This first rate journalism chronicles the "Duke Lacrosse Scandal" of 2006-2007, in which three members of the school's lacrosse team were indicted for the rape of a stripper hired to perform at a team party. The criminal case captivated the attention of the national media for its dollops of sex, race, class disparity, big college athletics, political correctness and the failure of the criminal justice system.

The accused were rich white kids pampered by the University for playing on a winning team; the accuser was a black single mom from the other side of town enrolled at an historically black university and working at an escort service. The author, a Duke alum, gives us an even-handed and extremely detailed (at 660 pages) rendering of all the elements at play: the police investigation; the various accounts of what occurred at the March 13, 2006 party; the campus reaction to the allegations; the decision to prosecute; the multitudes of lawyers for the defendants and potential defendants; the missteps of the prosecutor and his eventual discipline and disbarment.

The scandal had a lot of moving parts, all captured with breathless immediacy by the author. Much of the book is the verbatim quotations of all who commented on the events: the lacrosse team members, their parents and lawyers, their coaches, Duke faculty and administration, fellow students, the police and prosecutors, the accuser and her family and friends, community supporters and detractors of the team and print and electronic media.

As good a job as the author does with all this, he doesn't quite meet the promises of the overreaching blurb on the book's cover: "The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, The Power of the Elite, and the Corruption of Our Great Universities." The "power of the elite" comes through. Not only was the case dismissed before trial (correctly so, the book strongly implies), partly as a result of aggressive defense lawyering, but the three accused players quickly received $20 million EACH from Duke as a civil settlement for the "wrongful" prosecution.

But claiming that the book deals with "the Corruption of Our Great Universities" is a major stretch. Yes, Duke fumbled a bit in its initial response to the allegations of the stripper, a troubled young woman with mental health issues. Many at the school, some by formal writings and letters to the editor, concluded that the allegations, which they assumed to be true, were a consequence of the "work hard, play hard" culture on campus, the particular partying history of the lacrosse team and racial bigotry. Shortly after March 13 the remaining lacrosse season was cancelled and the coach fired. After the prosecutor's case fell apart, primarily for lack of physical evidence of rape and the ever-changing and conflicted story of the accuser, the school fell all over itself damning the prosecutor and praising the three accused players for their courage and fortitude in facing the false allegations. This, plus the disquieting picture of a tolerated, alcohol-driven hookup fraternity culture among Duke's undergraduates, does not paint a pretty picture of campus life. But neither does it come close to showing the "Corruption of Our Great Universities."

This is a great read for anyone interested in higher education administration and, particularly, the workings of the criminal justice system.