David Cullen’s non-fiction Columbine is something of a paragon in the true crime / non-fiction about real life tragedies world, a highly regarded example of how to write about a sensitive and terrible topic with empathy and journalistic precision. And after reading it I can well understand why, Cullen’s prose is immediate and urgent without being sensational it’s informative and meticulous without losing its narrative thread in the minutiae.

First, a note about the event itself. I took an active shooter training recently for work and the speaker told us to think back to a time before we were aware of threats like school shooters, to a time before we identified multiple exits upon entering somewhere new. For me that time never existed, or did sometime before I could remember it. I recall being in elementary school and hearing all about Columbine over and over again. I was always aware that my school could be a site of danger and devastation. This awareness only heightened over the years for obvious reasons.
But despite hearing about the event as a child and teen, I realized I knew little of the concrete facts of what happened. This struck me as odd so I read David Cullen’s book. Columbine was difficult to read; it certainly wasn’t fun or what I would call enjoyable. But the author did what he set out to do, his goal in writing, as far as I could tell, was to tell the complete story of the Columbine shooting, from planning, to the day itself, to the fallout and impact on individuals, families, and the nation. This aim was ambitious but it was (in my opinion) achieved. I wish all non-fiction titles were as comprehensive, as in depth, as this book was. The tragedy itself is given appropriate weight, but the author doesn’t neglect the aftershocks of the event, the way it changed the Columbine community and the nation, the way it has been remembered and misremembered ever since it happened. Indeed, Cullen takes care to point out numerous myths that surround the shooting, noting their origin and providing evidence debunking them. The killers idolized Marilyn Manson, their murder spree was the result of bullying, they targeted an evangelical Christian girl and murdered her when she professed her faith, all of these were things I had taken for fact but in reality are all incorrect, rumors with a long half-life.

This kind of journalistic rigor is what set this book apart for me. Far more than just a catalog of atrocities, Columbine places the events of the shooting in proper context while also making sense of the legacy this tragedy had on our country.