What do you think?
Rate this book
Start by Believing: Larry Nassar's Crimes, the Institutions that Enabled Him, and the Brave Women Who Stopped a Monster
The definitive, devastating account of the largest sex abuse scandal in American sports history-with new details and insights into the institutional failures, as well as the bravery that brought it to light.
Start by Believing reveals the win-at-all-costs culture in elite athletics and higher education that enabled a quarter century of heinous crimes. For decades, osteopathic physician Larry Nassar built a sterling reputation as the go-to doctor for America's Olympians while treating countless others at his office on Michigan State University's campus. It was largely within the high-pressure world of competitive gymnastics that Nassar exploited young girls, who were otherwise motivated by fear and intimidation, sexually assaulting hundreds of them under the guise of medical treatment.
>In Start by Believing, John Barr and Dan Murphy confront Nassar's acts, which represent the largest sex abuse scandal to impact the sporting world. Through never-before-released interviews and documents they deconstruct the epic institutional failures and individuals who enabled him. When warnings were raised, self-serving leaders chose to protect their organizations' reputations over the well-being of young people.
Following the paths traveled by courageous women--featuring a once-shy Christian attorney and a brash, outspoken Olympic medalist--Barr and Murphy detail the stories of those who fought back against the dysfunction within their sport to claim a far-from-inevitable victory. The gymnasts' uncommon perseverance, along with the help of dedicated advocates, brought criminals to justice and helped fuel the #MeToo revolution.
Start by Believing reveals the win-at-all-costs culture in elite athletics and higher education that enabled a quarter century of heinous crimes. For decades, osteopathic physician Larry Nassar built a sterling reputation as the go-to doctor for America's Olympians while treating countless others at his office on Michigan State University's campus. It was largely within the high-pressure world of competitive gymnastics that Nassar exploited young girls, who were otherwise motivated by fear and intimidation, sexually assaulting hundreds of them under the guise of medical treatment.
>In Start by Believing, John Barr and Dan Murphy confront Nassar's acts, which represent the largest sex abuse scandal to impact the sporting world. Through never-before-released interviews and documents they deconstruct the epic institutional failures and individuals who enabled him. When warnings were raised, self-serving leaders chose to protect their organizations' reputations over the well-being of young people.
Following the paths traveled by courageous women--featuring a once-shy Christian attorney and a brash, outspoken Olympic medalist--Barr and Murphy detail the stories of those who fought back against the dysfunction within their sport to claim a far-from-inevitable victory. The gymnasts' uncommon perseverance, along with the help of dedicated advocates, brought criminals to justice and helped fuel the #MeToo revolution.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published January 14, 2020
53 people are currently reading
2044 people want to read
About the author
John Barr
92 books5 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
March 4, 2020
This was a good overview of everything that has happened before, during, and immediately after the Larry Nassar investigation, which is exactly what I wanted. Even as someone who knew Nassar and who covered the Nassar case (from more of a gymnastics perspective and not an investigative one), I've found myself completely lost in so many of the technicalities of the case, and the timeline for how everything unfolded has always been murky for me.
What I remember in real time is Nassar's Facebook post announcing his retirement in 2015, thinking it was super weird that he'd retire from the national team a month before worlds and a year before Martha Karolyi's final Olympic Games (he said in his status it was because he was focusing on his run for the local school board but I was still super skeptical, as were most people involved in the sport). I then remember the news about Jamie Dantzscher breaking, and not being the least bit surprised that there was something sinister behind Nassar leaving the U.S. team. I remember Nassar simply posting a photo of his daughter C on Facebook in response to the news, with no caption (which was...beyond fucked up to use his autistic daughter for sympathy???). And I remember everyone commenting on that photo with words of support while calling Jamie an alcoholic slut and continuing to have Nassar's back until the FBI child porn charges were made public. Then things finally started to change.
Watching this unfold in real time from a personal interest while simultaneously trying to follow the legal happenings was incredibly difficult for me, and I felt really scattered throughout the entire process. This book cleared a lot of the timeline up for me, and painted a picture of everything from start to finish, or at least what "finish" looked like at the time of its publication (though much is still ongoing, especially in the case against USA Gymnastics leading up to the 2020 Olympic Games). It did a good job of sharing the background of both Nassar and many people involved, both in terms of victims and enablers, though at times because there are SO many people involved, it felt a bit scattered and rushed and I'd imagine for people without intimate knowledge of the people involved, it's probably not super clear. For instance, Steve Penny is the subject of one chapter somewhere in the middle of the book, but then after that, he only appears in a sentence here or there. Knowing Penny, it wasn't an issue for me to keep him straight, but given that there are so many other enablers in power mentioned throughout the book (like John Geddert and William Strampel, both of whom have similar introductions but then are kind of scattered throughout the rest of the book), I can see it being difficult remember who everyone is and think some sort of glossary of names with brief descriptions could have been helpful here.
The biggest complaints I've seen about this book is that it's too "abuser-focused" and not "victim-focused" but I don't agree with those complaints because this book is literally an investigative look at the entire case. To understand what happened, you do need the victim's perspective, which is given here in droves through the stories of multiple victims, including Rachael Denhollander, Kyle Stephens, Larissa Boyce, and many of the U.S. national team members who came forward. But you ALSO need to know what was happening in Nassar's life, what was happening at USA Gymnastics, and what was happening at MSU to understand how something like this could've been swept under the rug for 30 years, and you can't get that from the victims' stories. There are other books, like Denhollander's autobiography, that focus more on the victims and how they specifically fought to be heard in the fight to get Nassar out of power and behind bars, but these books do not unravel the case in the way this book does. It's important to have the victim accounts, but it's just as important to have a full picture of his crimes from every angle so we can understand how they happened in order to keep them from happening again in the future, and that's exactly what this book does.
My one complaint is probably just that this book is ONLY that, a report that spouts off facts from start to finish with very little investigating on part of the reporters. They covered the case, and it seems like they just tied together a chronological perspective of their coverage. There are a few anecdotes and stories thrown in, but most don't seem to come from their own investigating...Abigail Pesta's "The Girls" is quoted multiple times throughout, because Pesta actually sat down with the survivors and got their stories, whereas these authors seemed to just want to summarize Pesta's and other journalists' accounts of those stories. It seems like they did speak to a couple people, but most of what they're telling is something I've heard elsewhere...like Denhollaner's story, which came almost entirely from her book, and the stories of the national team gymnasts, which come from multiple other sources. Nothing in this book feels "exclusive" and so I question whether these particular writers were the best ones to get the green-light for the comprehensive investigative story when so many others were more clearly on the ground covering this not because they had to for their publication, but because they were there uncovering it from day one and were the ones to actually break stories and talk to survivors upfront.
The authors do a good job of compiling this information and sharing it with the rest of the class, but I was also slightly disappointed that none of it felt like wholly original work. I appreciated the work that goes into making linear sense of a story with so much happening behind the scenes to this day, but nothing I read in this book was new or eye-opening or came from sources outside of publicly-available documents, and that's why my rating is a star down from where I was hoping to come in.
What I remember in real time is Nassar's Facebook post announcing his retirement in 2015, thinking it was super weird that he'd retire from the national team a month before worlds and a year before Martha Karolyi's final Olympic Games (he said in his status it was because he was focusing on his run for the local school board but I was still super skeptical, as were most people involved in the sport). I then remember the news about Jamie Dantzscher breaking, and not being the least bit surprised that there was something sinister behind Nassar leaving the U.S. team. I remember Nassar simply posting a photo of his daughter C on Facebook in response to the news, with no caption (which was...beyond fucked up to use his autistic daughter for sympathy???). And I remember everyone commenting on that photo with words of support while calling Jamie an alcoholic slut and continuing to have Nassar's back until the FBI child porn charges were made public. Then things finally started to change.
Watching this unfold in real time from a personal interest while simultaneously trying to follow the legal happenings was incredibly difficult for me, and I felt really scattered throughout the entire process. This book cleared a lot of the timeline up for me, and painted a picture of everything from start to finish, or at least what "finish" looked like at the time of its publication (though much is still ongoing, especially in the case against USA Gymnastics leading up to the 2020 Olympic Games). It did a good job of sharing the background of both Nassar and many people involved, both in terms of victims and enablers, though at times because there are SO many people involved, it felt a bit scattered and rushed and I'd imagine for people without intimate knowledge of the people involved, it's probably not super clear. For instance, Steve Penny is the subject of one chapter somewhere in the middle of the book, but then after that, he only appears in a sentence here or there. Knowing Penny, it wasn't an issue for me to keep him straight, but given that there are so many other enablers in power mentioned throughout the book (like John Geddert and William Strampel, both of whom have similar introductions but then are kind of scattered throughout the rest of the book), I can see it being difficult remember who everyone is and think some sort of glossary of names with brief descriptions could have been helpful here.
The biggest complaints I've seen about this book is that it's too "abuser-focused" and not "victim-focused" but I don't agree with those complaints because this book is literally an investigative look at the entire case. To understand what happened, you do need the victim's perspective, which is given here in droves through the stories of multiple victims, including Rachael Denhollander, Kyle Stephens, Larissa Boyce, and many of the U.S. national team members who came forward. But you ALSO need to know what was happening in Nassar's life, what was happening at USA Gymnastics, and what was happening at MSU to understand how something like this could've been swept under the rug for 30 years, and you can't get that from the victims' stories. There are other books, like Denhollander's autobiography, that focus more on the victims and how they specifically fought to be heard in the fight to get Nassar out of power and behind bars, but these books do not unravel the case in the way this book does. It's important to have the victim accounts, but it's just as important to have a full picture of his crimes from every angle so we can understand how they happened in order to keep them from happening again in the future, and that's exactly what this book does.
My one complaint is probably just that this book is ONLY that, a report that spouts off facts from start to finish with very little investigating on part of the reporters. They covered the case, and it seems like they just tied together a chronological perspective of their coverage. There are a few anecdotes and stories thrown in, but most don't seem to come from their own investigating...Abigail Pesta's "The Girls" is quoted multiple times throughout, because Pesta actually sat down with the survivors and got their stories, whereas these authors seemed to just want to summarize Pesta's and other journalists' accounts of those stories. It seems like they did speak to a couple people, but most of what they're telling is something I've heard elsewhere...like Denhollaner's story, which came almost entirely from her book, and the stories of the national team gymnasts, which come from multiple other sources. Nothing in this book feels "exclusive" and so I question whether these particular writers were the best ones to get the green-light for the comprehensive investigative story when so many others were more clearly on the ground covering this not because they had to for their publication, but because they were there uncovering it from day one and were the ones to actually break stories and talk to survivors upfront.
The authors do a good job of compiling this information and sharing it with the rest of the class, but I was also slightly disappointed that none of it felt like wholly original work. I appreciated the work that goes into making linear sense of a story with so much happening behind the scenes to this day, but nothing I read in this book was new or eye-opening or came from sources outside of publicly-available documents, and that's why my rating is a star down from where I was hoping to come in.
January 17, 2020
I wanted to get into this book but sadly it was kind of a slog to try to get through. It's dense and hard to follow, and the authors seem more interested in the perpetrators than the women who shut them down.
February 6, 2020
A lengthy and laborious read that doesn’t offer any new facts in the case. Strangely distant and impersonal. I recommend Rachel Denhollander’s “What is a Girl Worth” and Abigail Pesta’s “The Girls.”
April 28, 2021
VERY VERY well-written investigative analysis of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse crimes that occurred over decades in the highly flawed USA Gymnastics machine. There are many books/forms of media you could consume to learn more about this case. The strength of Start By Believing is its analysis of Nassar’s crimes through a systems lens. It explores not only Nassar’s horrific individual actions, but how these were enabled by the frameworks and attitudes around the national gymnastics team and training industry. In this way, it makes a strong contribution to the narrative around this case. This is an angle I find particularly interested, but can be balanced by other texts that foreground the human voices of Nassar’s victims more strongly.
January 28, 2020
Ugh. The first chapter of this book is a biography about Larry Nassar's life, which pretty much says it all about this book: the writers care more about the criminals than the survivors. There's also a disturbingly condescending, clueless tone towards the survivors. The writers seem surprised to learn that it's difficult for survivors to talk about their abuse. These guys are really out of their depth with this topic.
January 22, 2020
I’ve followed this case pretty closely and I was hoping to learn something new here, but it’s just a lengthy rehash of what has already been reported elsewhere. The writing is bland and didn’t inspire me to keep reading. Was hoping for more.
July 15, 2020
One of several books so far—and probably many more to come—about the abuse Larry Nassar inflicted on young gymnasts and the way the gymnastics world helped to perpetuate his crimes. This one is based in reportage rather than personal story, aiming to give more of an overview and timeline for what happened. I preferred the writing in The Girls (which Start by Believing references) and am not convinced that this adds a whole book's worth to the conversation, but there are a few things worth highlighting.
He told his gymnastics patients he had treatments that could alleviate their pain and allow them to continue practicing. He used his pelvic floor adjustments when other doctors might have explored options for surgery or other forms of treatment. One gymnast said she saw Nassar for months before someone recommended she get a bone scan when her pain continued to persist. The results showed she had eight fractures in her back. Whether the treatments worked was nearly irrelevant. They were enough to convince gymnasts and coaches they were safe to keep going at a time when stopping was not an option.*
I'm not sure why this is so shocking to me, but it is. It's not like Nassar's abuse would be any less horrific if, other than the abuse, he'd been treating gymnasts effectively. I'd still be perfectly happy that he's rotting in prison. But this really highlights the disregard for gymnasts' health: that he willfully ignored injuries with potentially devastating long-term effects in order to continue his abuse, and that other officials and adults involved weren't invested in making sure that gymnasts' health and wellness was actually being looked after—they were invested in taking the word of anyone who would tell them, honestly or not, that the gymnasts could train.
It is perhaps indicative of the anguish sexual assault victims experience when wrestling with the decision to share their stories publicly that for more than five months after the Larry Nassar story broke in the Indianapolis Star, not a single gymnast from the US national team, current or former, stepped forward to identify themselves by name as one of his victims. The national team gymnasts who’d filed civil lawsuits to that point had done so anonymously.
Yes, but I would love to see this taken further—it's not just a question of anguish but a question of suddenly becoming public figures not for their achievements but for trauma over which they had no control (and subject to unfair scrutiny and criticism and worse), and it's a question of possible retribution from the insular competitive gymnastics world, so so on. So...anguish, yes, but also a lot more context-specific things.
*No page numbers because Overdrive is terrible
He told his gymnastics patients he had treatments that could alleviate their pain and allow them to continue practicing. He used his pelvic floor adjustments when other doctors might have explored options for surgery or other forms of treatment. One gymnast said she saw Nassar for months before someone recommended she get a bone scan when her pain continued to persist. The results showed she had eight fractures in her back. Whether the treatments worked was nearly irrelevant. They were enough to convince gymnasts and coaches they were safe to keep going at a time when stopping was not an option.*
I'm not sure why this is so shocking to me, but it is. It's not like Nassar's abuse would be any less horrific if, other than the abuse, he'd been treating gymnasts effectively. I'd still be perfectly happy that he's rotting in prison. But this really highlights the disregard for gymnasts' health: that he willfully ignored injuries with potentially devastating long-term effects in order to continue his abuse, and that other officials and adults involved weren't invested in making sure that gymnasts' health and wellness was actually being looked after—they were invested in taking the word of anyone who would tell them, honestly or not, that the gymnasts could train.
It is perhaps indicative of the anguish sexual assault victims experience when wrestling with the decision to share their stories publicly that for more than five months after the Larry Nassar story broke in the Indianapolis Star, not a single gymnast from the US national team, current or former, stepped forward to identify themselves by name as one of his victims. The national team gymnasts who’d filed civil lawsuits to that point had done so anonymously.
Yes, but I would love to see this taken further—it's not just a question of anguish but a question of suddenly becoming public figures not for their achievements but for trauma over which they had no control (and subject to unfair scrutiny and criticism and worse), and it's a question of possible retribution from the insular competitive gymnastics world, so so on. So...anguish, yes, but also a lot more context-specific things.
*No page numbers because Overdrive is terrible
May 25, 2020
As a therapist who works with sexual assault survivors, and as a former Michigan resident with many family members who still live around East Lansing and either attended or have worked at Michigan State University, I consumed a lot of media concerning the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case. I can recommend this book for someone seeking a very comprehensive investigative account of the case, and particularly from a systems perspective - that is, how not just Nassar alone, but also many other powerful entities, including law enforcement, MSU, and USA Gymnastics, were all complicit in committing institutional and systemic abuse.
I would call this a more straightforward work of historical nonfiction, and there are other very worthwhile accounts of this tragedy that cover it from overlapping but slightly different and perhaps more humanized and narrative perspectives, if that’s what you’re seeking. In particular, I recommend the excellent NPR/Michigan Public Radio 8-episode podcast Believed, which empathically covers some of the material in this book while also being able to give greater voice to the survivors themselves, and their parents. Along with this, and for similar reasons, I would recommend Erin Lee Carr’s very good HBO documentary At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal. (I recommend ALL her documentaries, actually - dear Lord, if you really want to learn about the impacts of the sad, real, and only relatively rare mental illness called fictitious disorder, in that case imposed not on self but rather, tragically, on another (aka “Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy” - no longer the correct medical term), please watch Mommy Dead and Dearest instead of reading the rip-off fictionalized potboiler Darling Rose Gold.) Abigail Pesta’s book The Girls also attempts to cover the Nassar case through a similar lens as Believed and At the Heart of Gold, and although I did not find that book nearly as well wrought as these other works mentioned, I can still recommend it.
Of course, in learning about the experience and effects of assault and abuse, I always recommend reading survivors’ own-voices accounts as much as possible. Although it isn’t about this particular case, Chanel Miller’s Know My Name is one of the most powerful such accounts l’ve read of experiencing and surviving sexual assault, including being further victimized and silenced by a institution of higher education, in that case Stanford rather than MSU.
I would call this a more straightforward work of historical nonfiction, and there are other very worthwhile accounts of this tragedy that cover it from overlapping but slightly different and perhaps more humanized and narrative perspectives, if that’s what you’re seeking. In particular, I recommend the excellent NPR/Michigan Public Radio 8-episode podcast Believed, which empathically covers some of the material in this book while also being able to give greater voice to the survivors themselves, and their parents. Along with this, and for similar reasons, I would recommend Erin Lee Carr’s very good HBO documentary At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal. (I recommend ALL her documentaries, actually - dear Lord, if you really want to learn about the impacts of the sad, real, and only relatively rare mental illness called fictitious disorder, in that case imposed not on self but rather, tragically, on another (aka “Munchausen’s Syndrome by proxy” - no longer the correct medical term), please watch Mommy Dead and Dearest instead of reading the rip-off fictionalized potboiler Darling Rose Gold.) Abigail Pesta’s book The Girls also attempts to cover the Nassar case through a similar lens as Believed and At the Heart of Gold, and although I did not find that book nearly as well wrought as these other works mentioned, I can still recommend it.
Of course, in learning about the experience and effects of assault and abuse, I always recommend reading survivors’ own-voices accounts as much as possible. Although it isn’t about this particular case, Chanel Miller’s Know My Name is one of the most powerful such accounts l’ve read of experiencing and surviving sexual assault, including being further victimized and silenced by a institution of higher education, in that case Stanford rather than MSU.
December 23, 2019
Got an advance copy of this book and was disappointed. It’s like a bombardment of facts that had already been reported before, poorly written.
September 13, 2020
4 STARS
Narration 3 STARS
Story 5 STARS
I listened to the audiobook of START BY BELIEVING, which I don’t think was the best way to take in the story. Except for the intro, one narrator read the story in which many Larry Nassar’s survivors spoke. The voices of his former victims sounded the same, which to me minimized their individual impacts, something I haven’t felt in the other audiobooks I’ve heard and written books I’ve read about Nassar’s abuse.
START BY BELIEVING comprehensively lays out Nassar crimes from the person he was before he was known to have abused his first victim until he was finally brought to justice.
Narration 3 STARS
Story 5 STARS
I listened to the audiobook of START BY BELIEVING, which I don’t think was the best way to take in the story. Except for the intro, one narrator read the story in which many Larry Nassar’s survivors spoke. The voices of his former victims sounded the same, which to me minimized their individual impacts, something I haven’t felt in the other audiobooks I’ve heard and written books I’ve read about Nassar’s abuse.
START BY BELIEVING comprehensively lays out Nassar crimes from the person he was before he was known to have abused his first victim until he was finally brought to justice.
May 3, 2020
I've been finding some great audiobooks to fill my time painting cabinets... I listened to this one in basically a day. This looks at the Larry Nassar case with a macro lens. It traces the rise of the sport in the past few decades, how Larry Nassar became involved in gymnastics, and the players and institutions that existed during his time. It's a detailed and exhaustive account, but I like the summary-style and the overall organization of the book. It also discusses non-Nassar coaches, traditions, etc. that give you a better sense of the world of competitive gymnastics. After all, the traditions and organizations that have developed in the last 30 years were instrumental in creating a culture of silence and in "explaining away" any discomfort as supposed true medical treatment. (I see you, John Geddert, USA Gymnastics and Steve Penny you PR man, "The Ranch", and University of Michigan...). I've taken other reviewers recommendation of reading The Girls and What Is a Girl Worth?, but I think this account is strong and conclusive.
January 20, 2020
This isn't the first book I've read that has been written about the Larry Nassar disaster, that being said, I did learn some things I hadn't known in other accounts. I didn't know the exactly lengths the institutions responsible for the well-being of the athletes went to covering up the abuse and other abuses going on in the sport. I didn't know how many instances where there were reports generated about Nassar's conduct and how those reports were seemingly swept under the rug. Definitely many opportunities to put the breaks on the abuse and they were seemingly ignored. My admiration for Rachael Denhollander and all of her fellow survivors continues to grow. It just boggles my mind that it took so long and so many victims to bring Nassar to the justice he so richly deserved. I liked the authors' approachable and matter-of-fact writing style. The pacing was just right and they clearly showed their investigative chops with the facts they had gathered. Overall, this was an extremely informative book and a great addition to the growing cannon of materials regarding this whole sordid mess.
October 6, 2020
This would’ve been good but it pretty much just used the material off of “The Girls” and at that point, I would’ve just read that book instead. So that’s what I’m going to do.
July 22, 2022
A good overview of the Nassar scandal. My main complaint is that this seemed like the authors were just regurgitating information already put out by others; I didn’t feel that they did much investigating themselves.
April 21, 2025
5 Stars. This book , however, is not for everyone. It covers some really tough material- exploring the extent of Larry Nassar's abuse. I wanted to understand how someone could sexually abuse patients and athletes for years and get away with it. The book did give me some understanding of it. Individual women did bravely come forward, but others could not see the pattern. Some went to USA Gymnastics, some to Michigan State (and various people there), some to the police. It was easy for each woman to be dismissed- they must have misunderstood, no one else had concerns, the assault was really a medical treatment.... The women were incredibly brave and thankfully a few of them were persistent enough to put an end to Nassar's abuse.
January 16, 2020
A good history of the Nasser abomination
I really think this is a good, well documented companion to the Rachel Denhollender book, “How much is a little girl worth?” You can really see here the entire chessboard of what led to and enabled the abuse, and the efforts by a noble few like Rachel and John Manly and Jamie Denscher to bend the arc of justice towards a successful outcome.
I really think this is a good, well documented companion to the Rachel Denhollender book, “How much is a little girl worth?” You can really see here the entire chessboard of what led to and enabled the abuse, and the efforts by a noble few like Rachel and John Manly and Jamie Denscher to bend the arc of justice towards a successful outcome.
September 11, 2021
Horrifying all the way around. All the more so because USAG/MSU continue to deflect responsibility for what they allowed Nassar to get away with for so long.
August 27, 2021
I’ve kept somewhat tabs on this as if the charges and trial happened, and watched the documentary “Athlete A”, but wondered how on earth did someone like this get away with so much. What type of environment was this doctor in where he realized he could get away with so much? An organization/society that still defaults to believing titles and “professional experience” over victims, that’s what. The pursuit of prestige and medals and money came at the cost of the humanity of children. Hundreds of them. This book went in depth of the rise of USA gymnastics and the culture the Kayrolis (whatever happened to THEM, by the way?) helped cultivate to keep children silent and obedient. To realize that unless a business/organization/institution treat and see and hear those at the “lowest” of their employees or athletes or whatever, predators and abuse and harm will continue to happen to the most vulnerable. We need to start believing instead of defaulting to what we think we know. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, though there is a trigger warning that this book does go into detail sometimes about the abuse that happened.
August 18, 2024
I listened to an in depth podcast series on this topic so much of this book was review, but it was still so interesting to me how someone could abuse so many victims for so many years while his star only rose, and almost get away with it. The book is pretty dry and a bit of a slog. I’d recommend the podcast over the book. I’m interested in the books of some of the women.
October 28, 2020
This book reads as one that was researched not by looking up the facts and court documents, but by reading the books written by survivors. Additionally, it reads as only attempting to be sympathetic to the survivors. This book is men telling women's very personal stories, and the gender gap when it comes to sexual assault is very apparent.
I listened to the audio version of this book, and my biggest problem comes not with the writing, but with the narration. The narrator clearly had never heard many of the names of people and places pronounced prior to reading this book, and made no effort to discover the correct pronunciation of these names. As someone who lives in Michigan and has been to these places and met some of the people involved, these mispronunciations were maddening. The narrator also chose to place her own emphasis in others' words and phrases, to the extent that things people have said aloud sounded completely different, and carried different meaning and weight.
I didn't hate the book, but there was very little in it that was new to anyone who has followed the situation.
I listened to the audio version of this book, and my biggest problem comes not with the writing, but with the narration. The narrator clearly had never heard many of the names of people and places pronounced prior to reading this book, and made no effort to discover the correct pronunciation of these names. As someone who lives in Michigan and has been to these places and met some of the people involved, these mispronunciations were maddening. The narrator also chose to place her own emphasis in others' words and phrases, to the extent that things people have said aloud sounded completely different, and carried different meaning and weight.
I didn't hate the book, but there was very little in it that was new to anyone who has followed the situation.
August 4, 2021
This was a great listen on audio—the true crime genre done right, with a focus on humanising victims not glorifying perpetrators, and a searing analysis of the enablers, both people and systems, which allowed these crimes to occur. Following the stories of three women gave these stories a human face.
February 4, 2020
This book is a fascinating factual account of the Nassar abuse scandal (scandal is too gentle a description). The two women the book focuses on are treated with incredible respect, and the crimes Nassar and others committed, and still others allowed to continue for decades, are described explicitly but not gratuitously. All told, a well-reported story.
November 13, 2022
As someone who was in the gymnastics community and grew up in Kalamzoo, this book provided new information and a new insight into what was going on behind closed doors. I have been learning and kept up with the Nassar case; however, this book provided further depth and understanding of how strong these women are. I learned more about the situation and what went wrong in the systems to allow Nassar to continue his abuse for so long. I recommend reading this book to gain knowledge or further understanding of the situation, the strong women who fought for justice, and to understand where and how multiple systems failed these women and young girls
January 17, 2020
This was a book that made me sick to read, but too important to look away from. It painfully and painstakingly depicts how this predator operated in his world, destroying the innocence of hundreds of young girls. Perhaps this can help people to see the red flags, and believe the vulnerable when they speak their truth because this kind of culture of abuse is probably much more common than anyone realizes.
October 15, 2019
This review is based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. The views in this review are my own.
"Start By Believing" is a powerful investigation of the system that produced and protected child abusers of all kinds--sexual, emotional, physical. The book dives deep--this isn't just a story about Larry Nassar, but about how the gymnastics community had been on notice for a long time that there were abusive practices in place. The book (with a very clear nod to previous public critics, including, but not limited to, Joan Ryan and Dominique Moceanu) shows us the persistent moral failure of USA Gymnastics to protect its athletes. Against a backdrop where young women and girls were being emotionally destroyed, starved, and not allowed time to recover from devastating injuries, it is no wonder that they were easy prey for the vile tactics of Larry Nassar. The authors show us as well the many women whose courage and empathy ultimately took down Nassar and his closest protectors. What I particularly appreciated was a note at the very end--how, in interviewing a survivor, the writers realized suddenly that these women had come forward while knowing fully well that this step would make them relieve their hell and reawaken their suffering. The authors' awareness of the survivors' strength, their testimony to the many times these women tried to gain justice, and their ultimate message to the world--to believe victims--makes the book a powerful read.
November 21, 2023
Larry Nassar’s sexual assaults were insidious by design. His assaults were difficult to expose.
It took decades and many voices to bring this deviant scam to light. The ambiguity and gray area in a medical treatment, allowed this pathological predictor to manipulate society. Larry is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is horrendous how he preyed upon a vulnerable population of: elite-level gymnasts, patients, and children and their parents. I believe this book is very well written and a gripping story. The authors did a great job of recounting the complex timeline, how this scam worked for so long, the way it crumbled, the bad-guys/cowards that enabled it, and the evil selfishness of a predator.
It took decades and many voices to bring this deviant scam to light. The ambiguity and gray area in a medical treatment, allowed this pathological predictor to manipulate society. Larry is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. It is horrendous how he preyed upon a vulnerable population of: elite-level gymnasts, patients, and children and their parents. I believe this book is very well written and a gripping story. The authors did a great job of recounting the complex timeline, how this scam worked for so long, the way it crumbled, the bad-guys/cowards that enabled it, and the evil selfishness of a predator.
April 30, 2023
When major sexual abuse cases hit the news, there seems to always be a sort of disbelief, like how could this go on for so long and affect SO many victims and no one knew about it? I feel like the answers to those questions can be found in this book. There are many underlying systems that keep victims from coming forward and that allow cycles of abuse to continue. When you add in powerful organizations like USA Gymnastics, the Olympics, and a popular university, money is often found at the root of all of this. Dr. Larry Nasser was allowed to perpetuate his crimes for so long because people were willing to look the other way and his victims were too young and too controlled to believe they could speak up.
Some of the reviews of this book seem to dock stars for the writer's coldness towards the events. I interpreted this approach very differently. I think these two men are journalists first and foremost, and so the focus of this book is on the facts. I thought they did a fantastic job incorporating several of the victims' stories (while still including heartbreaking details and emotions). If people are looking for a deep-dive into the psychological effects of this kind of abuse, this isn't the right book. However, it you're interested in a detailed look into the world of elite athletes and the process that occurred to try to hold Nassar accountable, this book was a thorough and well-researched pick.
This book evoked a lot of emotions in me - mainly, frustration, at how many signs were ignored and dismissed when it came to Nassar's behaviors. And the lengths people were willing to go to protect themselves (versus the innocent children and teenagers he abused). With over 5oo victims that have come forward, so many people could have been saved if the adults in charge weren't so obsessed with maintaining power. I also felt a newfound feeling of disgust when it comes to the world of elite athletes and young gymnasts in particular. Is all of this lifelong damage (physical, emotional, etc.) really worth it just for a sport?
I hope that books like this and the more people can learn about sexual abuse will help to shine a light on what we can do to move forward and make progress. But I fear that there is so much work that still needs to be done so that children and women are simply believed when they do speak up.
*Free copy provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
Some of the reviews of this book seem to dock stars for the writer's coldness towards the events. I interpreted this approach very differently. I think these two men are journalists first and foremost, and so the focus of this book is on the facts. I thought they did a fantastic job incorporating several of the victims' stories (while still including heartbreaking details and emotions). If people are looking for a deep-dive into the psychological effects of this kind of abuse, this isn't the right book. However, it you're interested in a detailed look into the world of elite athletes and the process that occurred to try to hold Nassar accountable, this book was a thorough and well-researched pick.
This book evoked a lot of emotions in me - mainly, frustration, at how many signs were ignored and dismissed when it came to Nassar's behaviors. And the lengths people were willing to go to protect themselves (versus the innocent children and teenagers he abused). With over 5oo victims that have come forward, so many people could have been saved if the adults in charge weren't so obsessed with maintaining power. I also felt a newfound feeling of disgust when it comes to the world of elite athletes and young gymnasts in particular. Is all of this lifelong damage (physical, emotional, etc.) really worth it just for a sport?
I hope that books like this and the more people can learn about sexual abuse will help to shine a light on what we can do to move forward and make progress. But I fear that there is so much work that still needs to be done so that children and women are simply believed when they do speak up.
*Free copy provided by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*
June 7, 2020
The world of elite sports, and especially aesthetic sports is notoriously tough for girls. This book dives into not only the atrocities committed under the guise of medical treatments by Larry Nassar, but more importantly emphasizes the culture that enabled and hid him from the world.
Through investigative reporting, this book uncovers the systemic problems which prevent predators from being caught, from governing sports bodies, to coaches, to universities, people in power discounted many reports from women and girls of sexual assaults, and in the rare cases where complaints were taken seriously, by using medical jargon and hiding behind a controversial but at least somewhat legitimate medical practice, Larry Nassar was able to continue abuse for decades.
This book is not the story of each of the hundreds of women who came forward, rather it is about the systems they had to get past, and the authority figures in their lives who (intentionally or not) contributed to their grooming.
It is an eye-opening look into a story which sheds light on not only one bad apple, but the many people who enabled him to continue his abuse for their own financial gain, for medals, and for accolades.
A must read, especially for the parents of elite athletes (especially in aesthetic sports), coaches, and anyone else who has a duty to protect children and especially young athletes.
Through investigative reporting, this book uncovers the systemic problems which prevent predators from being caught, from governing sports bodies, to coaches, to universities, people in power discounted many reports from women and girls of sexual assaults, and in the rare cases where complaints were taken seriously, by using medical jargon and hiding behind a controversial but at least somewhat legitimate medical practice, Larry Nassar was able to continue abuse for decades.
This book is not the story of each of the hundreds of women who came forward, rather it is about the systems they had to get past, and the authority figures in their lives who (intentionally or not) contributed to their grooming.
It is an eye-opening look into a story which sheds light on not only one bad apple, but the many people who enabled him to continue his abuse for their own financial gain, for medals, and for accolades.
A must read, especially for the parents of elite athletes (especially in aesthetic sports), coaches, and anyone else who has a duty to protect children and especially young athletes.
August 22, 2024
As someone who only knew the very basic details of the Nassar case, I learned a lot about the history of his assaults. The book takes a macro look at the individuals and institutions who willfully ignored and enabled Nassar's abuses and paints a picture of how a sport rife with physically and abusive coaches created a culture of silence and lacked safeguards to protect these girls.
That said, the organization of the book often felt chaotic and hard to follow. It didn't follow a straightforward chronological order, nor did it follow singular stories start to finish. It bopped around different story lines and timelines, and with the many, many names in the book to remember, it could become hard to follow.
Additionally, there were a few copy edit errors around some basic gymanstics info (parallel bars vs. horizontal bar, number of Olympic Team gymnasts) that had me question what other info might have been missed that I wasn't aware of, particularly since the book lacked a reference section at the end, which I've grown accustomed to for nonfiction books that take on weighty topics such as this one.
***quotes***
"As the university's police department geared up to investigate the renowned doctor, the most powerful people on campus made sure he was getting good public relations advice." (219)
That said, the organization of the book often felt chaotic and hard to follow. It didn't follow a straightforward chronological order, nor did it follow singular stories start to finish. It bopped around different story lines and timelines, and with the many, many names in the book to remember, it could become hard to follow.
Additionally, there were a few copy edit errors around some basic gymanstics info (parallel bars vs. horizontal bar, number of Olympic Team gymnasts) that had me question what other info might have been missed that I wasn't aware of, particularly since the book lacked a reference section at the end, which I've grown accustomed to for nonfiction books that take on weighty topics such as this one.
***quotes***
"As the university's police department geared up to investigate the renowned doctor, the most powerful people on campus made sure he was getting good public relations advice." (219)
February 25, 2020
John Barr and Dan Murphy tell us an engaging story that enlightens what happened in a major college level athletics program. They bring together the actions and the collision of a sport, the law, and the culture (s) that have that shocked a big university and community. The book also gives us some insights into what happens to young females in a very demanding sport. to see the danger of young women. Those who live in East Lansing, Michigan (where most of the story rolls out) will know much of the news story. The book gives us some deeper insights. Other readers will learn about more of the details than the newspapers provided. The book makes a strong statement of what a university can do and not do.
There’s no reason to explain what happened. You will find out in first pagers of the book. What makes the book a good read is the details about the people in the case and how the women were attack multiple times.
There’s no reason to explain what happened. You will find out in first pagers of the book. What makes the book a good read is the details about the people in the case and how the women were attack multiple times.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews