Dave Cullen

Dave Cullen (born June 3, 1961) is an American investigative journalist and author renowned for his in-depth examinations of mass shootings, particularly through his New York Times bestselling book Columbine (2009), which drew on a decade of research to dismantle early media misconceptions about the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Rather than portraying the perpetrators as victims of bullying, Goth subculture, or the "Trench Coat Mafia," Cullen's analysis, grounded in perpetrators' journals, videos, and witness accounts, emphasized their premeditated plan for a bombing campaign exceeding the Oklahoma City attack in scale, thwarted only by technical failures, alongside distinct pathologies: Eric Harris as a calculating psychopath driven by grandiosity and Dylan Klebold as a depressive follower seeking escape in suicide. Columbine earned the Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Nonfiction, and the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, cementing Cullen's reputation for prioritizing primary evidence over sensationalized causal attributions like video games or peer rejection. In Parkland: Birth of a Movement (2019), another bestseller, he documented the survivors' organizational efforts post-2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, tracing their advocacy against gun violence and institutional resistance. A U.S. Army infantry veteran who navigated the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as a gay service member, Cullen holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (1986) and a master's in creative writing from the University of Colorado Boulder; his contributions to outlets including The New York Times , The Atlantic , and Vanity Fair reflect a career spanning over two decades in narrative nonfiction and trauma reporting. Cullen's forthcoming book, Don't Fall in Love (2026), explores gay soldiers' experiences under military discrimination, drawing from his personal background to illuminate broader themes of resilience amid policy-imposed secrecy.

Dave Cullen was born on June 3, 1961, in the Chicago suburbs. He grew up in Elk Grove Village, Illinois , a planned suburban community northwest of Chicago established in the post-World War II era. As the fourth child in the Cullen family, he was part of a large household that expanded to include at least nine siblings, with five younger ones arriving after him.

Cullen's early years unfolded in a quintessential Midwestern suburb featuring modern single-family homes, manicured lawns, and a sense of quiet conformity amid expansive residential developments. This environment, marked by its homogeneity and relative isolation from urban centers, mirrored broader patterns of American suburban expansion in the 1960s and 1970s . He attended local schools, culminating in graduation from Elk Grove High School in 1979 alongside a class of approximately 550 students. During adolescence , Cullen grappled with personal challenges, including low self-esteem , social alienation , and the internal conflict of concealing his homosexuality , which led him to contemplate suicide .

Information on Cullen's parents and precise family dynamics is scarce in public records, consistent with his reticence to disclose intimate personal history. No verified accounts detail specific parental occupations, religious affiliations, or direct influences on his worldview during this period, underscoring a deliberate emphasis on privacy over biographical exposition.

Cullen attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , where he majored in mathematics and computer science , graduating in 1986 after a brief interruption to serve in the U.S. Army.

During his undergraduate years, he contributed to The Daily Illini , part of Illini Media, serving as a news reporter on the local politics beat for three years and later as an editor in the 1980s .