Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town, by Jon Krakauer

Jon Krakauer we know from previous bestsellers-Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven, to name a few. This time he tackles a topic that is more complicated, more tangled, than the others. The result is a well-researched, uneven, shocking, and important book.

Krakauer's interest in the topic of acquaintance rape began when a friend revealed to him and his wife, years after the events, that she had been raped, first by a family friend and second by a family member. Her report of the ensuing years of confusion, self-doubt, and pain impelled Krakauer to try to understand. That lead him to Missoula, where he followed the stories of five young women who reported being raped by acquaintances, some of whom were members of the U. of Montana football team, the Grizzlies.

A series of stories about rape on campus had appeared in The Missoulian, the Missoula daily newspaper. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal picked up the story, and Krakauer was drawn to Missoula to investigate. He interviewed everyone who would talk to him. The result is our book.

Krakauer writes tellingly the story of each of the young women, from "the event itself" through all the twists and painful turns of reporting the event and filing charges, police interviews, coping with family and public reaction, trials, and in two cases university disciplinary hearings. His often excruciatingly clinical detail derives from his interviews and from the public records. He follows each young woman through the entire torturous process-including extensive re­ creation of trials through the verdict, guilty or not guilty.

Along the way, the US Department of Justice launched an investigation, with which the University and the Missoula police department co-operated fully and benefitted greatly. The Missoula County attorney's office refused its co-operation.

Let us not forget the Grizzlies. The U. of Montana is proud of its football team, which has an enthusiastic fan base in Missoula and throughout Montana. Because most of the accused were Grizzlies and one was a quarterback, the fan base was aroused. Public controversy was inflamed. Shockingly, the re-appointment of a member of the Board of Regents who had written critically of the actions of some Grizzlies was rejected by the Montana senate.

Krakauer places much of the blame for "the rape crisis in Missoula" on the county attorney's office. He quotes an investigator for the Department of Justice who "noted that the county attorney's office refused to prosecute some sexual-assault cases even when detectives provided prosecutors with a confession or an eyewitness." No wonder the young women went through hell. Missoula will repay a read.