What I’ve Been Reading: Missoula and Jack Reacher

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Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town by Jon Krakauer. I’ve written about Jon Krakauer several times in the past, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed his past writings. The two books mentioned on the cover above – Into the Wild and Under the Banner of Heaven – were my favorites. I found Missoula to be a little less enthralling and more poorly written. It’s a non-fiction account of several sexual assaults that take place in Missoula, Montana, which is the home of the University of Montana and its football program. Several Montana Grizzlies football players were accused of rape over the span of a few years, and the justice system seemed to favor the football players. Not only does the town seem to protect its athletes, but claims and statistics suggest that the number of reported rapes is a mere fraction of the total sexual assaults that take place. As a fan of football and sports in general, it does not surprise me that athletes get away with more than the average citizen might. I see it happen all the time, even at the high school level. The most frustrating part is that it gets institutionalized, because local governments sometimes don’t communicate or cooperate with schools, and vice versa. The reason I say the book is poorly written is that Krakauer beats some of the same points to death, without seeming to realize that he has addressed the same arguments previously. Furthermore, he seems to come to very few conclusions. What can be done? How can the problem be fixed? What underlying psychological issues do we have as a society that prevents us from treating athletes how they should be treated? The book was interesting, because it gave some specific stories and statistics on the issue overall. We have seen similar issues become national stories in recent years with Jameis Winston, Gareon Conley, and others.

Hit the jump for a discussion of The Affair by Lee Child.

The Affair by Lee Child. Another favorite author – who was introduced to me by readers of this series – Child ventures back to Reacher’s days in the Army. As a military police officer, Reacher is sent down to Mississippi to investigate several murders of local women near a military base. The government claims that members of the military aren’t involved, and the local law agencies don’t think the town’s citizens are guilty, either. Naturally, all the women being killed are extremely beautiful, and the local sheriff just happens to be the most attractive of them all. Jack Reacher doesn’t encounter ugly women. I thought Reacher went a little off the rails in this book, and he did several things that would have put him in a world of trouble.

I’m in the midst of reading Storm Front by Jim Butcher, another book series suggested by one of you out there.

What have you been reading lately?

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