Columbine » (Unabridged, 1 MP3, 14 hours)

Dave Cullen is a journalist and author who has contributed to Slate, Salon, and the New York Times. He is considered the nation's foremost authority on the Columbine killers, and has also written extensively on Evangelical Christians, gays in the military, politics, and pop culture. A graduate of the MFA program at the University of Boulder, Cullen has won several writing awards, including a GLAAD Media Award, Society of Professional Journalism awards, and several Best of Salon citations.

Ten years in the works, Columbine is a masterpiece of reportage, from the acclaimed journalist who followed the massacre from day one and reconstructed the psychological journey of two teenage boys who became killers.

The New York Times - Jennifer Senior

It's to his credit that Cullen…makes the reader care about getting it right. Columbine is an excellent work of media criticism, showing how legends become truths through continual citation; a sensitive guide to the patterns of public grief, foreshadowing many of the same reactions to Sept. 11 (lawsuits, arguments about the memorial, voyeuristic bus tours); and, at the end of the day, a fine example of old-fashioned journalism. While Cullen's storytelling doesn't approach the novelistic beauty of In Cold Blood (an unfair standard, perhaps, but an unavoidable comparison for a murder story this detailed), he writes well enough, moving things along with agility and grace.

I Female Down 1

II After and Before 99

III The Downward Spiral 171

IV Take Back the School 237

V Judgment Day 303

Timeline: Before 359

Acknowledgments 361

Notes 363

Bibliography 389

Index 405