Day of Reckoning

About the Book

   Day of Reckoning:  The Massacre at Columbine High School is the first

complete account of the violent incident that took place at Columbine High

School at Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999.  The research for Day of

Reckoning was begun two days after the terrible massacre committed by Dylan

Klebold and Eric Harris in which they killed 13 people, 12 students and one

teacher at their school,  Columbine High.  Day Of Reckoning is based on all

documents which have been made public about the massacre, including documents

released under two lawsuits filed by the families of the victims under the

Colorado Public Records Act, and a suit filed by the Rocky Mountain News.  

Also used were the Final Report of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department,

which handled the investigation, and records of hearings held by the

Governor's Commission on the Columbine High shootings and the Colorado State

Legislature.  The documents were supplemented by dozens of eyewitness

accounts in the public record.  The book also contains the first detailed

analysis of the possible role that drug use may have had in the murders

committed by Harris and Klebold.

   Day of Reckoning gives a thorough account of the events which led up to

the massacre and includes an hour-by-hour detailed description of the

terrible events of April 20, 1999.  The book also gives the only complete

account of the aftermath of the massacre, including controversial charges of

a "cover-up" aimed at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department  and the

first evidence that there may indeed have been a wider conspiracy at work.  

It also investigates for the first time  three unsolved murders in Littleton,

Colorado, which may have been linked to the killings at Columbine High School.

   In a broader picture, Day Of Reckoning also gives a penetrating look at

some of the background issues which contributed to the massacre at the high

school, including drug and alcohol abuse among the young, youth violence, the

easy availability of firearms, and the white supremacist,  neo-Nazi movement

which so influenced Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before their killing spree.

Using his knowledge of international terrorism,  Mr. Murphy gives a

comprehensive account of the often violent neo-Nazi movement, and how it has

penetrated into literally every state, city, and town in the United States.

About the Author

John F. Murphy Jr. is President of The Grenadier Company, dedicated to researching Espionage, Terrorism, International Crime, and Low-Intensity Conflict. He has a Master of Arts degree from Villanova University in Military History. He is the author of the upcoming History of the Early American Frontier from University of Missouri Press, and has contributed to volumes in the Wars of The United States Series (Garland Publishing). John Murphy had written fifty articles. He has taught in universities; he has received awards for his work.