Columbine Book Review: A Critical Reflection on Course Integration

This book review critically analyzes Dave Cullen's 'Columbine,' a detailed exploration of the Columbine High School massacre. The review contextualizes the book, examining Cullen's approach to the event, his character development, and his deconstruction of common myths surrounding the shooters,...Read More

Running head: BOOK REVIEW OF COLUMBINE
Book Review of Columbine
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1BOOK REVIEW COLUMBINE
Columbine
Author- Dave Cullen
The event of the murder of twelve classmates and one teachers by Dylan Klebold and
Eric Harris was very horrifying, incomprehensible and riveting (1). Dave Cullen has spent
near about a decade by immersing into the study of the massacre. The author has scrutinize
thousands of pages of the police reports and studied different relevant homework assignments
of both of the killers including their diaries and also have watched the video recordings that
the two boy has left behind. Cullen have learned about criminal and clinical psychology and
have conducted thousands of interviews. The resulting book- Columbine is one of the most
enthralling works of the nonfiction that one could ever read in his or her lifetime.
The book is written with sufficient context about the different situations and motives,
providing an in-depth exploration to the readers. Hence, it is indeed indispensable to the
understanding of the common readers. The book is written like a novel. Cullen have very
carefully developed the characters of the book along with narrative tension. His most
important accomplishments is that he always shatters the myths, which have grabbed the
nation’s attention and would not let go. Social outcasts? Trench Coat Mafia? No, that is not
who the murderers were. In fact, as it is written by Cullen, they both “had very active social
calendars, and far more friends than the average adolescent”. Both the killers were not even
tormented by ridiculed and bullied by jocks. In fact they were proud of themselves for
picking on others. It is also to note that they were also not the products of broken homes.
Both Klebold and Harris came from the homes of two-parent, like the majority of the school
students. With the same, as many of the school goers, both Klebold and Harris dropped penty
of hints which were often not taken seriously. There were many pieces of puzzles which were

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scattered here and there but they were never put together unless dozens of individual laid
dead and grievously wounded.
This story of Klebold and Harris is the focal narrative of the book. Yet there are so
much more. The author also tells that the stories of the families, parents and friends of the
victims. He guides the readers through the triumphs and struggles of the ones who were
maimed and injured. However, it is also to mention that the parents of the murderers used to
talk less but to the extent, their lives are also a part of the narrative.
Columbine is also one of the astute works of media criticism. In chapter 28, the media
crime starts with the line- “The Trench Coat Mafia was mythologized because it was
colourful, memorable, and fit the existing myth of the school shooter as outcast loner. All the
Columbine myths worked that way” (2). The author then goes on explaining why the specific
elements of the myths have taken hold and how so much of untruths got told even when the
sources were not intentionally lying.
Hence, it is to state that along with a total of 53 chapter and a timeline along with
notes, appendices including sketches from the journals of the killers, excerpts, a diagram of
the very school and references, this book is likely to be considered as an enduring
contribution to the readers’ understandings of unfathomable.

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References:
1. Morton L. Where are you Coming from? Transparency and truth-claims in Dave
Cullen's Columbine. Journalism Practice. 2015 Mar 4;9(2):168-83.
2. Rico AR. Fans of Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Transformative
Works and Cultures. 2015 May 19;20.