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Columbine: A True Crime Story, a victim, the killers and the nation's search for answers |  | Author: Jeff Kass
Publisher: Ghost Road Press
Category: Book
List Price: $17.95
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Seller: build-a-library
Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 175461
Media: Paperback
Edition: First
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0981652565
Dewey Decimal Number: 373.7888
EAN: 9780981652566
ASIN: 0981652565
Publication Date: March 25, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Ten years after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve classmates and a teacher, Columbine remains the world's most iconic school shooting. Columbine: A True Crime Story, a victim, the killers and the nation's search for answers is the first book of investigative journalism to tell the complete story of that day, the far-reaching consequences, and the common denominators among school shooters across the country. Jeff Kass was one of the first reporters on the scene and has continued to cover the story as a staff writer for Denver's Rocky Mountain News. He has broken national stories on the shootings such as leaked crime scene photos, and the sealed diversion files of the killers. He has also reported the story extensively for the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, Newsday, and U.S. News & World Report. The result of ten years of research and exclusive information, the book reaches into fundamental American themes of violence, racism, parenting and policing. Concluding with the tale of the tattered police investigation and how one of the most controversial victims' families faces down a modern American tragedy as the cameras roll, Columbine: A True Crime Story is a classic in the tradition of In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song. Foreword by noted historian Douglas Brinkley, exclusive cover art by renowned artist and cultural commentator Ralph Steadman, and photos from the archives of the Rocky Mountain News, which won the Pulitzer for its Columbine photography.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
 Better than the Other Book? May 2, 2009
D. P. Birkett (Suffern, NY USA)
43 out of 45 found this review helpful
I read this and the Cullen book at the same time. They're both good. This one has more facts. If you're a mental health professional or a teacher I think this is more informative.
Both writers have been compared, at least by their publishers, to Truman Capote (the New York Times reviewer said "which book, Breakfast at Tiffany's?"). A major difference is that "In Cold Blood" simply set out to tell a story, whereas these books try to point the finger of blame. Capote also had the unfair advantage of being a genius.
We read these books looking for some way it could have been prevented, and some way to stop it happening again. We hope for some DSM diagnosis or FBI profile that will label the killers. Maybe we are trying to undo the past. The books suggest that some of the precautions we take now would not have forestalled Columbine. For example metal detectors would have been useless because Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold started the killing from outside the school, at the top of an outside staircase, and then shot their way in.
Adolescent suicide is notoriously difficult to predict. Neither killer fitted the usual profile for adolescent murderers. They were white and middle class, with high academic achievements, church affiliations, and even the stay-at-home mothers and disciplinarian fathers that are supposed to be such a panacea against crime. The failure to follow up on Guerra's affidavit requesting a warrant to search Harris's house was the most egregious failure. Both books emphasize the lies and cover-up by the Jeffco sheriff's department.
This book lacks an index, which is annoying when there are so many characters to keep track of. It is illustrated with drawings and handwriting done by Klebold and Harris and with photographs. It has a soft cover that curls back if you leave the book lying flat and opened. The Cullen book is more elegantly written and produced. It is a smoother and more readable narrative. There are no illustrations. Kass jumps about and describes his research methods in great detail.
Kass has dug more diligently and uncovered a lot more facts than Cullen. For example he ascertained that Sue Klebold had been a pupil of Hugh Missildine, the author of "Your Inner child of the Past" and uncovered a case report by Missildine that seems to be about her. Cullen erroneously describes Kevin Albert as a psychiatrist. Kass says that he is a psychologist, and that the psychotropic medications were being prescribed by a family doctor. Cullen erroneously says that Luvox was taken off the market. It remains a popular drug and can be prescribed now under its generic name of fluvoxamine. Such errors reduce my faith in Cullen.
The true journalistic account May 1, 2009
malihi
27 out of 30 found this review helpful
I thought I knew a lot about Columbine and the killers but I gained new insight from Kass' book. What I liked in particular was his use of the killers' actual writings (and drawings). When you have a situation like this - hundreds of pages of writings and drawings at your disposal - I figure there are three approaches. You can essentially ignore the writings and incorporate their ideas into your narrative. Or you can lean heavily on the writings and allow them to speak for themselves. The third path of course is to blend the writings with the narrative. I thought Kass did a good job on that third path. The writings themselves are quite chilling, and even to those who know Columbine, the writings are a reminder of how twisted the killers were.
But this is not just a question of how to tell the story. It also points up a big difference between the Kass book and the Cullen book. Cullen mostly takes the first approach - he barely quotes from the writings and says, `I'm going to tell you what they mean.' That's OK if you want to take someone else's word for it. But when you read the actual writings Kass includes in his book, you realize discrepancies in Cullen's interpretation. Cullen and Kass both follow the conventional wisdom and say Eric Harris was a psychopath. But Kass is more nuanced and maybe more accurate.
Cullen and Kass agree: Psychopaths lack feelings. But the writings Kass highlights show Eric as full of emotion. Eric feels sorry for what will happen to his parents, he wants to be more popular, and he pines for a better relationship with his dad. Now I will say, Kass doesn't fully address this discrepancy, but he does bring it up. Cullen doesn't address it at all. It's as if Cullen has a theory and wants to keep it neat.
One point about the writings Kass includes is Dylan's school essay on gunning down jocks (or it might be "preps.") This shows Dylan as a full-blown killer (another discrepancy Cullen does not address - he stresses how much Dylan was into love). I'm not sure the whole essay, however, needed to be reprinted.
The point is if you want somebody to tell you what to think, and to cut out anything that goes against their pet theory, read the Cullen book. If you want some expert interpretation but also want to decide for yourself, catch the nuances, and have other points of view, read the Kass book.
This book sheds some much-needed light April 8, 2009
Lazlo
26 out of 30 found this review helpful
Ten years after the shootings, I feel two key issues remained about Columbine.
The first is the parents of the shooters. Who are they? And where were they in the months and years leading up to Columbine?
The second issue is, `What causes school shootings?'
Jeff Kass explored both in "Columbine: A True Crime Story, a victim, the killers, and the nation's search for answers". He has come as close as anyone I've seen to answering these important questions.
It's clear in his book that Jeff Kass briefly talked to the parents of the killers. But he included some interesting new information about them, including a psychological profile of Dylan Klebold's mother that I found very compelling. He also wrote about what the parents knew prior to the shootings, and how they reacted to them- it provides insight about how to stop school shootings. He wrote that Dylan Klebold's mother, according to her writings (when Dylan was in a youth anti-crime program) pegged the profile of a school shooter. She didn't realize it, but Dylan matched the profile. Some of the information about the Klebolds and Harrises also comes from the remarks they made to police on the day of the shootings. It's incredible. Jeff Kass spoke with the Klebold's lawyer (and evidently got inside the Harris house).
The author also takes a compelling environmental approach I hadn't considered before reading this book. He has connected shootings in suburbs and small towns like Columbine. He also shows that they occur in the West and South of the United States and explains why. Whether psychology or environment play the stronger role seems open to debate; I can't tell if the author takes one side or the other.
These are the areas that have gone unexplored by most reporters. This book -for now- is the first and definitive one about Columbine.
New Insight into the Columbine Tragedy March 29, 2009
G. M. Davis
24 out of 29 found this review helpful
This fine work of investigative journalism by former Rocky Mountain News reporter Jeff Kass is possibly the best book written on the subject that I have read. Kass not only tells the story of the development of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold through their own writings and interviews the author conducted, but he also shows the common denominators among school shooters across the country.
The book also tells the story of Kass' ten-year battle to get police records of Columbine released, the Columbine killers' parents own battles to block that information, and the flaws in the system that allowed this tragedy to happen.
The two most noteworthy things for me that set this Columbine book apart from others I have read is that this is the first book written by a journalist who actually covered the story in the town that it happend. The second is that Kass, unlike other books on the subject, actually has new--never before seen information.
Kass uncovered a previously undisclosed federal deposition from the lawsuit filed against the company that manufactured the psychiatric drug taken by Columbine killer Eric Harris. The deposition is from Robert Kriegshauser, the Jefferson County diversion counselor who supervised both Harris and Dylan Klebold after they were arrested for breaking into a van. Kriegshauser has never spoken publicly.
Kass also unearthed a psychological profile of Dylan Klebold's mother, Susan Klebold, from when she was a teenager. The profile, reprinted in the book, shows an eerie preview of Columbine, the psychiatrist treating Susan concludes she has a "death phobia."
Fellow gunman Dylan Klebold's never-before released college applications essay shows a child only two months before the shooting writing that he knows he has made poor decisions in his life and with the people he has chosen to hang out with.
Kass also has uncovered a videotape of John Kiekbusch, one of the lead Columbine investigators who later came under scrutiny by a grand jury for alleged cover-ups, acknowledging mistakes at Columbine and contradicting the advice dispatchers gave to students in the library, where ten of the 13 Columbine victims were killed.
As a parent I found this book to be both unnerving and sad. Kass' storytelling is captivating. He pulls no punches--beginning the book on the day of the shootings, and working backward to the beginning--moving forward as we witness the boys' downward spiral into hate, depression, and violence. Along the way we get a look into their family life, Dylan's Jewish ancestry, Eric's pinning to be with lost friends and his desire to just be accepted and included in the environment that fueled his insatiable rage. Kass highlights the Schoels family and their struggle to come to terms with their son Isiah's murder, their journey from victim to crusader.
Ten-years after Columbine we still can't comprehend how two seemingly normal boys could have done something so horrible. Kass does an exemplary job of connecting the dots and getting us closer to an answer. This book will stay with me for a while.
Jeff Kass's book tells the REAL story May 8, 2009
Dr. Joel S. Cherdack (Denver, CO)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
We all want to know about the shooters themselves, and the author does an excellent job of nailing the profiles (and providing some much-needed skepticism about what the experts say). He also provides some exclusives and links Dylan Klebold to other school shooters. He notes that Eric Harris is the "outlier."
But I am giving it five stars because Kass does a phenomenal job of nailing the parents. That's the missing half here. He talked to the parents briefly and got some interesting records on them. But the parents tried to shut him out. That to me was a big part of the story - how they not only slammed the proverbial door on his face but then fought him. I thought that said a lot. One of the lawyers even said Kass' sources should have his hands cut off. What a phrase for the killers' parents to say.
The parents have barely spoken to anyone else. But the author takes those statements in-depth and shows how (mostly the Klebolds) talked but only in a very "marketing" way. They only talked to a couple select reporters and doled their statements out to make themselves look good. All the while, the Klebolds said they wanted an investigation into school shootings but tried to stop any attempts. I walked away with a feel for who they were.
Same for the Harrises. Eric's dad was the military guy, but the Harrises were actually the mellower family. They really wanted to be left alone and didn't pop their heads up at all. But the author brings us into a meeting they had with police and you get a feel for who they are. Bottom line: The Klebolds say Dylan was troubled, then say they never saw anything amiss. The Harrises had warning signs too - it looks like the dad exploded a pipe bomb with Eric - but come across as flummoxed.
Of course I wish the author would have gotten more info on the parents. But his research is extensive and he went beyond the info out there to give an analysis.
The author does the same thing with the local police and the feds. They all tried to stop him from getting info. Again, that in itself tells the story. But in the back of the book he reprints selected letters he wrote to the police (and the parents) to show you how the work is done. That in itself is an interesting view into the journalism. You can see how a book like this could take ten years to write.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 30
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