Day of Reckoning: Columbine and the Search for America's Soul

the book was good. very nice details about the day of the shootings. but what struck me as odd is that in the first sentence of chapter 1 ( you can see the page on this site) she says 15 died, yet on the back cover shes says that 13 died. any help with this one?

I have read many books about Columbine and I have found that this one was by far the best researched and written that I have read. Mrs. Zoba was very logical and thorough and you can tell that she did her homework. There were many facts in this book that I had either never read or heard before or had overlooked. Excellent for anyone wanting a good throrough book on the tragedy.

In Day Of Reckoning: Columbine And The Search For America's Soul, Wendy Zoba draws upon her experience and expertise as an award-winning journalist to separate fact from fiction to present an informative account and compelling assessment of one of the most startling contemporary tragedies to shock the American public because of its very nature and place -- the deliberate mass murder of children by children within the context of a public school on April 20, 1999. Day Of Reckoning is a careful, literature, accurate account of confusing, controversial events. But it is also a deeply moving and ultimately inspiring and motivating testament of the need for love, tolerance, and the infusion of spiritual values to overcome the isolation, alienation, apathy, and violence of today's secular society that can erupt anywhere and at anytime.

Examining the Columbine incident with a religious analysis obtains mixed results in this case. The author makes a point of focusing on the "15 versus 13 crosses" debate (the inclusion of two crosses for the killers caused much controversy). However, she also attempts to frame the motivations for the rampage in religious overtones - asking if and how forces of good and evil were acting on that day. This discussion lacks detail about the killers themselves apart from details gleaned from police reports (the author did not have access to the infamous pre-rampage videotapes) and some small pieces of information from schoolmates. As a result, the discussion of supernatural factors versus psychological factors seems unbalanced. The text does work as a religious meditation, and the account of the day itself is gripping. The author succeeds in revealing the somewhat creepy religious symbolism evoked before, during, and after the shootings.

Strengths of Zoba's account of the Columbine tragedy are the numerous firsthand accounts of the event from the people who were affected most: the parents of victims and the friends and classmates of the students who were killed. In addition, the recreation of events at the high school that day from the perspective of students and adults who were involved offers details that are both chilling and powerful. Because of the author's decision to focus on how Christian faith affected the victims, their friends, and their families before and after the killings, she tends to concentrate on the stories of the Christian students and their families and we learn less about the other victims as a result. The heavy focus on the question of whether or not Cassie Bernall said "yes" when asked if she believed in God and was killed as a result detracts from other issues in the story, as does the chapter devoted to the placement and removal of the 15 memorial crosses. Although these are part of the Christian angle the author is taking in examining the tragedy, they failed to convince this reader that this was a story about the loss of soul in America--the problem that resulted in the Columbine tragedy can hardly be simplified to just a loss or lack of faith in the killers or their community.Non-Christian reades like myself may be put off by the point of view the author takes, but there is much to discuss and learn from the book, particularly in the portions where Zoba attends to the other issues--such as the culture that produces kids who kill and the actions of law enforcement officials on the day of the shooting. As more is written about the Columbine tragedy, this book will offer a useful alternative perspective that is likely to be ignored in mainstream publications and media.