Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
Written by Jon Krakauer
Narrated by Mozhan Marno and Scott Brick
4.5/5
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About this audiobook
From bestselling author Jon Krakauer, a stark, powerful, meticulously reported narrative about a series of sexual assaults at the University of Montana - stories that illuminate the human drama behind the national plague of campus rape
Missoula, Montana, is a typical college town, with a highly regarded state university, bucolic surroundings, a lively social scene, and an excellent football team - the Grizzlies - with a rabid fan base.
The Department of Justice investigated 350 sexual assaults reported to the Missoula police between January 2008 and May 2012. Few of these assaults were properly handled by either the university or local authorities. In this, Missoula is also typical.
A DOJ report released in December of 2014 estimates 110,000 women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four are raped each year. Krakauer's devastating narrative of what happened in Missoula makes clear why rape is so prevalent on American campuses, and why rape victims are so reluctant to report assault.
Acquaintance rape is a crime like no other. Unlike burglary or embezzlement or any other felony, the victim often comes under more suspicion than the alleged perpetrator. This is especially true if the victim is sexually active; if she had been drinking prior to the assault - and if the man she accuses plays on a popular sports team. The vanishingly small but highly publicized incidents of false accusations are often used to dismiss her claims in the press. If the case goes to trial, the woman's entire personal life becomes fair game for defense attorneys.
This brutal reality goes a long way towards explaining why acquaintance rape is the most underreported crime in America. In addition to physical trauma, its victims often suffer devastating psychological damage that leads to feelings of shame, emotional paralysis and stigmatization. PTSD rates for rape victims are estimated to be 50%, higher than soldiers returning from war.
In Missoula, Krakauer chronicles the searing experiences of several women in Missoula - the nights when they were raped; their fear and self-doubt in the aftermath; the way they were treated by the police, prosecutors, defense attorneys; the public vilification and private anguish; their bravery in pushing forward and what it cost them.
Some of them went to the police. Some declined to go to the police, or to press charges, but sought redress from the university, which has its own, non-criminal judicial process when a student is accused of rape. In two cases the police agreed to press charges and the district attorney agreed to prosecute. One case led to a conviction; one to an acquittal. Those women courageous enough to press charges or to speak publicly about their experiences were attacked in the media, on Grizzly football fan sites, and/or to their faces. The university expelled three of the accused rapists, but one was reinstated by state officials in a secret proceeding. One district attorney testified for an alleged rapist at his university hearing. She later left the prosecutor's office and successfully defended the Grizzlies' star quarterback in his rape trial. The horror of being raped, in each woman's case, was magnified by the mechanics of the justice system and the reaction of the community.
Krakauer's dispassionate, carefully documented account of what these women endured cuts through the abstract ideological debate about campus rape. College-age women are not raped because they are promiscuous, or drunk, or send mixed signals, or feel guilty about casual sex, or seek attention. They are the victims of a terrible crime and deserving of compassion from society and fairness from a justice system that is clearly broken.
Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer is a mountaineer and the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, (which was on the New York Times bestseller list for over a year and was made into a film starring Emile Hirsch and Kristen Stewart) Into Thin Air, Iceland, Under the Banner of Heaven and Where Men Win Glory. He is also the editor of the Modern Library Exploration series. He has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer."
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Reviews for Missoula
97 ratings8 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was such a great book. Almost like watching a documentary.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Impressed by the research out into this. Such sad stories, but they need to be told. It should come as no shock why the majority of rape victims do not report their assaults.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5very informative. I love this author
I have read mAny of his books and this one did not disappoint! the reader of the story was awesome as well. her tone and pace really made the people and places come to life. I highly recommend. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5thr best. kept my attention and that isn't easy.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5powerful piece
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5incredibly heart breaking and frustrating look at rape and sexual assault in a college setting. Definitely a must read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow, what an exhaustive study on rape reports and the outcomes, specifically in Missoula on campus. It was a candid glimpse into the decisions made by law enforcement and judicial system, as well as the effect of assault on the victims, and their revictimization as they are dragged through the legal system. Such brave women.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is a harrowing and riveting story of several women who were raped/sexually assaulted by college athletes in Missoula, Montana between 2008 and 2012. It's absolutely appalling what these women had to go through. First there's the physical assault. Then they have to deal with the disbelief, calumny, and trauma at trials when they try to get their attackers punished.
Krakauer is on the women's side, though he does acknowledge that a small percentage (2%-10%) of rape accusations are false.
Note: only the forward and the afterword are narrated by Scott Brick. The large majority of the book is narrated by Mozhan Marno (a woman) who does an EXCELLENT job. I listened pretty much straight through the whole book, with only a break for sleeping.