About Tangled Webs
• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: The Penguin Press (April 19, 2011)
Bestselling author James B. Stewart’s newsbreaking investigation of our era’s most high-profile perjurers, revealing the alarming extent of this national epidemic.
Our system of justice rests on a simple proposition: that witnesses will raise their hands and tell the truth. In Tangled Webs, James B. Stewart reveals in vivid detail the consequences of the perjury epidemic that has swept our country, undermining the very foundation of our courts.
With many prosecutors, investigators, and participants speaking for the first time, Tangled Webs goes behind the scene of the trials of media and homemaking entrepreneur Martha Stewart; top White House political adviser Lewis “Scooter” Libby; home-run king Barry Bonds; and Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff.
The saga of Martha Stewart’s conviction captured the nation, but until now no one has answered the most basic question: Why would Stewart risk prison, put her entire empire in jeopardy, and lie repeatedly to government investigators to save a few hundred thousand dollars in stock gains? Moreover, how exactly was the notoriously meticulous Stewart brought down?
Drawing on the accounts of then-deputy attorney general James Comey and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, Stewart sheds new light on the Libby investigation, making clear how far into the White House the Valerie Plame CIA scandal extended, and why Libby took the fall.
In San Francisco, Giants home-run king Barry Bonds faces trial due to his testimony before a grand jury investigating the use of illegal steroids in sports. Bonds was warned explicitly that the only crime he faced was perjury. Stewart unlocks the story behind the mounting evidence that he nonetheless lied under oath.
Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is infamous, but less well known is how he eluded detection for so long in the face of repeated investigations. Of the four he is the only one who has admitted to lying.
The perjury outbreak is symptomatic of a broader breakdown of ethics in American life. It isn’t just the judicial system that relies on an honor code: Academia, business, medicine, and government all depend on it. Tangled Webs explores the age-old tensions between greed and justice, self-interest and public interest, loyalty and duty. At a time when Americans seem hungry for moral leadership and clarity, Tangled Webs reaffirms the importance of truth.
About James B. Stewart
James B. Stewart is the author of Heart of a Soldier, the bestselling Disney War, Blind Eye and Blood Sport, and the blockbuster Den of Thieves. A former Page-One editor at The Wall Street Journal, Stewart won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for his reporting on the stock market crash and insider trading. He is a regular contributor to SmartMoney and The New Yorker. He lives in New York.
James’ Tour Stops
Wednesday, May 11th: Take Me Away
Tuesday, May 17th: Marathon Pundit
Wednesday, May 18th: Man of La Book
Wednesday, May 25th: Laura’s Reviews
Wednesday, May 25th: Stacy’s Books
Wednesday, June 1st: Bibliophiliac
Monday, June 13th: Lisa Graas
Tuesday, June 14th: Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms
Wednesday, June 15th: Deep Muck Big Rake
M. Simon says
Sounds like an interesting book. It would have been way more effective if it included the lying going on on the other side. You know. Testilying.
It is not just those brought before the court that lie. The officers of the court are in it deep as well.
Katie Cochnauer says
Just heard interview on NPR about this book and was curious to know if the book starts with Bill Clinton and the Lewinsky Saga. This one high profile issue is where this epidemic began. No one really cared how he found his pleasure its that he lied under oath and the fact that he was not found guilty of perjury set off the fact that “lying is cool and acceptable”…tell them whatever they want to hear and do want you want