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Back in 1999, Dave Cullen was among the first to arrive at Columbine High, even before most of the SWAT teams went in. While writing his acclaimed account of the tragedy, he suffered two bouts of secondary PTSD. He covered all the later tragedies from a distance, working with a cadre of experts cultivated from academia and the FBI, but swore he would never return to the scene of a ghastly crime.
But in 2018, Cullen went to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School because something radically different was happening. After nearly twenty years witnessing the mass shooting epidemic escalate, he was stunned and awed by the courage, anger, and conviction of the high school's students. Refusing to allow adults and the media to shape their story, these remarkable adolescents took control—pushing back against the NRA and feckless Congressional leaders, organizing the massive March for Our Lives demonstration, and inspiring millions to join their grassroots #neveragain movement. They used their grief as a catalyst for change, and galvanized a nation.
Cullen unfolds the story of Parkland through the voices of key participants. Instead of taking us into the mind of the killer, he takes us into the hearts of the Douglas students as they cope with the concerns of high school students everywhere—awaiting college acceptance letters, studying for midterms, competing against their athletic rivals, putting together the yearbook, staging the musical Spring Awakening, enjoying prom—while moving forward from a horrific event that has altered them forever.
Deeply researched and beautifully told, Parkland is "a moving petition to America that it not look away from the catastrophes at Columbine, Sandy Hook, Virginia Tech, and, yes, Parkland. It succeeds as an in-depth report about the 'generational campaign' in the aftermath of the Parkland tragedy, a bi-partisan movement advocating serious gun reform" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
"[A] page-turner. . . . Both realistic and optimistic, this insightful and compassionate chronicle is a fitting testament to a new chapter in American responses to mass shootings." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
February 27, 2024 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9780062882974
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9780062882974
- File size: 1140 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 1, 2019
An incisive study of one of the past year's most significant mass shootings, with publication tied to the one-year anniversary.Cullen spent 10 years researching and writing his book Columbine (2009), which meticulously documented the Colorado high school massacre, with an emphasis on the two students who planned it. This time, in the aftermath of the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, committed by a former student on Feb. 14, 2018, the author has produced an impressively deep account in just 10 months. Never naming the murderer of 14 students and three staff members, the author focuses on surviving students who coalesced to promote gun control by spreading their message, encouraging voter registration, and seeking to influence legislatures at the local, state, and national levels. Starting with his initial coverage of the story for Vanity Fair just after the shooting, Cullen immersed himself with the students, many of whom left classes to tour the nation. Throughout the book, the author demonstrates his rapport with the students as well as Parkland parents, teachers, and community leaders. When he deems it appropriate and relevant, Cullen effectively compares and contrasts the Columbine and Parkland experiences. As he notes, his years of immersion in the Columbine tragedy left him with secondary PTSD, so diving in to the Parkland aftermath felt personally risky. However, he persisted, believing that the hopeful messages of the students would outweigh the darkness. Chronicling how the mostly middle- or upper-class Parkland students eventually expanded their crusade to address other issues related to guns, Cullen memorably captures many of the interests they share with often stereotyped inner-city teenagers from violent neighborhoods. In nearly 60 pages of detailed endnotes, the author expands on the revelations in the main narrative, discusses his information-gathering methods, and discloses potential conflicts of interests due to the close relationships he has formed with survivors.In both Columbine and this up-to-the minute portrait of the Parkland tragedy, Cullen has produced masterpieces that are simultaneously heartbreaking and hopeful about a saner future.COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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March 1, 2019
Author of the New York Times best-selling Columbine, Cullen was impressed by the courage of student survivors at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, who withstood political pressure and the NRA to campaign for gun control. Here he blends their activism with a portrait of their post-shooting lives, as they manage their way through the end of the school year. Just dropped into the schedule (note the February date); with a 150,000-copy first printing.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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