It's Not About the Truth

The Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered

De: Don Yaeger, Mike Pressler

Narrado por: Dick Hill

Mike Pressler walked into the bottom-floor meeting room of the Murray Building and, as he had done hundreds of times over a 16-year career at Duke University, prepared to address his men's lacrosse team. Forty-six players sat in theater-style chairs, all eyes riveted forward.

It was 4:30 P.M. on Wednesday, April 5, 2006. The program's darkest hour had arrived in an unexpected and explosive announcement.

Pressler, a three-time ACC Coach of the Year, informed his team that its season was canceled and that he had "resigned", effective immediately. While his words reverberated off the walls, hysteria erupted. Players cried, confused over a course of events that had spun wildly out of control. What began as an off-campus team party with two hired strippers had accelerated into a rape investigation, one that exposed prosecutorial misconduct, shoddy police work, an administration's rush to judgment, and the media's disregard for the facts, dividing both a prestigious university and the city of Durham.

Wiping away tears, Pressler demonstrated the steely resolve that helped him win more than 200 games. For the next 30 minutes, Pressler put his personal situation aside and encouraged his players to stick together. He also made a bold promise: "One day, we will get a chance to tell the world the truth. One day".

This is that day.

Pressler, who has not done an interview since the saga began, has handed his private diary from those three weeks to New York Times best-selling author Don Yaeger, exposing vivid details, including the day Pressler was fired, when the coach asked Athletic Director Joe Alleva why the school "wasn't willing to wait for the truth" to come out. "It's not about the truth anymore," Alleva said to the coach in a signature moment that said it all. In addition to Pressler, Yaeger interviewed more than 75 key figures intimately involved in the case. The result is a tale that defies logic.

©2007 Don Yaeger and Mike Pressler (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Pressler, the tale's sacrificial lamb, avoids a bitter or accusatory stance. Instead he adds color and insight to Yaeger's rigorous, efficient investigation; for anyone who got caught up in the story, this is a must-read." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Even if you didn't follow the case, you will like the book because the danger of a rogue prosecutor is exposed." (Brian Kilmeade, Fox News)

wow

Amazing book- amazing coach and stand up team. Coach mentor and leader. Best to all involved, what a tragic event that left so many lives effected.

Amazing truth!

Absolutely riveting. All the parties impacted in this are so strong. Prepared to clear your schedule because you want be able to put this down.

Highly Recommended

First, this was a powerful, well-written book, and there is so much going on inside this horrifying story that it more than fills every minute of running time with fascinating details you want to learn more about. The narration is professional and ideally suited to the material, so much so that the narrator practically disappears behind the well-presented story line. So purely as entertaining, compelling reading (listening), it gets very high marks. But it is also an IMPORTANT story, one that needs to be told and understood by anyone who cares about the way our criminal justice system works (or, occasionally, DOESN'T work). Perhaps the heroes appear a bit too heroic and the villains are a bit too villianous, and it almost feels like a carefully plotted Grisham thriller at times . . . but you can't help concluding that it probably seems that way because these people really WERE that heroic and/or despicable and this impossible situation really did happen. Are there other sides to this story that could be told as well? Possibly. And if they ever are, I can only hope they are told as powerfully and fairly and compellingly as Yeager and Pressler told this story. As a result, I highly recommend this book, both because it is an important story that needs to be heard, but also because the authors and narrator make that medicine go down in a surprisingly enjoyable, compellingly readable way.

Infuriating Situation

It's Not About the Truth is a well written take on an infuriating situation. I remember this case coming out my Freshman year of college, so I found it very relatable. Many parts of the story are hard to listen to, the party, the treatment of the "dancers", the investigation, and the treatment of the coach and players by university leadership.

Please take note that the story is primarily told from Mike Pressler, the Duke Lacrosse coach's point of view. Don Yaeger adds additional facts to fill in the story, but many requests for interviews with detectives, prosecutors, and university leadership were denied.

At the end of the day, this is a story that truly shows that one bad decision can have life-long implications for many people.

A must read

What made the experience of listening to It's Not About the Truth the most enjoyable?

Compelling book. Every law student and lawyer, as well as every young person going to college, should be required to read/listen to this book. What happened to Coach Pressler and the Duke Lacrosse players was a travesty and a witch hunt.