This is Michael Maxwell with the Sioux City Public Library and you’re listening to Check It Out.
Today, I am recommending She Said by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
She Said was published in 2019 and quickly became a critically acclaimed bestseller that I’ve had in my to-be-read pile for a while now. With a movie adaptation coming out this year, I finally decided to pick it up- and I am so glad I did. The buzz this book has received is well-deserved.
She Said is written by two reporters who broke the Harvey Weinstein story, and it describes the behind the scenes work that went into the story as well as the challenges and pitfalls of reporting on sexual harassment and assault. The subject matter is rightfully stomach-turning, but these are virtuoso journalists, and they tell the story in a way that conveys its gravity while still being highly readable.
Like many others who followed the Weinstein story and many other high-profile cases of the last decade, I thought I was familiar with these happenings. She Said disproved this assumption and shed light on so many nuanced details that are impossible to convey in a tweet or a headline.
If you enjoy great books about journalism, She Said is for you. If you enjoy true crime, She Said is for you. If you want to help create a more equitable world, She Said is for you. And if you find these issues totally overwhelming, I still think She Said is for you. This is a book I would universally recommend, and I was so engrossed in it that I read it in one sitting.
Readers will walk away from She Said feeling better informed, and more empowered to critically consume news coming out of what oftentimes feels like an overwhelming media landscape.
Check out She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey and other powerful works of investigative journalism at the Sioux City Public Library today!
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