The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, the Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of Our Great Universities

Acclaimed investigative journalist Cohan (Money and Power; House of Cards) turns from his previous focus on Wall Street to the 2006 Duke Lacrosse Scandal, when an event within the alcohol-fueled campus party culture led to charges of rape and a lengthy legal process. Cohan tells the complex story, drawing on public records and interviews, to portray the sports players and the three indicted students, the police investigators, the expert defense team, the academic leadership, and the district attorney who generated a media storm over the case until it was dismissed and he was disbarred. With both detail and clarity, the author engages the reader in the paradox of the emergence of Duke as a nationally ranked university where scholastic excellence vied against a "party hard" social scene. The book articulates the initial response that the case pitted "rich, arrogant, white" athletes against "poor, oppressed, blacks" and the nationwide concern that the accusations of sexual assault reflected unease about "decades of perceived racial, social and economic injustice in America."