Columbine is a nonfiction book that chronicles and analyzes the mass shooting at Colorado’s Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999. The Shooters, Dylan and Eric Harris are both explained in detail. Eric is presented as a psychopath and the obvious alpha, while Dylan was depressed, possibly bipolar, and unsure if he wanted to go though with the attack. Their families were both normal, yet their sons planned the attack for over a year right under their noses. They leaked several possessions of guns, firearms and explosives to their friends, though no one could imagine the plan they had behind keeping the weapons.
Dylan and Eric felt a superiority over their fellow peers at school and they believed that the feeling would be peeked at the bombing they were planning. A lot of the research was taken from their diaries, as well as videos and interviews with their friends. Contrary to mainstream belief, both Eric and Dylan didn’t have anything against people pf color, gays or any other distinct human trait. They had good childhoods and weren’t bullied, though they were mentally disturbed and looked upon others as “lesser”.
On April 20, 1999, the duo planted two bombs into Columbine High School, a similar one across town and a final one in their car in addition to dozens of smaller bombs they were carrying themselves together with their ammunition and guns. They failed at detonating the bomb across town that was supposed to be a decoy, but they decided to enter the school and start the massacre anyway. They killed twelve victims before they killed themselves while setting off a final bomb. There were many exacerbated injuries, and even a fatality because of the time it took the police and SWAT team to reach and enter the school.
The investigation of the event took several months and a lot of complaints and lawsuits filed in. They took a long time updating the people close the victims on the event and it was often more effective to watch the news for updates than wait for direct information. Dave Cullen discusses how the whole shooting could have been prevented, as well as revealing how little has changed since then in averting school shootings.
