It's Not About the Truth

The Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives It Shattered

By: Don Yaeger, Mike Pressler

Narrated by: 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.

Critic reviews

"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.

Incredible Injustice

I found this book so interesting. I knew when this whole thing went down in 2006 that those boys were innocent, so it was very interesting to me to see how it all shook down. I am outraged at the injustice and the atrocities they had to withstand. It hurts to think this kind of thing happens in the USA.

I like the narrator a lot, but he tends to have a Damon Runyon-like accent. It sometimes seems affected, and can make him a little hard to take seriously. But it was only a minor distraction to me.

A real eye-opener

Shame on you Duke faculty and administration. Aren't Duke students innocent until proven guilty too?

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.

Fantastic book

I've listened to about 300 books about a number of different subjects, but none can compare with this story and the twists and turns along the way. The letter from the former coach's daughter to the Duke President was about as good as it gets. A truly great audiobook.

UNBELIEVIABLE

What a story. This must be what the Civil Rights Movement refers to as persecution of skin. This book is as riveting as any fiction I have ever listened to. These people were greatly and needlessly wronged. Nifong and the Accuser should be jailed. The State of North Carolina, Duke University, the Gang of 88 rabid Leftists, and many in the Media should pay millions in damage and millions more in punitive justice. This book should be required reading for anyone sending a child off to college.

biases but interesting

I was very intrested in this case, and wanted to know a little bit more from the inside. Since it was supposed to be written sort of 5 Mike pressler, I thought this would be a good inside book. However it turned out to be more of a book by a very conservative journalist c** or the seemingly so. He definitely could get a job on Fox News. So I'm not sure what 100% of how accurate 70 information is here, but if it is accurate it really is a sad thing. I didn't follow the story that closely when it happened but have been involved in education for many years so Mana to see how University handle such a crisis. It does seem That the University did not handle it well. I wish the book had gotten more into some of the actual reactions of the player's family and coaches. Maybe a little more of an inside look at what happened between them and the AD at the president. But over all an interesting makes you want to learn more.

The Truth is Pressler

Great book!!!
The duke administration is the tragedy in this case. The duke administration, I will not mention their name....