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Shocking, sad, surreal. Those are only a few (and more tasteful) of the emotions that built while I read Don Yaeger’s new book It’s Not About the the Truth due for publication on Tuesday, June 12th. It’s Not About the Truth is a firsthand account of the infamous Duke Lacrosse Rape case (Yaeger’s co-author is former Duke Lacrosse Head Coach Mike Pressler) and covers the case and the circumstances that made it a national story from fabricated misconception to its unconscionably delayed vindicated conclusion.

The headline portions of this story are well-known - a local African-American woman accuses college students from a well-to-do university of rape, only to be proven that the allegations are completely false - but it is the background information that form this book and make it well worth reading. Yaeger’s reporting provides a thorough look at what really happened in Durham, North Carolina and why. While Yaeger’s perspective comes from that of an individual looking at the case from the point of view of the accused, it was hard for this reader to dispute his reasons.

Time and again the evidence clearly showed that the Duke Lacrosse team and it’s players were being assassinated in the court of public opinion without any basis in truth or reality. Yaeger shows that the motivations behind the continued prosecution of this case ranged from elitist liberal vanity to political greed. And in the end, It’s Not About the Truth tells a story of the strength and resilience of a college sports team and its extended family when encountering insurmountable odds.

It’s Not About the Truth is a study in what’s wrong with American society. Yaeger does an incredible job documenting how a non-story became a national sensation because the people in power at Duke and in the city of Durham saw an opportunity to gain through self-serving blame. In the case of Duke we find a faculty and administration comprised of disconnected social engineers more interested in supporting community victimhood than standing by their own students, and with the city of Durham there’s a District Attorney who’s career as a public sector paper pusher can be solidified through political opportunism. The only victims in the almost 400 days of this media-actuated circus were the Duke players, the coach and their families. As the tagline for the book (’the untold story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the lives it shattered”) indicates, peoples’ lives were shattered. As one of the accused, David Evans, said in an interview with 60 Minutes, “When I die, they’ll say, ‘One of the three Duke lacrosse rape suspects died today. He led a life and did this, but he was one of the three Duke lacrosse rape suspects.’”

How incredibly sad and unjust is that?

This is a book that I would highly recommend for anyone’s summer reading list. Yaeger writes in a fashion that moves a fascinating story quickly without sacrificing any of the necessary details. Just be prepared to be sick to your stomach by how far our country has gone from the concept of being innocent until proven guilty.

It’s Not About the Truth by Don Yaeger with Mike Pressler is to be published on June 12th by Threshold Editions (an imprint of Simon & Schuster). It will be available at fine booksellers everywhere, online and through the publisher. For more information about Don Yaeger (pictured at left) visit his website. For another perspective on It’s Not About the Truth, you can read Tung Yin’s review here.