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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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Okay, so I live in missoula,mt. Moved from michigan 11 years ago. The problem with the football team is that the griz take a lot of transfer players. Ones that couldn’t make it on power 5 team, grades, abilities, legal troubles.. Mostly legal troubles!!! Winning matters. There was a bad span of athletes through missoula with horrendous criminal records. The police and school looked bad….real bad. The town doesn’t except this and has been extremely disappointed. Missoula is a beautiful place and those issues from the college have been handled and administrators and coaches and those connected have been served. I’m gonna look into actually reading it.
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That’s interesting about the town. The book implies that the town and the perpetrators’ family members, friends, etc. are pretty caustic when it comes to the victims. I certainly hope the city is friendlier and more sympathetic than the book makes it seem.
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Butcher gets really good by book 3 (even he says it’s not bad to start there).
I’ve got Vince Flynn’a Mitch Rapp series on deck on recommendation from my pops. Hope to get a book or two done before the movie comes out.
Recently read the first two books released by Josiah Bancroft (Senlin Ascends and Arm of the Sphinx). Really interesting and well written stories following Senlin trying to get back to his wife. Mixture of fantasy and steampunk.
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That’s good to know about Butcher. I think “Storm Front” started off pretty slowly, but I’m about one-third of the way in, and it picked up once Dresden and Bob (IIRC) started mixing potions.
Thanks for those other suggestions.
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You will not go wrong reading about Flynn’s character Mitch Rapp. Word of advice, start at the beginning of the series and work your way through them. I was seriously bummed when I heard Vince Flynn had passed away.
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yeah. I’ve got american assassin queued up on my kindle. Def a sad story with Flynn’s passing
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If anyone has read or enjoys the work of Vince Flynn, I can recommend David Hagberg’s Kirk McGarvey series. They are some of my absolute favorite novels over the years.
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I just started Night School (another Jack Reacher story) the other day. Just getting started but already hooked.
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That’s one thing I like about the Jack Reacher books. Lee Child doesn’t waste any time with the hooks.
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