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The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, the Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of Our Great Universities
Bestselling author William D. Cohan, whose reporting and writing have been hailed as “gripping” (the New York Times), “authoritative” (the Washington Post), and “seductively engrossing” (Chicago Tribune), presents a stunning new account of the Duke lacrosse team scandal that reveals the pressures faced by America’s elite colleges and universities and pulls back the curtain, in a riveting narrative, on the larger issues of sexual misconduct, underage drinking, and bad-boy behavior—all too prevalent on campuses across the country.
Despite being front-page news nationwide, the true story of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team rape case has never been told in its entirety and is more complex than all the reportage to date would indicate. The Price of Silence is the definitive, magisterial account of what happens when the most combustible forces in American culture— unbridled ambition, intellectual elitism, athletic prowess, aggressive sexual behavior, racial bias, and absolute prosecutorial authority—collide and then explode on a powerful university campus, in the justice system, and in the media.
What transpired at Duke followed upon the university’s unprecedented and determined effort to compete directly with the Ivy League for the best students and with its Division I rivals for supremacy in selected sports—most famously men’s basketball, where Duke has become a perennial powerhouse and the winner of four national championships. As Cohan brilliantly shows, the pursuit of excellence in such diverse realms put extraordinary strains on the campus culture and—warned some longtime Duke observers—warped the university’s academic ethos. Duke became known for its “work hard, play hard” dynamic, and specifically for its wild off-campus parties, where it seemed almost anything could happen—and often did.
Cohan’s reconstruction of the scandal’s events—the night in question, the local police investigation, Duke’s actions, the lacrosse players’ defense tactics, the furious campus politics—is meticulous and complete. Readers who think they know the story are in for more than one surprise, for at the heart of it are individuals whose lives were changed forever. As the scandal developed, different actors fought to control the narrative. At stake were not just the futures of the accused players, the reputation of the woman claiming she was raped, and the career of the local prosecutor, but also the venerable and carefully nurtured name of Duke University itself—the Duke brand, exceedingly valuable when competing for elite students, world-class athletes, talented professors, and the financial support of its nationally prominent, deep-pocketed alumni. The battle for power involved the Duke administration, led by its president, Richard Brodhead, a blazing academic star hired away from Yale; the Duke board of trustees, which included several titans of Wall Street; the faculty, comprising a number of outspoken critics of the lacrosse players; the athletes’ parents, many of whom were well connected in Washington and New York and able—and willing—to hire expensive counsel to defend their sons; and, ultimately, the justice system of North Carolina, which took over the controversial case and rendered its judgment.
The price of resolving the scandal proved extraordinarily high, both in terms of unexpected human suffering and the stratospheric costs of settling legal claims. The Price of Silence is a story unlike any other, yet sheds light on what is really happening on campuses around the country as colleges and universities compete urgently with one another, and confirms William Cohan’s preeminent reputation as one of the most lively and insightful journalists working today.
Despite being front-page news nationwide, the true story of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team rape case has never been told in its entirety and is more complex than all the reportage to date would indicate. The Price of Silence is the definitive, magisterial account of what happens when the most combustible forces in American culture— unbridled ambition, intellectual elitism, athletic prowess, aggressive sexual behavior, racial bias, and absolute prosecutorial authority—collide and then explode on a powerful university campus, in the justice system, and in the media.
What transpired at Duke followed upon the university’s unprecedented and determined effort to compete directly with the Ivy League for the best students and with its Division I rivals for supremacy in selected sports—most famously men’s basketball, where Duke has become a perennial powerhouse and the winner of four national championships. As Cohan brilliantly shows, the pursuit of excellence in such diverse realms put extraordinary strains on the campus culture and—warned some longtime Duke observers—warped the university’s academic ethos. Duke became known for its “work hard, play hard” dynamic, and specifically for its wild off-campus parties, where it seemed almost anything could happen—and often did.
Cohan’s reconstruction of the scandal’s events—the night in question, the local police investigation, Duke’s actions, the lacrosse players’ defense tactics, the furious campus politics—is meticulous and complete. Readers who think they know the story are in for more than one surprise, for at the heart of it are individuals whose lives were changed forever. As the scandal developed, different actors fought to control the narrative. At stake were not just the futures of the accused players, the reputation of the woman claiming she was raped, and the career of the local prosecutor, but also the venerable and carefully nurtured name of Duke University itself—the Duke brand, exceedingly valuable when competing for elite students, world-class athletes, talented professors, and the financial support of its nationally prominent, deep-pocketed alumni. The battle for power involved the Duke administration, led by its president, Richard Brodhead, a blazing academic star hired away from Yale; the Duke board of trustees, which included several titans of Wall Street; the faculty, comprising a number of outspoken critics of the lacrosse players; the athletes’ parents, many of whom were well connected in Washington and New York and able—and willing—to hire expensive counsel to defend their sons; and, ultimately, the justice system of North Carolina, which took over the controversial case and rendered its judgment.
The price of resolving the scandal proved extraordinarily high, both in terms of unexpected human suffering and the stratospheric costs of settling legal claims. The Price of Silence is a story unlike any other, yet sheds light on what is really happening on campuses around the country as colleges and universities compete urgently with one another, and confirms William Cohan’s preeminent reputation as one of the most lively and insightful journalists working today.
843 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2014
51 people are currently reading
805 people want to read
About the author
William D. Cohan
10 books183 followersWilliam David Cohan (born February 20, 1960) is an American business writer. He has written three books about business and economics and is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.
Prior to becoming a journalist, he worked on Wall Street for seventeen years. He spent six years at Lazard Frères in New York, then Merrill Lynch & Co., and later became a managing director at JP Morgan Chase. He also worked for two years at GE Capital. Cohan is a graduate of Duke University, Columbia University School of Journalism, and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Cohan was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on February 20, 1960. His father was an accountant and his mother worked in administration.
In 1991 he married editor Deborah Gail Futter in a Jewish ceremony.
In 2007, he published The Last Tycoons The Secret History of Lazard Frères Co., about Lazard Frères. It won the 2007 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
His book House of Cards A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, describing the last days of Bear Stearns & Co., was published in March 2009. The book has received excellent reviews and was described as a "masterfully reported account" by Tim Rutten in The Los Angeles Times. It remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for several months.
In an op-ed article in the New York Times, Cohan said in March 2009 that Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz and Lehman CEO Dick Fuld had engaged in a "tsunami of excuses" when they were responsible for their firms' collapse. In another op-ed written with Sandy B. Lewis in June 2009 he said that the current economic crisis is not over yet, and that "many of the fixes that the Obama administration has proposed will do little to address them and may make them worse."
His 2011 book, Money and Power How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World, examines the historical role and influence of Goldman Sachs.
His new book, The Price of Silence The Duke Lacrosse Scandal the Power of the Elite and the Corruption of Our Great Universities, about the story of the Duke lacrosse case, was published in 2014 by Scribner.
Prior to becoming a journalist, he worked on Wall Street for seventeen years. He spent six years at Lazard Frères in New York, then Merrill Lynch & Co., and later became a managing director at JP Morgan Chase. He also worked for two years at GE Capital. Cohan is a graduate of Duke University, Columbia University School of Journalism, and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
Cohan was born in Worcester, Massachusetts on February 20, 1960. His father was an accountant and his mother worked in administration.
In 1991 he married editor Deborah Gail Futter in a Jewish ceremony.
In 2007, he published The Last Tycoons The Secret History of Lazard Frères Co., about Lazard Frères. It won the 2007 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
His book House of Cards A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, describing the last days of Bear Stearns & Co., was published in March 2009. The book has received excellent reviews and was described as a "masterfully reported account" by Tim Rutten in The Los Angeles Times. It remained on the New York Times Bestseller list for several months.
In an op-ed article in the New York Times, Cohan said in March 2009 that Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz and Lehman CEO Dick Fuld had engaged in a "tsunami of excuses" when they were responsible for their firms' collapse. In another op-ed written with Sandy B. Lewis in June 2009 he said that the current economic crisis is not over yet, and that "many of the fixes that the Obama administration has proposed will do little to address them and may make them worse."
His 2011 book, Money and Power How Goldman Sachs Came to Rule the World, examines the historical role and influence of Goldman Sachs.
His new book, The Price of Silence The Duke Lacrosse Scandal the Power of the Elite and the Corruption of Our Great Universities, about the story of the Duke lacrosse case, was published in 2014 by Scribner.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 81 reviews
June 7, 2014
If you have absolutely no faith in humanity and want to have this point of view reinforced, this is the book for you. No matter what you've already heard about this story, you'll be let down even further. The prosecutor must have simply lost his mind; the Duke administration couldn't get its act together; the accuser, for whom I have at least a bit of pity along with my horror, was so psychologically damaged I can't believe anyone ever wanted to take this case to court; and the three accused, whom the entire world wanted to vindicate as innocent victims, turn out to be such overindulged, privileged, self-pitying, and unashamedly racist and sexist bastards, who received insanely indulgent settlements from an insanely overpriced school, I doubt I could've loathed them much more if they'd been guilty of the rape they were accused of. There is something here to disappoint you on every page.
The account of the entire story is a little more exhaustive than it needed to be, frankly. It felt like an hour-by-hour retelling of the entire year in which this story unfolded, and the writing is occasionally clunky and distracting. But mostly, it just left me depressed about the entire world, because it's full to overflowing with people like the various players in this nasty little farce. If you're of the opinion that people are really good at heart, read something else and hold onto that naivete a little longer.
The account of the entire story is a little more exhaustive than it needed to be, frankly. It felt like an hour-by-hour retelling of the entire year in which this story unfolded, and the writing is occasionally clunky and distracting. But mostly, it just left me depressed about the entire world, because it's full to overflowing with people like the various players in this nasty little farce. If you're of the opinion that people are really good at heart, read something else and hold onto that naivete a little longer.
July 26, 2014
Full disclosure: I am a NC native. I attended prep school and college in Raleigh.I majored in criminal justice and spent 13 years employed within the federal court system and private law firms. My son was an applicant to Duke in 2006, first for early decision and then for regular admittance. My husband was an All-America athlete from the north who came south on a college scholarship to swim at NC State. I was also a member of that close-knit team. My brother-in-law and his entire family are Duke alumni. A prep school classmate and close friend was involved in the prosecution of this case and is mentioned in the book. The Price of Silence was THE topic of discussion at my 40th high school reunion in Raleigh this past April. I have read other books concerning this lacrosse scandal including Taylor & Johnson's Until Proven Innocent.
Disclaimers aside, I feel as if I've just finished reading War and Peace - not only for the length of the book (652 pages), but because it took that space to adequately cover the WAR that exploded over this scandal. It is exhaustive and exhausting but WELL WORTH the time. And at the end of it, there is very little peace. Cohan's task was a huge one. He navigates you through the battles and the carnage in a manner that keeps you with him despite incredible but essential detail.
This book should be required reading in every law school and a part of every criminal justice and ethics curriculum. Business schools could benefit as well. There are so many lessons to be gleaned from so many mistakes. Cohan articulates them one-by-one. The Price of Silence will be the go-to reference of the lacrosse scandal in years to come. I looked forward to reading it and was not disappointed. Well done!
Disclaimers aside, I feel as if I've just finished reading War and Peace - not only for the length of the book (652 pages), but because it took that space to adequately cover the WAR that exploded over this scandal. It is exhaustive and exhausting but WELL WORTH the time. And at the end of it, there is very little peace. Cohan's task was a huge one. He navigates you through the battles and the carnage in a manner that keeps you with him despite incredible but essential detail.
This book should be required reading in every law school and a part of every criminal justice and ethics curriculum. Business schools could benefit as well. There are so many lessons to be gleaned from so many mistakes. Cohan articulates them one-by-one. The Price of Silence will be the go-to reference of the lacrosse scandal in years to come. I looked forward to reading it and was not disappointed. Well done!
June 8, 2014
This is revisionist history at its worst.
I recently read "Until Proven Innocent", another book on this same case and the hype surrounding it, and I was curious about this book. Unfortunately, this book failed miserably in large part because the author seems to be trying to rewrite history, to shape the case to fit his own narrative and/or bias. He relies on statements from an unethical and disgraced prosecutor (Nifong) and tries to insinuate, in the face of overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence of the young men's innocence, that "something happened in that bathroom". This book is a shameful manipulative look of this case.
Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal has a particularly informative take on this book: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/S...
I recently read "Until Proven Innocent", another book on this same case and the hype surrounding it, and I was curious about this book. Unfortunately, this book failed miserably in large part because the author seems to be trying to rewrite history, to shape the case to fit his own narrative and/or bias. He relies on statements from an unethical and disgraced prosecutor (Nifong) and tries to insinuate, in the face of overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence of the young men's innocence, that "something happened in that bathroom". This book is a shameful manipulative look of this case.
Dorothy Rabinowitz of the Wall Street Journal has a particularly informative take on this book: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/S...
May 3, 2014
I was interested in hearing more about this scandal that happened a few years back. The author was talking about it on the news and it sounded interesting. However, I think this book had lots of filler, and contrary to what I heard in the interview, there weren't really any new revelations in this book. If you want to learn more about this event, I'm sure there are better accounts out there, and I wish I had chosen more wisely.
June 16, 2014
The author relies on statements from an unethical and disgraced prosecutor (Nifong)who has been dis-barred - and tries to insinuate, in the face of overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence of the young men's innocence, that "something happened in that bathroom". This book is a horrific manipulative look at a shameful case.
Duke paid out millions in civil suit settlements. I hope Duke learned a lesson.
Duke paid out millions in civil suit settlements. I hope Duke learned a lesson.
July 8, 2014
I'm going to steal from a comment I made to a friend instead of rewriting my thoughts for review.
Despite the subtitle, I thought it was more of a retelling of the specifics of this scandal than a serious look at corruption and wealth in elite universities. In my opinion, he completely failed at making it a larger story about privilege and power, because he was so bogged down in the intricacies and local context of specific power, race, and class issues for Duke and Durham. At the end, he tried to make connections with other scandals, but it didn't go anywhere. I think he really missed an opportunity to investigate those more fundamental issues of disparate power and opportunity and the ways in which elite universities have particular responsibilities and vulnerabilities because of their desire to "win" the rankings. Every now and then, he makes some small assertion about fundamental problems, but he then quickly returns to the details. I get the feeling that he intended to write one book, became obsessed with the intricacies of the Duke case, and didn't have an editor who could/would help him regain focus in the manuscript. It was disappointing. In many ways, I thought that piece on fraternities that was circling around (I think it was by Caitlin Flanagan) was a much better attempt to get at those issues. Buried in his narrative are interesting tidbits about the power and influence of universities boards, the legal system, the two tiered system of academia, the financial world, and sexual assault- none of it is explored in a way that is revelatory as the author apparently can't see the bigger picture.
On a basic level, the book also suffered from a lack of a strong editorial hand- substantial and unnecessary biographical detail and repetitiveness bog down the narrative. There is no reason for its length or the digressions of the author into unrelated topics. I half expected to read about what the stakeholders had for breakfast and their favorite colors.
Despite the subtitle, I thought it was more of a retelling of the specifics of this scandal than a serious look at corruption and wealth in elite universities. In my opinion, he completely failed at making it a larger story about privilege and power, because he was so bogged down in the intricacies and local context of specific power, race, and class issues for Duke and Durham. At the end, he tried to make connections with other scandals, but it didn't go anywhere. I think he really missed an opportunity to investigate those more fundamental issues of disparate power and opportunity and the ways in which elite universities have particular responsibilities and vulnerabilities because of their desire to "win" the rankings. Every now and then, he makes some small assertion about fundamental problems, but he then quickly returns to the details. I get the feeling that he intended to write one book, became obsessed with the intricacies of the Duke case, and didn't have an editor who could/would help him regain focus in the manuscript. It was disappointing. In many ways, I thought that piece on fraternities that was circling around (I think it was by Caitlin Flanagan) was a much better attempt to get at those issues. Buried in his narrative are interesting tidbits about the power and influence of universities boards, the legal system, the two tiered system of academia, the financial world, and sexual assault- none of it is explored in a way that is revelatory as the author apparently can't see the bigger picture.
On a basic level, the book also suffered from a lack of a strong editorial hand- substantial and unnecessary biographical detail and repetitiveness bog down the narrative. There is no reason for its length or the digressions of the author into unrelated topics. I half expected to read about what the stakeholders had for breakfast and their favorite colors.
June 3, 2015
William Cohan delivers a painstakingly detailed portrait of everything that went wrong at Duke when a woman hired to strip at a lacrosse party accused three of the team's players of rape. And that is precisely the problem: it is painstakingly detailed. Cohan seems to have included every single piece of evidence, every interview, every newspaper account, every appearance by a talking head, every blog post, every blog comment (!) in this 614-page tome. It's too much! He and his editor should have understood that not all information is equally important. We all know what happened: the accusations turned out to be false, the players were innocent, the district attorney was disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct.
So the job of a book like this should NOT be to deliver every last bit of information that reveals all of these things to be true, but rather something else. Perhaps, to quote Cohan's own subtitle, it should be to reveal "the Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of our Great Universities." I regret to inform that the book does this mostly implicitly, only occasionally making the point that Duke's great problem is how much it pays for its athletics programs and how little it regulates those programs' participants. The book had the opportunity to take much broader lessons from what happened--and clearly the author thinks he is doing so--but really it's just a mind-numbing compendium of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that ANYONE ever said about the Duke Lacrosse Scandal.
In a word: EXCRUCIATING. 614 pages of it.
So the job of a book like this should NOT be to deliver every last bit of information that reveals all of these things to be true, but rather something else. Perhaps, to quote Cohan's own subtitle, it should be to reveal "the Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of our Great Universities." I regret to inform that the book does this mostly implicitly, only occasionally making the point that Duke's great problem is how much it pays for its athletics programs and how little it regulates those programs' participants. The book had the opportunity to take much broader lessons from what happened--and clearly the author thinks he is doing so--but really it's just a mind-numbing compendium of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING that ANYONE ever said about the Duke Lacrosse Scandal.
In a word: EXCRUCIATING. 614 pages of it.
April 22, 2014
I didn't know much about the Duke lacrosse case, so I found the details documented here extremely interesting. It's easy to see why the case was so controversial, and Cohan does a great job of summarizing it from the multiple different viewpoints involved. However, the book occasionally feels like a collection of press releases, especially when Cohan quotes extensively from original documents, and the book never really lives up to its subtitle. Those expecting a look at the corrupting power of the elite may be disappointed.
May 13, 2015
I started at Duke as a Naval ROTC, Delta Sigma Phi, varsity swimmer, when the drinking age for beer in North Carolina was 18. Liquor required one to be 21. We could buy pitchers of beer in the dining hall for $2 on our meal cards in those days - 'beer on points'. Our "big" fraternity parties were held off campus and we wore suits and ties. Twenty years later, when this scandal erupted, Duke had become a different social place.
I ignored the lacrosse scandal when it was happening for the simple reason that this book is > 600 pp: it amounted to a year-long game of posturing, accusations, and a media circus without a trial.
This book gets four full stars from me because of William Cohan's incredible ability to string together a cohesive narrative portraying (in what feels like equal measure) the perspectives of each party to the 'scandal' using actual excerpts and quotes from those involved.
Before I started reading the book, I wasn't aware of the actual outcome of the scandal so for me, this book presented a fantastic opportunity to walk through the scandal chronologically faking the time to view, from each participant's perspective, the unfolding of events.
Mr. Cohan lost a star from this reviewer for the all-too-long final 25% of the text in which much of the first 25% was repeated in various forms. A bit of editing would have gone a long way to tighten up the end.
I will say this from first-hand experience: the Duke of 2006, one at which living groups routinely hired strippers, was a dramatic departure from the Duke I knew. Dean Sue Wasiolek, AVP for Student Affairs & Dean of Students, is a little sister of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity quoted in this book and of which I am member. it's unfathomable to me that "Dean Sue" witnessed and managed the degradation of student life so evident during this time period.
I will also say, from first hand experience as one who has inadvertently found himself in the presence of "boys gone bad," I have every reason to believe that these lacrosse players are guilty of the (non-rape) abhorrent behavior detailed by Cohen.
If you are curious about the scandal, and are one who is willing and interested to view the world from the perspective of the many different parties involved, then this book is for you.
I ignored the lacrosse scandal when it was happening for the simple reason that this book is > 600 pp: it amounted to a year-long game of posturing, accusations, and a media circus without a trial.
This book gets four full stars from me because of William Cohan's incredible ability to string together a cohesive narrative portraying (in what feels like equal measure) the perspectives of each party to the 'scandal' using actual excerpts and quotes from those involved.
Before I started reading the book, I wasn't aware of the actual outcome of the scandal so for me, this book presented a fantastic opportunity to walk through the scandal chronologically faking the time to view, from each participant's perspective, the unfolding of events.
Mr. Cohan lost a star from this reviewer for the all-too-long final 25% of the text in which much of the first 25% was repeated in various forms. A bit of editing would have gone a long way to tighten up the end.
I will say this from first-hand experience: the Duke of 2006, one at which living groups routinely hired strippers, was a dramatic departure from the Duke I knew. Dean Sue Wasiolek, AVP for Student Affairs & Dean of Students, is a little sister of the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity quoted in this book and of which I am member. it's unfathomable to me that "Dean Sue" witnessed and managed the degradation of student life so evident during this time period.
I will also say, from first hand experience as one who has inadvertently found himself in the presence of "boys gone bad," I have every reason to believe that these lacrosse players are guilty of the (non-rape) abhorrent behavior detailed by Cohen.
If you are curious about the scandal, and are one who is willing and interested to view the world from the perspective of the many different parties involved, then this book is for you.
January 27, 2015
I wasn't sure if I wanted to read a 600-plus-page book about a crime that did not actually happen. But I was interested in learning more about this case, which had such dramatic allegations and then fell apart spectacularly. Cohan writes and reports well enough that the book held my interest until the end.
What I learned:
* If you are boorish enough to call up an escort service and ask that two female strangers come to your house and dance naked in front of you and 40 of your drunken friends, don't be shocked if one of the strangers turns out to be a physically damaged, mentally fragile, prescription-drug-addled creature who is willing to make up outrageous lies and report them to police, nurses, doctors, prosecutors, and the public. She may have been raped in the past, and she may actually believe the lies she is telling.
* If you are racist enough to complain that you ordered white strippers, scream racial slurs at nonwhite strangers in public, and say, "Hey bitch, thank your grandpa for my nice cotton shirt," don't be surprised when people of all races despise you, even if it turns out that you did not commit any felonies.
* If you are stupid enough to write an email in which you fantasize about skinning two strippers alive because they allegedly cheated you out of $20, and you send that email to 40 of your teammates, don't think for a minute that anyone will believe you when you say it's a "literary parody" à la American Psycho. Just change your name now, because nobody will ever want to hire you.
The lacrosse players did not deserve what happened to them. Nobody deserves to be falsely accused of rape and kidnapping. Being a jerk is not a crime -- but it may cause people to assume that "something must have happened that night."
What I learned:
* If you are boorish enough to call up an escort service and ask that two female strangers come to your house and dance naked in front of you and 40 of your drunken friends, don't be shocked if one of the strangers turns out to be a physically damaged, mentally fragile, prescription-drug-addled creature who is willing to make up outrageous lies and report them to police, nurses, doctors, prosecutors, and the public. She may have been raped in the past, and she may actually believe the lies she is telling.
* If you are racist enough to complain that you ordered white strippers, scream racial slurs at nonwhite strangers in public, and say, "Hey bitch, thank your grandpa for my nice cotton shirt," don't be surprised when people of all races despise you, even if it turns out that you did not commit any felonies.
* If you are stupid enough to write an email in which you fantasize about skinning two strippers alive because they allegedly cheated you out of $20, and you send that email to 40 of your teammates, don't think for a minute that anyone will believe you when you say it's a "literary parody" à la American Psycho. Just change your name now, because nobody will ever want to hire you.
The lacrosse players did not deserve what happened to them. Nobody deserves to be falsely accused of rape and kidnapping. Being a jerk is not a crime -- but it may cause people to assume that "something must have happened that night."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 25, 2014
This book is 600 pages in microscopic font. I read about 150 of those pages non-consecutively in a single sitting before realizing that I was never going to finish this book nor was I personally inclined to.
What appeals to me most about this book is the representation of Duke as a bacchanal.... whether or not this representation is fair, I believe there are specific decisions that Duke made its history to bring about these intended and unintended consequences.
I sometimes sit and wonder whether a world in which Duke did not have a Not Quite Ivy -sized chip on its shoulder, a world in which wealthy students didn't have to be aggressively courted to build up an endowment and bring up a bottom line, would have resulted in a happier, healthier, more harmonious Duke.
I wonder whether an admissions process that valued different kinds of attributes in its students -- not just student body presidents and extracurricular do-alls -- would bring in a balance of personalities that would have moderated the social scene and the party culture.
These are the questions that interest me the most, these are the questions the book begins to ask but does not sufficiently answer to my liking.
What appeals to me most about this book is the representation of Duke as a bacchanal.... whether or not this representation is fair, I believe there are specific decisions that Duke made its history to bring about these intended and unintended consequences.
I sometimes sit and wonder whether a world in which Duke did not have a Not Quite Ivy -sized chip on its shoulder, a world in which wealthy students didn't have to be aggressively courted to build up an endowment and bring up a bottom line, would have resulted in a happier, healthier, more harmonious Duke.
I wonder whether an admissions process that valued different kinds of attributes in its students -- not just student body presidents and extracurricular do-alls -- would bring in a balance of personalities that would have moderated the social scene and the party culture.
These are the questions that interest me the most, these are the questions the book begins to ask but does not sufficiently answer to my liking.
July 7, 2014
It might seem like a small thing, but if a writer is going to ask me to stick with him for 614 pages, I wish he would at least show the courtesy of running it through a spell checker, and in this instance I might argue that he should let an editor cut some very over-detailed explication. I'm all for balance, but I don't think it's necessary to quote every single statement of every participant in such excruciating detail to get there.
It won't make me look for other books by the same writer, but it was obviously a highly politicized and emotionally charged story. A lot of people were probably looking to find fault.
I think Cohan is fair, but maybe the overwrought atmosphere of this story caused him to be a little bland and legalistic in describing the events. I'm left with a sense of tedium. Just because the case itself dragged out for more than a year, it doesn't mean he had to give nearly equal narrative weight to each moment of that year. I hope there were more nuances to the participants than he was able to convey.
It won't make me look for other books by the same writer, but it was obviously a highly politicized and emotionally charged story. A lot of people were probably looking to find fault.
I think Cohan is fair, but maybe the overwrought atmosphere of this story caused him to be a little bland and legalistic in describing the events. I'm left with a sense of tedium. Just because the case itself dragged out for more than a year, it doesn't mean he had to give nearly equal narrative weight to each moment of that year. I hope there were more nuances to the participants than he was able to convey.
January 30, 2015
Duke alumnus William Cohan's rehashing of the Duke lacrosse scandal is too long, very repetitive, and not very focused. The other major book on the case (which involves three lacrosse team members accused of raping an exotic dancer after a party-gone-bad)focuses on the district attorney's missteps. (Said district attorney was eventually disbarred for his actions and the player exonerated.)I picked this book up interested in what Cohan would say about "the power of the elite" and its corrupting effect on universities. Unfortunately, he does not address that topic in any coherent way. The book is basically a presentation of the details of the case, mostly chronologically, with occasional asides into the topic of elitism, but not much analysis or argument on the topic. He has a great weakness for quoting very long passages of press materials or public statements, and then not offering any critical comment - it's sort of like he believes every position deserves equal time, regardless of its merit. I was disappointed.
October 21, 2014
If you ever asked yourself who is more corrupt than the police, the district attorney’s office, a college president, the media, a “great” university, the faculty of certain disciplines such as English, ethnic studies, history, you’d have to add in a few more: Rape crisis centers, women’s studies, and civil rights leaders. All are shown to be of the same garbage pail in this exhaustive study of the Duke lacrosse rape case. There was no rape case at all but merely a chance for all of the above to crucify innocent men for their own political objectives. It ranks with the Tawana Brawley-Al Sharpton injustice along with the 1930’s Scotsboro Boys as the ugliest side of America. We don’t learn.
William D. Cohan writes an exhaustive and brilliant account of who was involved and what did or did not happen. All of the above certainly ruined some of the student’s lives forever in one of the cruelest rushes to judgment ever. One wishes Shakespeare had written, “A pox on all of your houses.” The affair was a major cluster-Fort Worth from the beginning. The vultures circled, none worse than District Attorney Mike Nifong who was disbarred because of the events and did brief jail time. The media, some eighty Duke faculty all tried to railroad the innocent young men. The woman who lied about the rape later murdered her boy friend.
We know the partial price of silence was 60 million dollars Duke paid to three of the men and more to the innocent coach who was fired and forty other members of the team. The police, the college president, the faculty, the media, the civil rights leaders shrugged and went on their merry way to create more mayhem.
Cohan does not come down strong enough on Nifong, one of the most egregious wrong doing of those involved, including the Duke President. He also attacks the boys because their parents had enough money to buck the powers that try to wrest control of our intellectual and justice systems. The biggest fault is that Cohan never truly recognizes the innocence of the victims.
Warning. This is a tough book of nearly 700 pages of small print on large pages. Sometimes you feel you will bludgeoned with unnecessary detail. I found it telling the author says you can look up his sources. It is the digital age.
December 18, 2016
After reading William D. Cohan's "The Price of Silence", I feel like I went the entire Duke Lacrosse incident myself. Not in a good way either. I mean I feel like I've gone each and every agonizing second of the day of everyone involved in the scandal. And that's because Cohan chose to liberally quote from almost every damned magazine, newspaper article, every televised news report, every blog, every editorial, even a "Saturday Night Live" sketch about the scandal. My god, it's one thing to be thorough, but what Cohan did was overkill. It distracted from the narrative, from the story of what happened. Pared down andi minimalized a bit, this could be a great book on the subject. Well edited down a couple hundred pages and....
Cohan's need to turn former Durham District Attorney, Mike Nifong into some kind of hero or saint or martyr, something like that. Cohan allows Nifong to constantly try to prove what a great guy he is. How he was just doing his job and was screwed over by the system. It's Nifong we should be sympathetic to.
Trouble is, Mike Nifong, in trying to exonerate himself, comes across as whiney, weaselly, impressed with himself and his semantics games. Cohan almost never criticizes Nifong's statements, tacitly agreeing with him. Trouble is, Nifong is undercut not only by the evidence, but also by his star witness and alleged victim, Crystal Magnum's constantly changing, contradictory story of what supposedly happened to her. Amusingly, William Cohan frequently notes where Magnum contradicts herself. However, he is silent where Nifong does the same thing. Maybe that's because Nifong was the only major player in the scandal who agreed to be interviewed by Cohan?
The book does, when it focuses on it and not the various media reportage, provide an excellent timeline of Duke Lacrosse Rape Scandal. And it does show how easily swayed public opinion is to find people guilty and then just as quickly declare them innocent. It also demonstrates how no one involved looks good. Not even Mike Nifong, despite his and author, William D
Cohan's best efforts otherwise.
Cohan's need to turn former Durham District Attorney, Mike Nifong into some kind of hero or saint or martyr, something like that. Cohan allows Nifong to constantly try to prove what a great guy he is. How he was just doing his job and was screwed over by the system. It's Nifong we should be sympathetic to.
Trouble is, Mike Nifong, in trying to exonerate himself, comes across as whiney, weaselly, impressed with himself and his semantics games. Cohan almost never criticizes Nifong's statements, tacitly agreeing with him. Trouble is, Nifong is undercut not only by the evidence, but also by his star witness and alleged victim, Crystal Magnum's constantly changing, contradictory story of what supposedly happened to her. Amusingly, William Cohan frequently notes where Magnum contradicts herself. However, he is silent where Nifong does the same thing. Maybe that's because Nifong was the only major player in the scandal who agreed to be interviewed by Cohan?
The book does, when it focuses on it and not the various media reportage, provide an excellent timeline of Duke Lacrosse Rape Scandal. And it does show how easily swayed public opinion is to find people guilty and then just as quickly declare them innocent. It also demonstrates how no one involved looks good. Not even Mike Nifong, despite his and author, William D
Cohan's best efforts otherwise.
June 10, 2014
Voluminous reporting on the infamous Duke lacrosse scandal. Major points are repeated over and over again. At over 600 pages, this is an exhausting read and a completely unnecessary one. Was there an editor involved in this book? Cohan attempts to rehabilitate the rogue prosecutor, Mike Nifong and the accuser, Crystal Mangum. I found this book insulting, a typical liberal screed against supposed white privilege at an upper crust university. Nifong has since been disbarred and convicted of contempt. Mangum is currently serving a long sentence for manslaughter. What is Cohan attempting? Do not waste your money and buy this garbage. Instead, google the Dorothy Rabinowitz article: A Dishonest Rewrite of the Duke Lacrosse Case (May 18, 2014) and learn all you need to know about this case and the dishonesty of Mr. Cohan.
On the other hand, the book does raise troubling issues about underage drinking at many of our universities.
Raising the drinking age to 21 has just sent younger college students underground. I guess that prohibition still does not work. The discussion of the hook up culture is also frightening to parents. One of the main points of the book is to be very careful what you put in email. As many of us know, email never dies. One of the unindicted lacrosse players sent a very questionable email that used language from the book, American Psycho. If you are unfamiliar with that book, you would find that email extremely offensive. Years later, this email is still following that player around. He has had major difficulty finding steady employment.
On the other hand, the book does raise troubling issues about underage drinking at many of our universities.
Raising the drinking age to 21 has just sent younger college students underground. I guess that prohibition still does not work. The discussion of the hook up culture is also frightening to parents. One of the main points of the book is to be very careful what you put in email. As many of us know, email never dies. One of the unindicted lacrosse players sent a very questionable email that used language from the book, American Psycho. If you are unfamiliar with that book, you would find that email extremely offensive. Years later, this email is still following that player around. He has had major difficulty finding steady employment.
January 10, 2016
Meticulously researched, brutally honest, and absolutely epic in scope, this work of journalism starts out as true crime, recording a sordid incident at Duke University, where several wealthy, white lacrosse players may or may not have sexually assaulted a young black stripper.
The narrative broadens as the chapters pass, however, to become a searching examination of race prejudice, class prejudice, liberal hypocrisy, human greed, and base passions. Absolutely no one in this book walks away with clean hands. Not the athletes, the school administrators, the angry townspeople, black and white, the angry academics, black and white, and the journalists black and white who are looking for a sensational story at any price. Everyone is motivated by opportunism, selfishness, greed, self-righteousness and hypocrisy. There are no heroes, no true victims, and no admirable characters either. Just about everyone is revealed to be twisted, sick, and dishonorable in some way, including the accuser who ultimately goes to jail after stabbing her boyfriend to death (long after the black community and the self-proclaimed black elite have entirely forgotten her and moved on to the next cause.)
Yet this book is not only not depressing, it is exhilarating to read, because William D. Cohan has behaved as the most heroic type of crusading journalist and exposed ugliness and hypocrisy on every level of society.
He's the kind of journalist Ben Hecht used to write about!
The narrative broadens as the chapters pass, however, to become a searching examination of race prejudice, class prejudice, liberal hypocrisy, human greed, and base passions. Absolutely no one in this book walks away with clean hands. Not the athletes, the school administrators, the angry townspeople, black and white, the angry academics, black and white, and the journalists black and white who are looking for a sensational story at any price. Everyone is motivated by opportunism, selfishness, greed, self-righteousness and hypocrisy. There are no heroes, no true victims, and no admirable characters either. Just about everyone is revealed to be twisted, sick, and dishonorable in some way, including the accuser who ultimately goes to jail after stabbing her boyfriend to death (long after the black community and the self-proclaimed black elite have entirely forgotten her and moved on to the next cause.)
Yet this book is not only not depressing, it is exhilarating to read, because William D. Cohan has behaved as the most heroic type of crusading journalist and exposed ugliness and hypocrisy on every level of society.
He's the kind of journalist Ben Hecht used to write about!
May 3, 2014
I think one of the most interesting aspects of the book is the history of the author William Cohan. I heard him interviewed on NPR. He related that he worked on Wall St for 17 years and then quit to write books. He remarked that he wrote 3 books about Wall St and they all sold very well so when it came time to write his 4th book his publisher was, of course, pushing for another Wall St book but Mr Cohan wanted to write this book, which is about alleged rape of a stripper at a party with the lacrosse team at Duke University, which happens to be the author's alma mater and that was his motivation for writing this fine and readable book. I think the main focus of this book is what can happen when an overzealous prosecutor files charges that are not supported by the evidence and no charges should be filed and this has occurred recently in high profile cases and unfortunately will probably continue to happen. The book focuses on the 3 young students charged with this offense (No proof it even occurred) and the devastating effect it had and is having on their lives even today 8 years later.
June 30, 2014
This is a tale of a perfect scandal: privileged white student athletes sexually assault working class African-American woman, revealing the sorry depths of racism and misogyny still thriving in the American south. Only one problem: they didn't do it.
My feelings about this book are tangled with my memories of the case, which I followed closely. I was sure the accused players were guilty, after all I've known so many high school and college athletes who behaved just like this and could easily have committed a similar crime. I was stunned when the charges were dropped and it turned out there was no crime to prosecute.
There's not a single sympathetic person in this book. What's more, there seems to be little anyone could have done differently to prevent the whole mess once the alleged rape was reported. It's really depressing.
The book strives to be comprehensive but is mostly just tedious. Nothing about it was enjoyable.
My feelings about this book are tangled with my memories of the case, which I followed closely. I was sure the accused players were guilty, after all I've known so many high school and college athletes who behaved just like this and could easily have committed a similar crime. I was stunned when the charges were dropped and it turned out there was no crime to prosecute.
There's not a single sympathetic person in this book. What's more, there seems to be little anyone could have done differently to prevent the whole mess once the alleged rape was reported. It's really depressing.
The book strives to be comprehensive but is mostly just tedious. Nothing about it was enjoyable.
May 31, 2014
I read about half this book and then skipped to the end. It is hard to read because the corruption, especially the use of power and influence to determine the outcome of a legal case and determine the fates of the people involved. It is a sad statement on our universities and the morality of our college students, their parents, and the administrations who protect them and their institutions. It is a paean to rewarding bad judgment.
June 27, 2014
I was fascinated with the first couple hundred pages - and thought there were interesting topics addressed: role of the university, legal issues, the affect of changing the drinking age to 21.... But second half went on too long. Long sections were transcripts of interviews. Needed editing. Quite pessimistic and discouraging in tone. One reviewer here said "if you have no faith in humanity, this is the book for you."
I agree!
I agree!
April 5, 2015
Recommended reading for anyone planning to take the LSAT. This book is a good summary of all the messiness, comedy, irony, and sadness of the American legal system. You'll cry. You'll laugh really, really hard, and then you'll cry again.
April 7, 2019
The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, the Power of the Elite,
and the Corruption of Our Great Universities by William D. Cohan.
2014 Scribner New York London xiii + 652 pp. index, biblio., notes.
Long before the rape allegations, the Duke lacrosse team had long been a
source of trouble at the university.
Even though the lacrosse players and their cheerleaders constituted less
than 1% of the student body, they committed
an absurdly large portion of on-campus infractions. Fully 25% of
disorderly conduct cases, 50% of noise ordinance cases
and one-third of all open-container violations were committed by both
the lacrosse players and their cheerleaders. This does not count the number of off-campus violations that the Durham Police
Department had to deal with. Duke University administrators
failed to hold the team accountable for its violations.
Duke was originally founded to promote what it called the “supremacy of
the supreme race.” Up until the early 1970’s, in order to get hired there, you had to take
what amounted to a racial loyalty oath in which you pledged to uphold the concept of
“whiteness is rightness.” Any Duke employee who was found to be engaged pro-civil rights activity
would be automatically fired regardless of how long the employee had worked there or if he/she
had tenure. Duke students found to be similarly engaged were expelled from the campus. So much
for academic freedom.
The "price" referred to in the book's title refers to the lacrosse team's tradition in which players spent their off-hours partying, hard,
in a kind of alternative spring break. Athletic boosters provided the team
with large sums of cash that were given to them in big wads. This was ostensibly for meals,
although most of the players were sons of wealthy families and could
afford to buy their own food. By that night, the cash was being spent on
perversions such as alcoholic beverages, gambling and the hiring of desperately
poor women for sexual entertainment.
Supporters of the Duke Lacrosse players claimed that their case was
a latter-day version of the “Scottsboro Boys” case of the 1930's.
However, historical research shows that while a few of
the “Scottsboro Boys”
were almost certainly innocent, most were, in fact, guilty as charged. It
was ham-handed Southern
law enforcement’s failure to differentiate between the guilty and the
innocent that led to the national outcry over the case.
The Price of Silence is the single best book ever written about the Duke Lacrosse Rape case and as such, it is heartily recommended.
and the Corruption of Our Great Universities by William D. Cohan.
2014 Scribner New York London xiii + 652 pp. index, biblio., notes.
Long before the rape allegations, the Duke lacrosse team had long been a
source of trouble at the university.
Even though the lacrosse players and their cheerleaders constituted less
than 1% of the student body, they committed
an absurdly large portion of on-campus infractions. Fully 25% of
disorderly conduct cases, 50% of noise ordinance cases
and one-third of all open-container violations were committed by both
the lacrosse players and their cheerleaders. This does not count the number of off-campus violations that the Durham Police
Department had to deal with. Duke University administrators
failed to hold the team accountable for its violations.
Duke was originally founded to promote what it called the “supremacy of
the supreme race.” Up until the early 1970’s, in order to get hired there, you had to take
what amounted to a racial loyalty oath in which you pledged to uphold the concept of
“whiteness is rightness.” Any Duke employee who was found to be engaged pro-civil rights activity
would be automatically fired regardless of how long the employee had worked there or if he/she
had tenure. Duke students found to be similarly engaged were expelled from the campus. So much
for academic freedom.
The "price" referred to in the book's title refers to the lacrosse team's tradition in which players spent their off-hours partying, hard,
in a kind of alternative spring break. Athletic boosters provided the team
with large sums of cash that were given to them in big wads. This was ostensibly for meals,
although most of the players were sons of wealthy families and could
afford to buy their own food. By that night, the cash was being spent on
perversions such as alcoholic beverages, gambling and the hiring of desperately
poor women for sexual entertainment.
Supporters of the Duke Lacrosse players claimed that their case was
a latter-day version of the “Scottsboro Boys” case of the 1930's.
However, historical research shows that while a few of
the “Scottsboro Boys”
were almost certainly innocent, most were, in fact, guilty as charged. It
was ham-handed Southern
law enforcement’s failure to differentiate between the guilty and the
innocent that led to the national outcry over the case.
The Price of Silence is the single best book ever written about the Duke Lacrosse Rape case and as such, it is heartily recommended.
February 17, 2018
Well, I think this book is important, considering the Me Too movement and everything. However, I'm giving this two stars mostly because thus author is very long winded. I felt like he took a long time to get to the point of the book. That point being: sometimes people do rush to judgement and many institutions, like Duke University (or Hollywood studios for that matter) want to cover it up--or at least minimize it--to protect their image. This main point did not need over eight hundred pages to explain (and I have to say that I skimmed a lot of it). And again, I am NOT trying to minimize any woman's claims, but sometimes I do feel as though things can happen, like rash judgement, without all the facts. On the other hand, the lacrosse players, at least some of them, did come off as very elitist. This can be explained, I guess, by the fact that these young men went to an elite school and were on a sports team. Which doesn't justify anything, it's a statement of fact that the author brings up a lot. They believed that they could do no wrong, and even though they had this party, it doesn't mean that anything actually happened. Bad decisions do not equal a crime. I want to reiterate yet again that this DOES NOT mean that I'm against women who come forward but it's important to look at situations from all sides.
April 16, 2023
As a long time resident of Durham, I followed the Duke lacrosse scandal pretty closely (it would've been hard not to). Cohan, an outstanding investigative journalist, delves into the multifaceted layers of this explosive case and its tentacles that spread far and wide in great detail.
Published in 2014 there were many people who didn't want Cohan to revisit the saga and who went after him as he recounts in the book's afterword, an indication of just how contentious the case remained (and remains today).
The 615 page book is exhaustive in its breadth and objective in its coverage. It's a fascinating look into the innerworkings of an elite university and its various, often at odds, constituencies, a criminal justice system and a DA that went off the rails and a mass media that happily poured gasoline on the fire (as was their right).
No matter where one comes down on the whole ugly affair one thing is clear; there were no winners here.
Every bit as topical today unfortunately, given the continuation of rampant alcohol abuse, sexual assaults and in general fraternal idiocy on our nation's university campuses, it should be required reading for among others, any parent getting ready to pack their child or daughter off to what should be one of life's best experiences but too often turns out to be quite the opposite.
Published in 2014 there were many people who didn't want Cohan to revisit the saga and who went after him as he recounts in the book's afterword, an indication of just how contentious the case remained (and remains today).
The 615 page book is exhaustive in its breadth and objective in its coverage. It's a fascinating look into the innerworkings of an elite university and its various, often at odds, constituencies, a criminal justice system and a DA that went off the rails and a mass media that happily poured gasoline on the fire (as was their right).
No matter where one comes down on the whole ugly affair one thing is clear; there were no winners here.
Every bit as topical today unfortunately, given the continuation of rampant alcohol abuse, sexual assaults and in general fraternal idiocy on our nation's university campuses, it should be required reading for among others, any parent getting ready to pack their child or daughter off to what should be one of life's best experiences but too often turns out to be quite the opposite.
January 20, 2020
Trigger warning: This premise of this book centers around the story of the lacrosse team accused of rape.
This is an exhaustively-researched book all about the Duke lacrosse scandal. Basically, the lacrosse team had a party, called in two exotic dancers, and it all went to Hades in a handbasket. The dancer accused the team of gang-raping her, and the prosecutor, up for re-election, was overzealous in handling the case, causing him to double-down, rather than admit his errors. Punishing the lacrosse team, whose off-campus house was a frequent source of complaints by neighbors, would have boosted his re-election prospects...at the cost of innocent men. The story was too good/too bad: an underprivileged black woman being exploited by wealthy white men with their crimes swept under the rug because of their wealth and their families' power. Unfortunately, it wasn't true.
It's interesting, because I remember hearing about this supposed crime. But I never heard how the case ended. This book goes into detail about the politics at play at Duke, the lacrosse team, and the perspectives of numerous people involved directly or tangentially with the case. If you're interested in this case, you should probably check out this lengthy tome.
This is an exhaustively-researched book all about the Duke lacrosse scandal. Basically, the lacrosse team had a party, called in two exotic dancers, and it all went to Hades in a handbasket. The dancer accused the team of gang-raping her, and the prosecutor, up for re-election, was overzealous in handling the case, causing him to double-down, rather than admit his errors. Punishing the lacrosse team, whose off-campus house was a frequent source of complaints by neighbors, would have boosted his re-election prospects...at the cost of innocent men. The story was too good/too bad: an underprivileged black woman being exploited by wealthy white men with their crimes swept under the rug because of their wealth and their families' power. Unfortunately, it wasn't true.
It's interesting, because I remember hearing about this supposed crime. But I never heard how the case ended. This book goes into detail about the politics at play at Duke, the lacrosse team, and the perspectives of numerous people involved directly or tangentially with the case. If you're interested in this case, you should probably check out this lengthy tome.
October 16, 2022
The reviews that charge The Price of Silence with attempting to revise history, or with unduly sympathizing with Mike Nifong, are wrong. Whoever wrote those reviews did not read this.
I can't blame them. The length of this book is absurd. It certainly wasn't proofread. If it was edited at all, it was hidden well. Several times, Cohan struggles with choosing what to quote, and too often, he throws up his hands and appears to paste entire op/eds into the work.
The value of The Price of Silence is that it is a time capsule. The tragedy of the Duke lacrosse scandal should never be forgotten. Every prosecutor should study it as long as there are prosecutions. Every law school should teach it as long as there are law schools. Years from now, Cohan's doorstop of a history may prove to be the most authoritative account of the scandal if only because of the impressive breadth of its sources.
Cohan offers a maddeningly balanced history. Revisionist it is not. To the contrary, Nifong is quoted so much and so often that his words could be extracted and sold under separate cover – a former district attorney's answer to If I Did It, you could say.
I can't blame them. The length of this book is absurd. It certainly wasn't proofread. If it was edited at all, it was hidden well. Several times, Cohan struggles with choosing what to quote, and too often, he throws up his hands and appears to paste entire op/eds into the work.
The value of The Price of Silence is that it is a time capsule. The tragedy of the Duke lacrosse scandal should never be forgotten. Every prosecutor should study it as long as there are prosecutions. Every law school should teach it as long as there are law schools. Years from now, Cohan's doorstop of a history may prove to be the most authoritative account of the scandal if only because of the impressive breadth of its sources.
Cohan offers a maddeningly balanced history. Revisionist it is not. To the contrary, Nifong is quoted so much and so often that his words could be extracted and sold under separate cover – a former district attorney's answer to If I Did It, you could say.
abandoned
October 9, 2024It wasn't that long ago that, no matter what I thought of a book while reading it, I would power through until the bitter end (it took me over a year to read the novel Ordinary Thunderstorms, which should tell you how I felt about it). In the last year or so, however, I have changed my feelings on that, partially due to life changes (engagement, upcoming marriage and all the responsibilities that come with having a full-time partner in your life, among just other things such as work and general living) so when I find myself disinterested in a book, I am more willing to put it aside and move on. Such is the case for The Price of Silence, a book I first discovered existed via an article I came across by the author about former Trump official Stephen Miller, and I thought it would be an engaging read, but it was not. It is extremely long and dense, and by the point I quit, in the mid 200s, the author digressed extensively to side topics and I simply could not work up the interest to continue through another 400-plus pages for something that simply did not engage me. It is an important topic, but this author's presentation simply could not keep me going.
March 14, 2023
A very well-written account of the scandal that presents a broad perspective of all the stakeholders involved or affected by the events of March 13, 2006, in a house near the Duke campus. The broad and comprehensive nature of the book leads to some repetition and increases its overall page length. The intended audience seems to be those with a vested interest in the events and not necessarily those with a passing interest. I had to persevere and push through in order to finish it in its entirety.
I still have no idea if I believe the lacrosse players or the "victim". Credibility and suspect occupational choices aside, the "victim" and her partner were not treated well by the entitled drunken players. The university and its many varied staff/personnel were caught supporting both sides while law enforcement had their own agenda to serve. A messed up debacle that negatively impacted many, many lives.
I still have no idea if I believe the lacrosse players or the "victim". Credibility and suspect occupational choices aside, the "victim" and her partner were not treated well by the entitled drunken players. The university and its many varied staff/personnel were caught supporting both sides while law enforcement had their own agenda to serve. A messed up debacle that negatively impacted many, many lives.
January 7, 2019
Cohan could hardly be faulted for painstakingly and thoroughly researching this train wreck of events, but readers are still readers and he asks a lot of us. He could’ve trimmed this considerably and still told his story to exacting standards of scholarship. Having said that, this case did come to mind during the SCOTUS hearings of summer 2018, there are still lessons playing out from it: the high cost of political motivations, unchecked ambition, the rush to pre-judge, and the need to defend our pre-judgment — at any cost — even if the cost is the truth.
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