No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine
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Product Description
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."If there is any solace to come out of a tragedy of the magnitude of the Columbine shooting, it is what lessons might be learned in its aftermath. With bravery, wit, and striking honesty, Brooks Brown and Rob Merritt allow us a glimpse into what led to that event, what happened afterward, and most importantly, why any community would be naive to think it might not happen to them, too. How thin is the line between a bully and a victim? Who is to blame, when a community is turned inside out? As No Easy Answers suggests, it may just be the community itself. And it offers up a question of that resonates after the last page is turned: What can you and I do to keep this from happening again? If you're a parent, read this with your child; if you're a teen, leave this on your parents' bedside table--and above all else, start the conversation too much of this world is unwilling to have." --Jodi Picoult, author of the New York Times #1 bestselling novel Nineteen Minutes
Spotlight Customer Reviews:
Summary:
A Loser Looking to Make An Easy Buck
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Comment:
I was forced to read this book for a Graduate course on Violence Prevention in Schools. It's very engaging, and at times a can't-put-it-down book, however, by giving Brooks Brown an opportunity to write this book, he's continuing the legacy of his two friends-turned-assassins.
Prior to reading this book, I did not know, nor did I care to know the names of those two cold-blooded killers. By allowing a friend to write a book about them, it perpetuates their legacy. Wasn't that what they both wanted to achieve with their dastardly deed?
Brooks Brown was destined to be a whiny loser back in high school, and it's apparent he still has no direction in life, and will milk this tragic incident for every cent he can. Disgraceful.
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Summary:
Excellent read
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Comment:
This was a strong and easy read by Brooks Brown. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Columbine tragedy. I would like to see the book released with a new afterward to include the 10th anniversary and Brooks' feelings towards the memorial.
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Summary:
A Must -Read For Anyone Cares About Kids
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Comment:
A fabulous account of a tragedy we so need to recognize and acknowledge to finally take action in our schools beginning in the elementary school (and continued in middle and high school) to deal with the important issue of bullying. Until we start addressing the toxic environments in our schools, school violence and damaged children will continue. A comprehensive guide that designs an effective plan and curriculum teaching respect, getting along, conflict and anger management isBully-Proofing Children: A Practical, Hands-On Guide to Stop Bullying. Lets learn from these lessons of Columbine and do something about it!
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Summary:
A Wonderful First-Hand Account of A Tragedy No One Should Have To Deal With
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Comment:
I just finished reading this book due to my interest in the Columbine shootings and what Brooks Brown had to say in his own words. I was deeply moved by his story and what he has put up with all of these years. Most reviews are written on a positive note, but I can't help but point out the negative reviews. Sure, you want answers, you want beliefs that reflect your own. Well, this book is about what this young man went through. Just a teenager about to graduate from high school-befriended two lost souls who manipulated and deceived everyone around them. How would you tell your story? It's about your experiences, your feelings and your struggles. I don't see it so much self-serving, as self-healing and therapeutic. Who are you to judge this person who had his whole world turned upside down, who was blamed for being a suspect for so long and by so many in his community; Who was forbidden to return to school along with other associates of the gunmen, just because of who they were. This society has a lot of soul searching and listening to do. Perhaps if more people had listened to Eric and Dylan, they wouldn't have felt the need to get their message across in such a selfish and cowardly manner. To me, this book wasn't supposed to be about praising the law enforcement and Washington D.C. for their efforts to find answers and to prevent something like this from happening again. What has changed in our schools since that April day in 1999? Not much from what I can see. And just recently, a college kid who worshiped Eric and Dylan, took 32 innocent lives along with his own. Perhaps if we read more accounts by Brooks Brown, these angry teens would begin to understand that they are not alone and that they have people they can talk to; whether it be on-line, such as on forums that Brooks mentions at the end of his book, or with other people their age that might go speak at their schools. 'No Easy Answers' is just that-there aren't going to be solutions to this ever growing problem in our society, but there can be people who will listen, empathize, and make known that change starts little by little. I believe that Brooks Brown has accomplished change-in his community and in the minds of many people out there. I for one, loved his book and will read it again, as a reminder of the hell he went through that day. No one deserves what any of those victims and families went through, but if they want to write a book to let people know what they dealt with so that it will help them heal, then I condone it 100% Freedom of speech is one of the greatest gifts in this country after all. Best of luck to Brooks in all he does and I hope that he continues to write more books to help those lost souls out there.
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Summary:
Info you won't find anywhere else
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Comment:
What this book offers is a unique perspective that you will not get from the media or other parents who wrote books about their deceased children. Some are mad that Brooks Brown didn't offer a concrete solution to the shootings, therefore his motives for this book must be completely self-serving. I think that these one-star reviews are undeserved. The charges that Brooks wrote this book for the money are ridiculous, because it is almost impossible to make money from a book, unless you are as big as Stephen King. You will read that Brown believes that it would be wrong to place blame on one thing for what happened (such as music, video games or gun control, the "easy" answers), so he offers several events that combined led up to the tragedy: The police for ignoring the warning signs a year before the shootings, the staff at Columbine for ignoring the bullying, and the parents (Eric's especially) for not opening their eyes. There is also some hard-to-find information, such as what Eric's Doom levels were like, the stuff that was on his website, discussions of the basement tapes and what day-to-day interaction with the killers was like. This makes Brown's book different from all the others.
It is clear that Brown wants as much accurate information as possible to be available, as well as to defend himself against the false charges lobbed at him from the police department who knew that they had dropped the ball in preventing the attack. Yes, a lot of the book is about Brown's life, but it all ties into what led up to the shootings. I did not read anything that was extraneous or uninteresting. In fact, this book seems to have the most credibility of anything I've read about Columbine. There are a few books in existence that try to turn the victims into martyrs for their faith, when religion had nothing to do with the shootings. No Easy Answers is much more believable, because like life, the answer is not always wrapped up neatly with a little bow. Highly recommended.
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