Rough Justice

The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer

By: Peter Elkind

Narrated by: Arthur Morey

With a combination of talent, hard work, connections, and family wealth, Eliot Spitzer built an amazing career. By his late 40s, he'd gone from Princeton to Harvard Law to dramatic success as a prosecutor and attorney general to the governorship of New York. Many thought he would become the first Jewish president of the United States. Then came the prostitution scandal that shocked and mystified the nation.

Peter Elkind's definitive account gets at all sides of this complex man: the well-intentioned do-gooder, the aggressive lawyer, the hardball politician, the dutiful son, the loving husband and father, and the secretive "Client 9" of the Emperor's Club escort service. Elkind interviewed dozens of key sources, ranging from Spitzer's family, friends, and closest aides, to targets of his high-profile investigations, to central players in the prostitution ring. He reveals many groundbreaking new details about Spitzer's rise, his short time as governor, and the way his enemies plotted against him. The result is a gripping, almost Shakespearean narrative - a tragedy of one man's noble intentions and fatal flaws, and the powerful forces (both internal and external) that destroyed him.

©2010 Fortune, a division of Time, Inc. (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Even if there weren't a prostitution thread, this would be a page-turner. Elkind's style is journalism at its best: well-reported but pared down, and full of colorful scenes." (Newsweek.com)

Should be called "Why I Love Spitzer"

If you were/are in love with Spitzer, you would love the book. If you didn't care for Spitzer or you hated the guy and wanted to get inside Spitzer's brain, you will be disappointed and disgusted. The book is written by a Spitzer friend and admirer. I am half way through the book and yet to hear anything "disturbing" about the psyche of Spitzer. I decided I had enough. When I got the book, I thought I would get insight into the mindset of a hard-driven yet guilt-seeking personality, instead, I got someone telling me how Spitzer is great. Gave up and deleted the book. I wish I can get my 2 credits back. Bad book.