78 pages • 2 hours read
Dave CullenColumbine
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2009A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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How does Cullen illustrate Eric and Dylan’s personalities as more different than similar, despite the fact that both were involved in carrying out the attack on Columbine?
How does Cullen—who is a journalist himself—portray the media, both during and after the Columbine massacre?
How does Cullen portray the evangelical Christian response to the tragedy?
Create a list of the myriad ways law enforcement mishandles events both during and after the attack.
Separate from Cullen’s portrayal of the media, how does media itself—especially televised images of the attack—affect students and community members both during the massacre and after?
How does Cullen portray Eric Harris as fitting the psychological makeup of a psychopath?
Discuss how time functions in Columbine. Cullen moves backward and forward over the course of the book—what effect or effects does this achieve? How would the book be different if time moved more chronologically?
How does the Columbine attack not align with the term “mass shooting”? What sets it apart?
How are subcultures used as scapegoats in the days and weeks following the attack?
Did law enforcement have enough evidence—especially in regard to Eric Harris—that it should have anticipated such an attack? Did law enforcement have the legal means to take larger action than it did?
