Columbine by Cullen

This book is about the attack on Columbine High School by two of its students in 1999.

I barely remember Columbine happening - I was out of high school myself and not yet interested in current events. Before I read this book, I could identify Columbine as the location of a school shooting but I couldn't have told you where it was (it's near Denver, Colorado).

This background made me a member of the ideal audience for this book. Not only did the author give and incredibly detailed description of what actually happened, but he also addressed what didn't happen - all the false theories and misinformation that have shaped our thinking about school attacks. Pretty much everything I knew about Columbine was wrong. Examples: there was a loose group called the Trenchcoat Mafia, but it had nothing to do with the attack; the girl who was asked if she believed in God and responded "yes" was not shot (Cassie Bernall was killed instantly, without talking to the killers); the attack was intended to be a bombing with the gunmen picking off survivors, not a shooting, but the bombs never went off.

It's clear that the author has a journalistic background from his writing style. There are perhaps too many short sentences and short paragraphs - the single-sentence paragraph used for dramatic effect can get tired if it's used too much. I don't know if there's a term for that writing device but you see it all the time in news stories. Overall, though, the writing is easy to read and keeps the focus on the content.

Some of that content is a little too focused. The author includes many graphic details of the victims' injuries - not "he got shot" but, the bullet came in at this angle, traveled through these organs, causing such-and-such damage, etc. I got the impression that he was trying to make the event more real to a modern reader desensitized to violence, but it came across like one of those surgery shows on TV which I find disgusting. So I skipped over those paragraphs.

This book is important because it sets the record straight about a nationally important event. In doing so, it forces us to face our stereotypes about the dangers lurking in our schools - incorrect stereotypes that could cost lives if they cause us to overlook the next potential mass killer. The book also shows us how the media handed us these stereotypes pre-formed, disregarding the facts of the case. It's an object lesson in the power of the media to set the truth, shape our culture, ruin lives, and make an already tragic disaster even worse.