| Contents |
Dreams of glory -- An ugly scene : Duke meets Durham -- So many stories, so few injuries -- Police : building a case without evidence -- Cops ignite firestorm, Duke runs for cover -- The most dangerous power : enter Nifong -- The defense fights back -- Academic McCarthyism -- Politically correct sensationalism -- Richard Brodhead's test of courage -- Politics trumps law -- Blind injustice : indicted after proven innocent -- Nifong defeats the evidence -- Experts vindicate laxers, Duke harasses them -- "Fantastic lies" -- Lacrosse reinstated, with disrespect -- Nifong defies gravity, with help from friends -- Turning the tide -- Nifong's pyrrhic victory -- The conspiracy unravels --Defendant Nifong --Disgrace and exoneration -- No isolated case : from Duke to death row -- Presumes guilty : feminist overkill --The assault on excellence -- Epilogue. |
| Abstract |
The saga of the Duke lacrosse team members' alleged rape of an African-American stripper and the unraveling of the case against them. Covering all five aspects of the case (personal, legal, academic, political, and media), journalist Taylor and historian Johnson argue that law enforcement, a campaigning prosecutor, biased journalists, and left-leaning academics repeatedly refused to pursue the truth while scapegoats were made of these young men, recklessly tarnishing their lives. The story sheds new light on the dangers of rogue prosecutors and police and a cultural tendency toward media-fueled travesties of justice, and has broad political, racial, and cultural relevance to our times.--From publisher description. |
