The Price of Silence
Despite being front-page news nationwide, the true story of the 2006 Duke lacrosse team rape case is more complex than all the reports to date would indicate. The Price of Silence is the definitive account of what happens when the most combustible forces in American culture—unbridled ambition, intellectual elitism, athletic prowess, aggressive sexual behavior, racial bias, and absolute prosecutorial authority—explode on a powerful university campus, in the justice system, and in the media.
Praise for The Price of Silence
"Meticulous and evenhanded. Mr. Cohan captures brilliantly the theater of the absurd that is played out on campuses every year over one controversy or another."
— The Wall Street Journal
“A masterwork of reporting. Every parent planning to send a child to an “elite” college dominated by an overly powerful athletic program should buy this book. It is required reading.”
— The New York Times Book Review
“Exhaustive, surprisingly gripping. Cohan has added a lot of new details to the narrative, extremely impressive.”
— The New York Times
“Fascinating. What Cohan’s extraordinary 600-page tome shows is that there is a yawning gap between the lofty rhetoric and grubby reality of American elite universities.”
“The first authoritative account. Cohan’s clear-eyed reporting tracks how administrators, lawyers, police, media personalities, Mangum, and the exonerated players reacted to the spotlight and the shadows it cast.”
— Men's Journal
“[Cohan] is sharp about following the money. [He] receives extra points for fairness.”
— Karen Long, Newsday