Comprehending Columbine

Ralph W Larkin

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.

Understanding Lone Actor Terrorism

Past Experience, Future Outlook, and Response Strategies

Michael Fredholm

This volume examines the lone actor terrorist phenomenon, including the larger societal trends which may or may not have led to their acts of terrorism. With lone actor terrorism becoming an increasingly common threat, the contributors to this volume aim to answer the following questions: What drives the actions of individuals who become lone actor terrorists? Are ideological and cultural issues key factors, or are personal psychological motives more useful in assessing the threat? Do lone actors evolve in a broader social context or are they primarily fixated loners? What response strategies are available to security services and law enforcement? What is the future outlook for this particular terrorist threat? Although these issues are frequently discussed, few books have taken a global perspective as their primary focus. While many books focus on lone actor terrorists in relation to terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaida and the Islamic State, few, if any, cover lone actors of all ideological backgrounds, including the variants of active shooters and malicious insiders in information security, such as Edward Snowden – with both of these latter categories constituting an important variant of lone actors. Utilising the expertise of academics and practitioners, the volume offers a valuable multidisciplinary perspective. This book will be of much interest to students of terrorism and counter-terrorism, political violence, criminology, security studies and IR.

There is a Gunman on Campus

Tragedy and Terror at Virginia Tech

Ben Agger, Timothy W. Luke

In our media-saturated culture, momentous events occur quickly, as news and images are broadcast around the country and the world. We are often riveted by the news and our everyday reality is suddenly changed. Yet, almost as quickly, that critical event is replaced by a new story. The old event fades from memory, and we move on to the next thing before understanding why it commanded our attention and how our world was changed. On April 16, 2007, such an event occurred on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. That day a student killed 32 of his classmates and professors and then turned the gun on himself. The media focused their power and our attention on the campus, the students and faculty of Virginia Tech, and the gunman and his victims. But we have yet to understand fully what happened in Blacksburg. There is a Gunman on Campus brings our thoughts back to the shocking campus shootings and the public reactions to the event, shining needed light on what occurred at the university, how American society reacted, and how it all fits into contemporary culture. The contributors to this insightful and compelling volume preserve and deepen our memory of April 16th. Many of the authors are distinguished men and women of letters, and some were on the Virginia Tech campus the day when the shots rang out. From the psychology of the shooter to the role of media in covering the event to parallels to other American tragedies such as Columbine, the chapters constitute an incisive portrait of early 21st century America.

Comprehending Columbine

The Circumstances Surrounding the Cultural Phenomenon

Meghan Lanter

There’s a reason that everyone in America knows what “Columbine” means. Dozens of schools had experienced gun violence in their halls prior to 1999 and hundreds have since, but most of them are little thought of, save by those directly affected by them. There is a stark difference between the country prior to Columbine and following it, making its rules, laws, and regulations regarding school violence almost unrecognizable while also creating a culture of fear in which parents were afraid of sending their children to school. It wasn’t simply the unprecedented massive number of students and teachers who were killed, although that was a leading factor. It was a combination of the media coverage, both as the event unfolded and following it, the immediate emergence of copycats that wished to recreate Columbine, the televised lack of immediate response from police officers and the SWAT team, how seemingly “normal” the two perpetrators were, and the emergence of new preventatives laws passed immediately following it turned the Columbine Massacre into the “ideal” example of a school shooting that it has been for over twenty years.

The Columbine

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Harlequin and Columbine

And Other Stories

Booth Tarkington

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The Works of Booth Tarkington: Harlequin and Columbine and other stories

Booth Tarkington

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Encyclopedia of Gangs

Louis Kontos, David C. Brotherton

Examines gangs throughout the United States in over eighty entries covering topics such as history, the wide range of communities where gangs form, and their increasingly complex lifestyle.

International Bibliography of Book Reviews of Scholarly Literature Chiefly in the Fields of Arts and Humanities and the Social Sciences

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Comprehending Coincidence

Synchronicity and Personal Transformation

Craig BELL

Coincidences in daily events can give us messages that we can use to direct our path in life. So asserts author Craig Bell, who uses the systems of symbols underlying both coincidences and dreams to develop a system for personal growth.

No Easy Answers

The Truth Behind Death at Columbine

Brooks Brown, Rob Merritt

On April 20, 1999, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, two seniors at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, walked into their school and shot to death twelve students and one teacher, and wounded many others. It was the worst single act of murder at a school in U.S. history. Few people knew Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris better than Brooks Brown. Brown and Klebold were best friends in grade school, and years later, at Columbine, Brown was privy to some of Harris and Klebold's darkest fantasies and most troubling revelations. After the shootings, Brown was even accused by the police of having been in on the massacre--simply because he had been friends with the killers. Now, for the first time, Brown, with journalist Rob Merritt, gets to tell his full version of the story. He describes the warning signs that were missed or ignored, and the evidence that was kept hidden from the public after the murders. He takes on those who say that rock music or video games caused Klebold and Harris to kill their classmates and explores what it might have been that pushed these two young men, from supposedly stable families, to harbor such violent and apocalyptic dreams. Shocking as well as inspirational and insightful, No Easy Answers is an authentic wake-up call for all the psychologists, authorities, parents, and law enforcement personnel who have attempted to understand the murders at Columbine High School. As the title suggests, the book offers no easy answers, but instead presents the unvarnished facts about growing up as an alienated teenager in America today. This edition contains a new afterword that describes what the two authors have experienced and learned about Columbine since the publication of the book.

Canadian Perspectives on the Sociology of Education

Cynthia Levine-Rasky

This collection of original essays examines the complex relationship between schooling and society. By taking a critical approach, the text urges readers to formulate difficult questions about the practice of teaching and the experience of schooling. The text also illustrates the multiple forces that come into play for both educators and for students, and challenges the reductive and pragmatic approach adopted in conventional education courses.

Crime, Justice, and Society

An Introduction to Criminology

Ronald J. Berger, Marvin D. Free, Patricia Searles

Now in its third edition, this innovative core text provides a comprehensive and critical introduction to key theories and topics in criminology. Highlighting issues of class, race, and gender, the authors navigate the study of crime and criminals in an accessible and compelling manner. Notably, the text: ¿ Investigates a breadth of topics¿ranging from street crime to corporate fraud ¿ Explores pivotal theories for understanding crime and victimization ¿ Promotes critical thinking by analyzing media constructions of crime ¿ Includes the voices of offenders, victims, and criminal justice personnel ¿ Engages students through discussion of issues drawn from the headlines

The Publishers Weekly

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Library Journal

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The Columbine Club on the Air

A Farce in One Act

Ronald Telfer

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Choice

Publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a Division of the American Library Association

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Ceremonial Violence

Understanding Columbine and Other School Rampage Shootings

Jonathan Fast

"The product of over five years of research, Ceremonial Violence analyzes the events leading up to, and comprising some of the most chilling school rampage shooting in recent years and their aftermath. Despite being subjected to obsessive coverage by the media, this is the first time these cases have been examined in a way that truly illuminates the tragic phenomenon of school rampage shootings and its causes for laymen."--BOOK JACKET.

Christian Scholar's Review

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Library Journal

Melvil Dewey, Richard Rogers Bowker, L. Pylodet, Charles Ammi Cutter, Bertine Emma Weston, Karl Brown, Helen E. Wessells

Includes, beginning Sept. 15, 1954 (and on the 15th of each month, Sept.-May) a special section: School library journal, ISSN 0000-0035, (called Junior libraries, 1954-May 1961). Also issued separately.