On April 20, 1999, two Colorado teenagers went on a shooting rampage at Columbine High School. That day, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed twelve fellow students and a teacher, as well as wounding twenty-four other people, before they killed themselves. Although there have been other books written about the tragedy, this is the first serious, impartial investigation into the cultural, environmental, and psychological causes of the massacre.Based on first-hand interviews and a thorough reading of the relevant literature, Ralph Larkin examines the complex of factors that led the two young men to plan and carry out their deed. For Harris and Klebold, Larkin concludes, the carnage was an act of revenge against the "jocks" who had harassed and humiliated them, retribution against evangelical students who acted as if they were morally superior, an acting out of the mythology of right-wing paramilitary organization members to "die in a blaze of glory," and a deep desire for notoriety.Rather than simply looking at Columbine as a crucible for all school violence, Larkin places the tragedy in its proper context, and in doing so, examines its causes and meaning.

The definitive book on the school massacre that shocked the world

About the Author
Ralph W. Larkin, Ph.D. is owner of Academic Research Consulting Service and a Senior Research Associate, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York. He is the author of Suburban Youth in Cultural Crisis and (with Daniel A. Foss) Beyond Revolution: Social Movements in Historical and Comparative Perspective.

Reviews
"Larkin creates a powerful lens to examine the complexities of the forces which contributed to the Columbine tragedy. The introductory narrative of the rampage is so vivid that both the casual and studied reader will be instantly engaged... Drawing on his skill as an interviewer and researcher, Larkin is able to give the reader a glimpse of the cultural and everyday social reality of Columbine High School [and he] does an excellent job of situating school shootings in the larger cultural landscape of violence in America. Larkin's book is destined to be the definitive work on the Columbine shootings."-Raymond Calluori, New Jersey Institute of Technology "This book is not just about Harris and Klebold's motivations... It is about the influence of social structure on those labeled as outsiders, ... about structurally entrenched sources of gendered violence and degradation."-Peter Freund, Montclair State University



Book Information
ISBN 9781592134915
Author Ralph W Larkin
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Temple University Press,U.S.
Publisher Temple University Press,U.S.
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 18mm