the Goodreads Team
asked
Dave Cullen:
What Shakespeare play do you think everyone should read once? Why?
Dave Cullen
I'm not fan of the "everyone" should do anything school of life.
Shakespeare wrote a wealth of different plays. We've got a wealth of different people.
Personally, I pretty much hate all the comedies--at least the ones I've gotten to. I love several of the tragedies (which is odd, because I'm not a tragecist, but they happen to be brilliant), and especially like most of the histories. If I'd had a comedy forced on me early, I'm sure I would have been turned off on Shakespeare, possibly forever. It's hard enough to get through the language barrier.
Teachers or parents or friends who've read a lot of the plays should be able to know a person well enough to suggest which is most likely to speak to him or her.
Shakespeare wrote a wealth of different plays. We've got a wealth of different people.
Personally, I pretty much hate all the comedies--at least the ones I've gotten to. I love several of the tragedies (which is odd, because I'm not a tragecist, but they happen to be brilliant), and especially like most of the histories. If I'd had a comedy forced on me early, I'm sure I would have been turned off on Shakespeare, possibly forever. It's hard enough to get through the language barrier.
Teachers or parents or friends who've read a lot of the plays should be able to know a person well enough to suggest which is most likely to speak to him or her.
More Answered Questions
Gongxue
asked
Dave Cullen:
Just finished reading Columbine, thank you for the thorough account. It is now understood that most mass shooters have a history of violence against women or threats of violence against women, and it is clear at least Eric shared these views from his passage about raping girls. How deep did these attitudes go for each of the boys? Thank you!
Sandra Younger
asked
Dave Cullen:
I went to your session at the LA Book Festival ~10 years ago, when I was 6.5 yrs and dozens of interviews into my book re: the then-biggest California wildfire. I wondered: would I ever finish? And then you said it took you 10 years to publish Columbine. That normalized my experience and kept me going. The Fire Outside My Window launched on the 10-year anniversary of California's historic Cedar Fire. Thank you!
Jeff Keehr
asked
Dave Cullen:
This is off-topic but I wonder if you have any insight into the motive behind Stephen Paddock's mass murder? Having read your Columbine book, I am thinking this guy was a psychopath who kept himself out of trouble for most of his life but his disdain for human beings finally surfaced in this rampage. His father was nuts; I believe he was too.
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