Reddit reviews It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered

If people are interested, they should pick up It's Not About The Truth, the book by the former head coach. He kept a detailed journal during the ordeal and the book gives a very clear understanding of the entire events. The title comes from a quote from Mike Nifong when he basically admitted that the factual events in the case were not of concern.

If you haven't noticed from my Casey series and other posts, I really like court cases and have more of a defense bent to me. I get really into cases where I believe there was a wrongful conviction or wrongful accusation so that's where most of the books I like fall. I really like Alan Dershowitz. He's a defense attorney and a famous public speaker. When he writes a book, he does the audible recording for it, so I always make sure to get the audible version. My favorite was Reasonable Doubts about the OJ Simpson case. Dershowitz played a minor role in the criminal trial as he was the attorney hired as OJ's appellate advisor in case of conviction, but the way he explained the evidence, I can see why they acquitted. I also really liked Fundamental Cases. Like I said, he's a defense attorney, so there's an issue with bias there, but he's a great speaker and it was really interesting listening to his explanation of these famous court cases.

If you're studying the OJ case, OJ is innocent and I can prove it provides some decent fodder for discussion, but is horribly written.

I also enjoyed:

It's Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered (Okay, not so much unsolved, but it was pretty controversial)

A beautiful child about Sharon Marshall (semi-solved case, but there are still a lot of mysteries)

I've read a number of books about the Casey Anthony case and I can't say there are any that cover the case in a completely unbiased manner. Baez's Presumed Guilty is the best written of the bunch (I actually really enjoyed it), but there are a number of facts he fudges to support his argument. Ashton's book Imperfect Justice is an interesting read from the perspective that he's off in lala land. He has no clue why they lost the trial and it's obvious from his writing. I wish Linda Drane Burdick would write a book. If you're studying that case, those two are interesting to read in tandem to get a feel for it.

Renner's book--I like the guy and enjoy his blog, but I went into it hoping there would be more about Maura. I felt like he knows more about Maura than what he said in the book and was hoping for a more thorough discussion. I realize he wrote it more as a memoir so maybe that's part of my disappointment. I was hoping it would be a different book than it was.

One of the authors of that book, KC Johnson, ran a blog at the time (Durham-in-Wonderland) that consistently shredded the prosecutor's case. I read his blog daily in 2006-2007 during the height of the case. If there's an expert on this case, hands down it's KC Johnson. Until Proven Innocent is an excellent book. Another good one is It's Not About the Truth by Don Yaeger.

Anyone who liked this documentary should read the book Mike Pressler wrote about the experience: http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-About-Truth-Shattered/dp/1416551492

It is truly infuriating to read.

If I ever have a son, I'd want him to play for Mike Pressler at Bryant.

Pressler's book: http://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-About-Truth-Shattered/dp/1416551492/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251947666&sr=8-1

Good read.

There are several books on the Duke Lacrosse Rape hoax. I have not read any of them but they look cheap and easy to read.

• The Price of Silence
  
  
• Until Proven Innocent
  
  
• It's Not About the Truth