Stack of Spines

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David Cullen’s Columbine is one of the best works of non-fiction I’ve come across.  I’ve been thinking about how to review it for the last week and I was immediately worried my words to explain my experience.  Reading this book is truly an experience.

My fascination started as soon as the story broke.  Columbine the event was a very real issue for me.  On April 20, 1999, I was an almost 15 year old High School freshman and horrified at the thought of being a victim of a school shooting.  My High School years were defined by Columbine at the begining, September 11, 2001 at the end, and the 2000 Presidential Election and Milennium celebration in the middle.  I remember fear mixed with uncertainty being incredibly common.  As a result, I was curious to revisit one of the most poignant events of my childhood with some perspective and ten years of life experience behind me.  Praised for turning the common view of Columbine on its head, David Cullen certainly delivered.

Cullen takes a wide-angle lense and looks at the multitude of issues that happened as a result of the tragedy as well as the probable cause.  I quickly realized the impression I’ve held of the events and immediate aftermath was incredibly skewed.

Previous to the massacres at Columbine, SWAT teams used less direct techniques to handle gunmen.  The events unfolded in a matter of 30 minutes but control of the building took hours.  As a direct result of their changed stragegies, the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre was over almost as soon as it began.  So much has been learned, but there are still lessons left untold.

Timing and technology played a serious role as this was the first major “hostage” situation where most potential victims had cell phones with access to the outside world.  Never before was a potential victim put on a live feed with CNN while hiding inside a school with televisions in every room where killers roamed.

If there was ever an event to be the poster child for media directing the court of public opinion, Columbine is it.  Two thousand witnesses were more than eager to tell their side of what happened, most of whom never even saw Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold that day or knew them beforehand at all.  Wayne Harris, Eric’s father, even called 911 saying he thought his son was involved and included details of false information he had seen on the news, furthering the conflicting information problem.

I won’t spoil too much, but if you’ve ever heard of the trench coat mafia, that the killers specifically targeted jocks, Christians, gays,  or black/white/asian students, that the killer’s parents were horribly indifferent and uninvoled and therefore to blame, or that Cassie Bernall responded “Yes” and was shot in the face when asked if she believed in God, Columbine is worth exploring.

Cullen is careful to examine the tragedy from many angles and is tactful in his explanations.  No stone is left unturned as the dynamic of the police forces involved, socio-economic status of the region, and even history of the High School’s architecture are included.  He posits without assumption and clearly outlines his methods and processes.  The lives of the murderers are explained, not excused, and not at the expense of the victims.  Truly, Columbine is a work of art and is journalism at its finest.