Columbine Book Report (1-100)
Columbine by Dave Cullen (pages 1-100)
I. Summary
Columbine High School (CHS) is a suburban public school located in Jefferson County, Colorado. Frank DeAngelis, a middle aged man who had previously coached football and baseball for sixteen years at Columbine, was the principal of the close-knit high school. He was loved by his students and admired by his staff for his ability to address his students as mature adults. The student body looked up to him and appreciated his truthfulness and lack of sugarcoating when serious topics were being discussed. Three days before prom an assembly was called to strengthen the awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Instead of just lecturing the students Mr. DeAngelis used his own life experiences to teach and guide the students along the safe paths that still allowed for occasional goofing off.
The author, Dave Cullen, then jerks the focus of the book to the teenage boys who would later kill twelve students, one teacher, and severely wound twenty-three of their peers. Eric Harris and Dlyan Klebold were the typical high school students, albeit they had some distinctive quirks that set them aside from the rest of their peers. Eric Harris was a psychopath; this fact allowed him to commit a terrible crime without feeling empathy or remorse for his victims. However, on the outside he was anything but antisocial (or criminal). Eric smoke, drank, dated—all within a close circle of friends. Yet, he was excellent at manipulation. His lies were so finely tuned that even his ex-military father suspected nothing. Eric received a slew of A’s from his teachers; every single one of them considered him a “good kid”. No one ever suspected that anything as devastating or horrifying could erupt from such a well-rounded kid from a nice family. This is why Dave Cullen’s description of Dylan Klebold who “tried extremely hard to emulate Eric” was not mistaken. Although Dylan was considerably smarter
I. Summary
Columbine High School (CHS) is a suburban public school located in Jefferson County, Colorado. Frank DeAngelis, a middle aged man who had previously coached football and baseball for sixteen years at Columbine, was the principal of the close-knit high school. He was loved by his students and admired by his staff for his ability to address his students as mature adults. The student body looked up to him and appreciated his truthfulness and lack of sugarcoating when serious topics were being discussed. Three days before prom an assembly was called to strengthen the awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Instead of just lecturing the students Mr. DeAngelis used his own life experiences to teach and guide the students along the safe paths that still allowed for occasional goofing off.
The author, Dave Cullen, then jerks the focus of the book to the teenage boys who would later kill twelve students, one teacher, and severely wound twenty-three of their peers. Eric Harris and Dlyan Klebold were the typical high school students, albeit they had some distinctive quirks that set them aside from the rest of their peers. Eric Harris was a psychopath; this fact allowed him to commit a terrible crime without feeling empathy or remorse for his victims. However, on the outside he was anything but antisocial (or criminal). Eric smoke, drank, dated—all within a close circle of friends. Yet, he was excellent at manipulation. His lies were so finely tuned that even his ex-military father suspected nothing. Eric received a slew of A’s from his teachers; every single one of them considered him a “good kid”. No one ever suspected that anything as devastating or horrifying could erupt from such a well-rounded kid from a nice family. This is why Dave Cullen’s description of Dylan Klebold who “tried extremely hard to emulate Eric” was not mistaken. Although Dylan was considerably smarter