Catch and Kill (Farrow)

Catch and Kill:  Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
Ronan Farrow, 2019
Little Brown & Company
464 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316486637


Summary
In a dramatic account of violence and espionage, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Ronan Farrow exposes serial abusers and a cabal of powerful interests hell-bent on covering up the truth, at any cost.

In 2017, a routine network television investigation led Ronan Farrow to a story only whispered about: one of Hollywood's most powerful producers was a predator, protected by fear, wealth, and a conspiracy of silence.

As Farrow drew closer to the truth, shadowy operatives, from high-priced lawyers to elite war-hardened spies, mounted a secret campaign of intimidation, threatening his career, following his every move, and weaponizing an account of abuse in his own family.

All the while, Farrow and his producer faced a degree of resistance they could not explain -- until now. And a trail of clues revealed corruption and cover-ups from Hollywood to Washington and beyond.

This is the untold story of the exotic tactics of surveillance and intimidation deployed by wealthy and connected men to threaten journalists, evade accountability, and silence victims of abuse. And it's the story of the women who risked everything to expose the truth and spark a global movement.

Both a spy thriller and a meticulous work of investigative journalism, Catch and Kill breaks devastating new stories about the rampant abuse of power and sheds far-reaching light on investigations that shook our culture. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—December 19, 1987
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Bard College, J.D., Yale University, Ph.D., Oxford University
• Awards—Pulitizer Prize
• Currently—lives in New York City


Ronan Farrow is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, where his investigative reporting has won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the National Magazine Award, and the George Polk Award, among other honors.

He previously worked as an anchor and investigative reporter at MSNBC and NBC News, with his print commentary and reporting appearing in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Washington Post.

Before his career in journalism, he served as a State Department official in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is also the author of War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence (2018) and most recently of Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators (2019).

The basis for Catch and Kill, Farrow's article published in The New Yorker, won him a Pulitizer for Public Service. He shared the prize with Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey for their coverage of the same topic in the New York Times.

Farrow has been named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People and one of GQ's Men of the Year. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the New York Bar. He recently completed a Ph.D. in political science at Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He lives in New York. (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Absorbing.… The behavior documented in Catch and Kill is obviously and profoundly distressing.… But there are some hopeful threads, too.
Jennifer Szalai - New York Times


At the heart of every great noir is a conspiracy of evil that imbues the initial crime uncovered by the hero with a weightier resonance than was immediately obvious. So it goes with Catch and Kill.
Washington Post


Darkly funny and poignant.… [A] winning account of how it feels to be at the centre of the biggest story in the world. It is also, of course, a breathtakingly dogged piece of reporting, in the face of extraordinary opposition.
Guardian (UK)


Must read: Catch and Kill, by Ronan Farrow. How #sexualabuse stories got suppressed, and how deep-diving, fact-gathering reporting blew the lid off, despite threats, intimidation, and cronymongering at the top. Chilling!
Margaret Atwood - author, Handmaid's Tale


The connections between presidents, media moguls, and spies described in Catch and Kill are stranger than fiction. As a novel, it would be a page-turner. As a reported piece of nonfiction, it's terrifying.
Time


The year's best spy thriller is stranger—and more horrifying—than fiction.… [Ronan] weaves a breathless narrative as compelling as it is disturbing.… [Catch and Kill] bracingly exposes the rot that's persisted across elite American institutions for decades.
Entertainment Weekly


Catch and Kill is an important, frightening book.… [I]t's also a propulsive, cinematic page-turner
Salon


A groundbreaking #MeToo journalist finds his own news organization to be the greatest obstacle to the truth in this vivid, labyrinthine memoir.… [Reveals] troubling collusion between the media and the powerful interests they cover. This is a crackerjack journalistic thriller.
Publishers Weekly


This chilling narrative reveals the unequal power dynamic between aspiring actors… and the dominant powerbrokers in Hollywood.… [A] complement to Kantor and Twohey's She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. —Karl Helicher, formerly with Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Library Journal


At times, the book is difficult to read, mainly because Weinstein, Trump, Lauer, and other powerful men victimized so many women while those who knew about the assaults stayed quiet.… A meticulously documented, essential work.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for CATCH AND KILL … then take off on your own:

1. Author Margaret Atwood called Catch and Release "chilling," while Kirkus Reviews said, "at times the book is difficult to read." What was your experience reading Ronan Farrow's account of sexual assault in high places?

2. (Follow-up to Question 1) What revelations in Ronan Farrow's account shocked you … angered you … or pained you most?

3. How did Harvey Weinstein get away with his sexual predation for so long? Who, or more important, what protected him?

4. Talk about the term "catch and kill"—and the ethics, or lack of ethics, reflected in that journalistic practice? Although catch and kill is typically deployed by tabloids, to what extent were the same, or similar, tactics practiced by NBC, Farrow's own employer?

5. In addition to the scare tactics (threats, lawyers, firing) what were some of the hurdles Farrow and Rich McHugh faced in actually reporting. Why, for instance, was it so difficult to get women to talk on the record? Would you have had the courage to open up?

6. A number of the women Farrow spoke to continued to have sexual encounters with the men who assaulted them. How can you explain that? Does that lessen the guilt of the men? Does that make the women complicit? Or is it part and parcel of the coercive powers of high-placed men?

7. Then there is Black Cube. Want to talk about that episode in Farrow's life? What was the purpose of hiring the intelligence firm? What about the other methods of intimidation leveled at Farrow?

8. Farrow's reportage was personalized for Farrow by his sister, Rose McGowan. What is the background of her story, how it has affected her life, and why for so long had Farrow dismissed the truth and seriousness of her claims. Woody Allen, anyone? Thoughts?

9. Talk about one of the most stunning revelations toward the end of the book: Matt Lauer. What is it with powerful men? Tackle that one.

10. Ultimately, will this book, and all the other coverage of sexual harassment, make a difference? Has it already? What about #MeToo? Has it made a lasting difference? In other words, do you foresee effective change—in both male behavior and society's attitude toward female abuse?

11. This question is a late addition the reading guide: In 2020 Weinstein was tried in a court of law and, in late February, found guilty. A month later, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison. A fair sentence? Too harsh? Not harsh enough?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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