47) Betrayal by the Spotlight team of the Boston Globe.
So this is a bit of a change from other books I’ve read. If you haven’t seen the film Spotlight, then it’s a powerful telling of how the Boston Globe investigative team (known as the Spotlight team) uncovered systematic abuse of children by Catholic priests, and also how the Church there covered it up over many years – thus exposing more and more children to danger.
The book, if anything, is even more powerful. Not because it’s brilliantly written or because of any specific and powerful moments – more a slow accretion of detail and evidence and information and example that shocks and saddens and enrages the reader. It is difficult to overstate the hypocrisy of the Church (on this evidence, one of the least ‘Christian’ institutions out there), the slow and ponderous response from their leadership, and the bravery of those who stepped forward and revealed what had happened to them.
It’s a highly recommended, important read – because it reminds us how power can be abused, how people should be judged by their actions, and how the most vulnerable need to be protected.
Score: 8.5/10
Dog-eared Man: a book a week 