Columbine

I love the way Cullen chose to present the story of Columbine, the shootings, the victims, and the killers themselves. The first part of the book is concerned with the events on and around April 20th, 1999. Each chapter begins in that timeframe, but as events take place, he jumps back in time to give context to the events you're reading about : bios of the victims, history of the town, etc. This jumping around proves to be much more effective in helping the reader keep all of the individuals and events straight, rather than a more linear approach.

The second part of the book is dedicated more to the larger questions surrounding the tragedy. How would the community recover? Who was to blame? And most importantly, what pushed these kids to the edge. Cullen debunks many myths throughout, none more strongly than the story of two goths out to get revenge on a group of jocks.

There's parts of this book that were difficult to read. I hope that doesn't stop anybody from reading the most detailed, accurate, and fair accounts of the tragedy that occurred a decade ago.