If you’re looking for something heavier than mysteries and self-improvement for summer reading, check out James B. Stewart’s new book “Tangled Webs; How False Statements Are Undermining America, from Martha Stewart to Bernie Madoff.”
I think it’s one of the most important books of the year and one that should resonate with Memphians.
The subject is lying by the rich and powerful and their minions and the difficulty of rooting it out and prosecuting it. Change “America” to “Memphis” and substitute John Ford, Roscoe Dixon, O. C. Smith, Dana Kirk, Logan Young, and Allen Stanford and see if you can make some connections. As a reporter who has covered the federal beat for 25 years, from the Ford trials to Tennessee Waltz and Main Street Sweeper, it sure spoke to me. If you followed those stories, I think you’ll like Stewart’s book, which includes extensive treatments and fresh reporting on Martha Stewart, Madoff, Barry Bonds, track star Marion Jones, Scooter Libby, and Karl Rove among others.
It should be required reading for journalists, lawyers, and law students.