Summary Of The Book 'Columbine' By Dave Cullen

The Columbine shooting of 1999 left children and adults alike, in awe. It brought media attention to a conflict between schools and created debate on whether schools are still safe or not. The nonfiction book, Columbine, by Dave Cullen, expresses detailed events leading up to the murders and the effects it brought to schools. The articles, “A Revised Portrait of a Psychopath” (by Peter Reuell), “Columbine Killers' Basement Tapes Destroyed” (by Alan Prendergast), and “A Memorial at Last for Columbine Killings” (by Kirk Johnson and Katie Kelley), and “Psychology of Virginia Tech, Columbine Killers Still Baffles Experts” (by Susan Donaldson James) have cleared up the Columbine story. There are comparisons between the book and articles, including,

Doctors have determined that Eric and Dylan are psychopaths. Cullen describes what a psychopath is the words of professionals. He does this by proving, “’Psychopaths are capable of behavior that normal people find not only horrific but baffling ‘wrote Dr. Robert Hare, the leading authority on psychopaths. ‘They can torture and mutilate their victims with about the same sense of concern that we feel when we carve a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner” (Cullen 239). Dr. Hare proves that a mentally ill person has little to no emotion through crimes or thoughts they commit. Almost as a computer may act. This makes the person able to commit unbelieve crimes. This compares to the article, “A Revised Portrait of a Psychopath” by Peter Reuell. The article articulates the mindset of the mentally ill and does a case study on it. The article points out, “A recent study, though, suggests that psychopaths are not incapable of feeling emotions like regret and disappointment. What they cannot do, it seems, is make accurate predictions about the outcomes of their choices.” (Ruelle Portrait). Both pieces of evidence prove that these individuals do not feel any sort of emotion while persuading an action of disappointment. This can relate back to Eric and Dylan, as both boys seemed to have no remorse for what they did, in planning the event and in their final hours. In essence, both the novel and article convey that a psychopathic

These tapes were filmed days before the shootings occurred and focused on what they were going to do. The nonfiction book had an interesting way of explaining it by detailing, “They ranted for more than an hour. Dylan was wild and animated and angry, obsessively hurling his fingers through his long, ratty hair. Eric was mostly calm and controlled.” (Cullen 326). This is a blunt explanation of what the tapes were. They explained the planning of the attack, who the victims were going to be, and how they got everything. They were left there to be found. They were meant to be seen. The boys made these to have a “starring role on-camera”. The article, ), “Columbine Killers' Basement Tapes Destroyed” (by Alan Prendergast) also explains the tapes, and what they were about by communicating, “…roughly four hours of home videos made by two teenage killers-to-be, shot in the last weeks of their lives and offering glimpses into the methods and motives behind the 1999 attack on Columbine High School that killed thirteen people and seriously injured two dozen more.” (Prendergast Basement). This is another detailed explanation and even showcases the time it took for the boys to make the tapes. They boys had thought through and planned everything for over a year and a half, and they showcased what they had planned to do in the tapes. The tapes were not released, and there is speculation that they were even