the massacre to express his cocern that he believed his son was involved. Yet there is no mention in the book about this. In fact it claims that Tom Klebold (Dylan Klebolds' father) had rang 911 during the massacre. I wonder if anyone could explain this discrepancy.
Secondly, I was surprised that after so much research and vivid retelling of numerous connecting storylines to the massacre, the library massacre wasn't recreated in much detail. There were scenes from the library which were certainly very harrowing and remarkable which were mentioned in the book, such as Patrick Ireland's incredible escape through the window, or Emily Wyant's account of the Cassie Bernall incident. Yet there were other important moments which were worth a mention, such as one student who escaped with the killers permission because they knew him. (John Savage I think his name was)
Overall, despite these two minor omissions, the book is compelling and extremely detailed. If you are interested in true crime stories or just the columbine massacre this book is a must have. Even for those who know nothing about columbine it serves as a dramatic story to a community that was left shattered by such a catastrophic event.
5 stars.
However, there are two small points which I'd like to pick up on that I did not think the authour addressed:
Firstly, I read or heard from other sources that Wayne Harris (Eric Harris' father) phoned 911 during the massacre to express his cocern that he believed his son was involved. Yet there is no mention in the book about this. In fact it claims that Tom Klebold (Dylan Klebolds' father) had rang 911 during the massacre. I wonder if anyone could explain this discrepancy.
Secondly, I was surprised that after so much research and vivid retelling of numerous connecting storylines to the massacre, the library massacre wasn't recreated in much detail. There were scenes from the library which were certainly very harrowing and remarkable which were mentioned in the book, such as Patrick Ireland's incredible escape through the window, or Emily Wyant's account of the Cassie Bernall incident. Yet there were other important moments which were worth a mention, such as one student who escaped with the killers permission because they knew him. (John Savage I think his name was)
Overall, despite these two minor omissions, the book is compelling and extremely detailed. If you are interested in true crime stories or just the columbine massacre this book is a must have. Even for those who know nothing about columbine it serves as a dramatic story to a community that was left shattered by such a catastrophic event.
5 stars.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It's hard to believe the Columbine shooting happened 10 years ago. I have always been interested by it - such an unusual, atypical scenario, and wanted to find out more. This book goes into great detail of the lives of the 2 shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold in the year before the event. They left so much material - journals, videos etc. that the author can establish clear timelines of their thought process and reasons for decisions they made. It raises the fact that this was never supposed to be a regular school shooting, but a massive bombing attack that went wrong. It goes into the reactions and emotions of the town (and especially the surviving students) following the attack, and how they have moved forward from it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
What a brilliantly written book.
Reads like a novel and is so readable, which to me is highly unsual for "True Crime" books.
I came away from this book amazed and saddened for ALL involved. Yes even Dylan and Eric. So sad..
Being from the UK I had not heard al lot of the "myths" surrounding the whys and wherefores of this tradegy.
What I was more horrified about was the reaction of the religeous community, which in the USA I found really really scary anyway!!
If you are intrested in this story, this is the best.
Reads like a novel and is so readable, which to me is highly unsual for "True Crime" books.
I came away from this book amazed and saddened for ALL involved. Yes even Dylan and Eric. So sad..
Being from the UK I had not heard al lot of the "myths" surrounding the whys and wherefores of this tradegy.
What I was more horrified about was the reaction of the religeous community, which in the USA I found really really scary anyway!!
If you are intrested in this story, this is the best.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hard to read, even harder to put down
It's taken me about three weeks to read this book. I couldn't just sit down and read, I dipped in and out. A fascinating read, heartbreaking and heartwarming. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Mrs Julia Charles
1.0 out of 5 stars
The author doesn't know what he's talking about
This book was a decent read but a lot of what is written is incorrect. Eric and Dylan were bullied and Eric was not a ladies man. Read more
Published 1 month ago by H. V. Bowers
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating
The most detailed account of the shooting, the events leading up to it, the perpetrators and the impact the massacre had on the world.
Published 1 month ago by P. W. Hogg
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clear, concise and edge of seat
I can't recommend this book enough for someone who wants a full overview. It begins with what actually happened, which I found literally edge of seat. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Angela
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dispels a Lot of Myths
A spooky coincidence I ended up finishing this late last night as the latest American shooting was unfolding. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ms. L. C. Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing
simply one of the most amazing books i've ever read.. 15 victims died that day not 13 r.i.p reb & VoDKA
Published 6 months ago by joey wynn
2.0 out of 5 stars
Dave Cullen creates his own myths.
Having read loads on this subject, I was left disappointed with this. Its claim that it dispels myths of Columbine are only true on a superficial level, e g Eric and Dylan were... Read more
Published 6 months ago by steven
5.0 out of 5 stars
POIGNANT READ
Istarted reading this book,just one day after the cinema shootings in Colorado,which seemed very poignant.Difference being in the latter case the shooter lived. Read more
Published 9 months ago by bibliophile
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
I downloaded this book after watching a programme about in on tv. This is the best book I have read, from page one it is gripping and I couldnt put it down. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Ruth
5.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended
Didn't expect to engage with this book as much as I did, given the subject matter. Cullen manages to cover all aspects of the aftermath and implications of this incident (media,... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Doodle
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