Book Review: "Columbine" by David Cullen

"Columbine" By David Cullen is an unsettling book. It does not come off as profiteering on the misery of the event. Instead it seems a serious attempt to provide a definitive account of what happened. Not all stories that need to be told are about good things and this one, more than most, needed to be told right. Most importantly in my mind this book attempts to give real insight into the lives of the two young men who left an entire nation scratching their heads and wondering "Why?". For some those questions are answered according to the common stories of the days of the event. It was Dorks vrs Jocks, it was atheist vrs believers, it was violent music and video games, it was racist, it was negligent parenting.

If you still believe any of those after reading Cullen's book I will be amazed. Little that came out about Columbine during, shortly after, or even years after the event bore any real similarity to the reality of what occurred at a previously un-remarkable corner of american suburbia in April 1999. At least not if you subscribe to David Cullen's take. He does not really offer answers. He offers facts. He offers various perspectives. He debunks obviously incorrect Columbine 'myths' and challenges others. There is nothing simple about what happened. There is nothing simple about how it came to happen. And there is nothing simple about how people coped with the aftermath of the event. Whether or not you think he is in a position to do so will determine just how much stock you place in what he has to say. From my perspective he comes across as extremely credible. He was there as a part of the press corp covering the story and has followed it every step of the way in the years since. This is a story that has been 10 years in the making for Cullen and the painstaking work to uncover the full story should be very apparent.

If Columbine is an event you want to understand better. This is at the very least a very good book to start with. It may very well become 'The Book" when it comes to this tragic story.