A well-argued work of legal journalism that shines light on the darkest corners of married life.
Journalistic study of the legal battle to criminalize marital rape.
As late as 1974, writes Weinman, “it was perfectly legal for a man to rape his wife, because the very concept of marital rape seemed unfathomable” with wives considered property in the spirit if not the letter of the law. That was until the case of Greta Rideout reached a court in Oregon. She had reported to the police that her husband had raped her—and moreover, beaten her in the presence of their 2-year-old daughter. Greta’s case prompted a wave of legislative reforms, such that by 1993, as Weinman chronicles, “marital rape was a crime in every state.” As the author goes on to recount, Rideout’s husband had all the psychological hallmarks of an abuser, abused himself in childhood, forever promising to change his ways but never doing so. While remaining closely focused on the Rideout case, Weinman’s discussion is wide-ranging: She reports on statistical surveys indicating that as many as one in eight married women had been sexually assaulted by their husbands, though the word “rape” elicited far fewer numbers, as if the victims were reluctant to apply it to their experience. (A later study revised the figure slightly upward to 14%.) The Rideouts themselves provided fodder for commentary, much of it in the sexist framing of the period, with one calling the working-class couple “terminally stupid” and adding that “Greta had sensational legs and spent most of her time shaving them in the bathtub,” while another railed against “women who dress inappropriately, flaunt their right to be comfortable at the expense of the comfort of others.” The blaming-the-victim trope remained a constant, even as John Rideout, divorced from Greta, proved a repeat offender and was imprisoned for his crimes.
A well-argued work of legal journalism that shines light on the darkest corners of married life.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9780063279889
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Ecco/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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 moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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