Columbine (book)

Columbine
Book cover
AuthorDave Cullen
Cover artistHenry Sene Yee
LanguageEnglish
SubjectColumbine High School massacre
PublisherTwelve (Hachette Book Group)
Publication date
April 6, 2009
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeHardback, paperback, audiobook, Kindle, Nook, large-print
Pages432
ISBN978-0-446-54693-5
OCLC236082459
373.788/8 22
LC ClassLB3013.33.C6 C84 2009
Part of a series of articles on the
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine Memorial, dedicated to the victims of the massacre

Location:
Columbine High School
(Columbine, Colorado)

Perpetrators:
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
Victims
Weaponry
Related persons
Media
Cultural impact and aftermath
Entertainment affected
Controversies
Related topics

Columbine is a non-fiction book written by Dave Cullen and published by Twelve (Hachette Book Group) on April 6, 2009. It is an examination of the Columbine High School massacre, on April 20, 1999, and the perpetrators Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.[1] The book covers two major storylines: the killers' evolution leading up to the attack, and the survivors' struggles with the aftermath over the next decade. Chapters alternate between the two stories. Graphic depictions of parts of the attack are included, in addition to the actual names of friends and family (the only exception being the pseudonym "Harriet", which is used for a female Columbine student referred to in Klebold’s journal entries, with whom he was obsessively in love).

Cullen says he spent ten years researching and writing the book. He previously contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times of London, and The Guardian. He is best known for his work for Slate and Salon.com. His Slate story "The Depressive and the Psychopath" five years earlier, offered the first diagnosis of the killers by the team of psychologists and psychiatrists brought into the case by the FBI.[2] Publication was timed to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the massacre, which occurred on April 20, 1999. The book spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list in the spring of 2009, peaking at #3.[3][4]

The book gained considerable media attention for addressing many of the so-called Columbine myths widely taken for granted. According to the book, the massacre had nothing to do with school bullying, jocks, the Gothic subculture, Marilyn Manson or the Trench Coat Mafia.[5] Cullen also writes that the attack was intended primarily as a bombing rather than a school shooting, and that Harris and Klebold intended to perpetrate the worst terrorist attack in American history. The book garnered glowing reviews from Time, Newsweek, People, The New York Observer and Entertainment Weekly.[6] One of the few dissenting views came from Janet Maslin, who wrote in The New York Times, "What good can a new book on Columbine do? Mr. Cullen's Salon coverage had already refuted some of the worst misconceptions about the story by the fall of 1999... Emerging details mostly corroborate what was already known."[7]

Columbine won a bevy of awards and honors, including the Edgar Allan Poe Award,[8] Barnes & Noble's Discover Award,[9] and the Goodreads Choice Award.[10] It was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize,[11] the Audie Award and the MPIBA Regional Book Award. Additionally, Columbine was named on two dozen Best of 2009 lists, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, iTunes and the American Library Association. It was declared Top Education Book of 2009, and one of the best of the decade by the American School Board Journal.

  1. ^ Columbine books - The Denver Post
  2. ^ Cullen, Dave (2004-04-20). "The Depressive and the Psychopath". Slate. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  3. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers, Week of April 26, 2009". The New York Times. 2009-05-29. Retrieved 2009-05-25.
  4. ^ Cowles, Gregory (2009-05-29). "Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers, Week of June 7, 2009". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-30.
  5. ^ Gumbel, Andrew (2009-04-17). "The truth about Columbine". The Guardian.
  6. ^ "Columbine". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2022-06-09.
  7. ^ Maslin, Janet (2009-04-05). "School Day When Hell Came Knocking". The New York Times.
  8. ^ "2010 Edgar Nominees". Archived from the original on 2007-05-02. Retrieved 2010-05-16.
  9. ^ "Discover Awards". Retrieved 2010-05-16.
  10. ^ "The 2009 Goodreads Choice Awards". Retrieved 2010-05-16.
  11. ^ "Favorite nonfiction of 2009 from the L.A. Times". The Los Angeles Times. 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2010-05-16.