Synopses & Reviews
The sex scandal that toppled Dominique Strauss-Kahn gripped the world with its salacious allegations, dramatic twists, and a stunning turnabout in court. But the public saw only a fraction of what really went on behind the scenes, where justice played second fiddle to egos, political pressures, and investigative missteps. Now award-winning reporter John Solomon
exposes the story you didn't know, delivering a searing indictment of American justice at its moment of intense international scrutiny.
When Strauss-Kahn arrived in New York on Friday, May 13, 2011, he was an international political powerhouse and favorite to win the French presidential election. By Monday, he was sitting in the notorious Rikers Island jail, his career in tatters.
Likewise, when hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo arrived at work on Saturday morning, she never could have predicted that a brief encounter with a VIP guest would put her at the center of a legal and public relations battle that would leave her life in shambles.
Those seven minutes in Suite 2806 would throw international politics into turmoil, eliminate one of the key players in Europes debt crisis, and create a trial by fire for Manhattans rookie district attorney. And it would all happen under the eye of a frenzied media which at first presumed guilt before suddenly turning the tables on the alleged victim. The public was left wondering: Was Dominique Strauss-Kahn guilty or innocent?
Solomon goes past the headlines to show how personal clashes, ambition, and media leaks took precedence over facts and evidence. He chronicles the personal battles that went on behind the scenes, from suicide worries to AIDS scares, and the toll they took on key players. He lays out in gripping detail all the facts, good and bad, pro and con, so that finally the public can judge what really happened in one of the most fascinating criminal cases of the last decade.
Review
Praise for DSK
“Solomons riveting account of what probably happened—and didnt happen—in that fancy hotel room will change your mind. He presents the case the DA declined to present. Read it and decide for yourself whether the prosecution of DSK should have been dropped.” —Alan M. Dershowitz
“This is a fascinating examination of the roles of politics, race, class, social status, and egos in one of the decades most sensational criminal cases." —Booklist (starred review)
"Exciting." —Le Figaro
“Investigative journalist John Solomon has provided the best explanation yet for what is going on in this tightly written and altogether credible account of what happens when an ordinary sex scandal involving a prominent man turns into a dark story where scary questions still lurk.” —The Washington Times
Review
Praise for DSK
“Solomons riveting account of what probably happened—and didnt happen—in that fancy hotel room will change your mind. He presents the case the DA declined to present. Read it and decide for yourself whether the prosecution of DSK should have been dropped.”
—Alan M. Dershowitz
“This is a fascinating examination of the roles of politics, race, class, social status, and egos in one of the decades most sensational criminal cases.”
—Booklist (starred review)
"Exciting."
—Le Figaro
Synopsis
From award-winning Newsweek reporter John Solomon, the inside story of how the DSK case was transformed from a slam-dunk, five-day indictment against Strauss-Kahn to a flat out dismissal that turned the tables on his very accuser.
Synopsis
From award-winning
Newsweek reporter John Solomon comes the inside story of how the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case and the media circus that presumed him guilty and then turned the tables on the victim With all the errors and perversities of this case, the public was left wondering was Dominique Strauss-Kahn guilty or innocent? John Solomon gets past the headlines to tell the real story of how vanity, ambition and media exposure played a more important role than facts, evidence and law in the unraveling the case. Solomons dramatic account depicts a media circus, with the egos of prosecutors supplanting core values of justice and biased headlines creating far-reaching consequences—ultimately instigating such powerful initial judgements in the court of public opinion that a court of law never got the
opportunity to hear the case at all. A searing indictment of the American jurisprudence system at the dawn of the twenty-first century, DSK: Anatomy of a Scandal lays out all the facts good and bad, pro and con, so that finally the public can judge what happened in the one of the most fascinating criminal cases of the last decade.
About the Author
John Solomon is one of America's premier investigative journalists, whose award-winning stories over the last quarter-century have exposed scandals ranging from the use of foster children in AIDS drug experiments to what the Bush administration knew about terror threats in the days before September 11, 2001. His exposés have appeared in
Newsweek, The Washington Post, The New York Times, on
60 Minutes, and in
the Associated Press and countless other publications and news shows across the globe. A former executive editor of
The Washington Times and director of news at
Newsweek, Solomon currently runs the
Washington Guardian investigative newspaper in the nation's capital and lives in Virginia.
Learn more at www.washingtonguardian.com/DSK.