Review

She Said is, for the most part, a riveting read about how Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the Harvey Weinstein story. The center of this account is one of great investigative journalism that involved time-consuming, meticulous, often blind-alley, grunt work, a relentless process of building a story that was seamless and that could withstand legal inquiry. When She Said was published, everyone knew the Weinstein story of sexual abuse and his actions had been rumored and whispered about for many years. What was not known was why the years of inaction about Weinstein's sexual offenses, the board of directors who looked the other way, the multiple cash settlements for silence that had been paid out under nondisclosure agreements (NDAs), and high-profile lawyer Davie Boies served as his personal consigliere, deflecting threats of bad press. Even feminist lawyer Gloria Allred negotiated an NDA for Weinstein earning 40% of the settlement and did the same for women victimized by Olympics gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. Allred's daughter, Lisa Bloom, was also known for winning sexual harassment settlements with NDAs, and she was retained by Weinstein and drew up a broad game plan for him as the threats of disclosure increased. The world came crashing down on Weinstein on October 5, 2017 when The New York Times (finally content that the story was complete) published an article by Kantor and citing allegations against him that had been piling up for some 30 years. That report and others that followed were solidified by numerous interviews with company employees and actresses and written back-ups that documented all of the cover-ups, the bullying tactics, and settlements that had kept the lid on for many years. This account lost its zing only when the authors veered off to cover a couple of other allegations of sexual abuse (e.g. Kavanaugh) which I skipped over. Scores of other women have since stepped forward and Weinstein is free on bond awaiting trial

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