An exemplary investigation, exactly as the author describes it: “a true-crime story for the post-truth era.”
An unfortunate young man goes from murder victim to QAnon icon.
Seth Rich was a junior staffer with the Democratic National Committee’s “team of brainy lawyers and wonky data analysts devoted to protecting and expanding the right to vote.” In July 2016, someone shot him twice in the back, presumably in the course of a robbery. Within days, writes ProPublica investigative reporter, conspiracy theories began to pop up on the internet. At first, suspicions that Rich died for “knowing too much” came from Bernie Sanders supporters. When the WikiLeaks dump of stolen DNC documents revealed that the organization was working against Sanders, the theory took a sadly predictable turn: Hillary Clinton had ordered Rich’s killing. Soon the #IAmSethRich meme took a hard right turn. When Donald Trump entered the White House, he “represented a new style of conspiracy theorist. Unlike those of Alex Jones or the Birchers, his theories didn’t attempt to explain the world. They didn’t connect any dots or try to make sense of seemingly disparate events.” The buzz around Rich’s death intensified, soon to fall down the rabbit hole of the Trump internet cult, the Pizzagate set, and, far worse, Fox News, with Laura Ingraham decrying the “aggressive lack of curiosity” of the mainstream media in the case and Sean Hannity acting as a one-man amplifier of a matter that quickly became QAnon gospel. All ignored the plea of Rich’s parents: “Stop politicizing our son’s murder.” Kroll singles out Fox as the worst offender, but he doesn’t spare Julian Assange, either, for missing an “opportunity to issue a clarification that could provide a semblance of solace and resolution for a grieving family.” Lawsuits were filed, judgments rendered, apologies and retractions issued—but still, as the author writes in this thoroughgoing, riveting narrative, the lies continue to this day.
An exemplary investigation, exactly as the author describes it: “a true-crime story for the post-truth era.”Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5417-5114-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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