Longlist, National Book award for Nonfiction 2020
New York Times New & Noteworthy Audiobooks
Lit Hubs Most Anticipated Books of 2020
Starred Review Shelf Awareness
She Said meets Know My Name in Michelle Bowdler's provocative debut, telling the story of her rape and recovery while interrogating why one of society's most serious crimes goes largely uninvestigated.
The crime of rape sizzles like a lightning strike. It pounces, flattens, destroys. A person stands whole, and in a moment of unexpected violence, that life, that body is gone.
Award-winning writer and public health executive Michelle Bowdler's memoir indicts how sexual violence has been addressed for decades in our society, asking whether rape is a crime given that it is the least reported major felony, least successfully prosecuted, and fewer than 3% of rapists ever spend a day in jail. Cases are closed before they are investigated and DNA evidence sits for years untested and disregarded.
Rape in this country is not treated as a crime of brutal violence but as a parlor game of he said / she said. It might be laughable if it didn’t work so much of the time.
Given all this, it seems fair to ask whether rape is actually a crime.
In 1984, the Boston Sexual Assault Unit was formed as a result of a series of break-ins and rapes that terrorized the city, of which Michelle’s own horrific rape was the last. Twenty years later, after a career of working with victims like herself, Michelle decides to find out what happened to her case and why she never heard from the police again after one brief interview.
Is Rape a Crime? is an expert blend of memoir and cultural investigation, and Michelle's story is a rallying cry to reclaim our power and right our world.
Praise & Reviews
Lambda Literary / July’s Most Anticipated LGBTQ Books
The Lesbrary / July roundup
Named one of the 100 MUST Reads of 2020 by TIME Magazine
“In her stellar, unsettling book, Bowdler, seeks answers—about why her own case disappeared, but also why America seems so comfortable continuously, systemically failing survivors.”
–TIME Magazine
"This standout memoir marks a crucial moment in the discussion of what constitutes a violent crime."
―Publishers Weekly, Best Books of 2020
"Is Rape a Crime? is a unique intervention in the memoir and social justice genres. Bowdler is an uncommonly gifted writer. She is thoughtful even when describing horrible wrongs; lucid and captivating even when describing the sort of psychic pain that typically eludes words."
—Moira Donegan, The Guardian
“Framed by the story of Michelle Bowdler's uninvestigated rape and subsequent activism, Is Rape a Crime? criticizes the abhorrent trivialization of rape by the criminal justice system; it will move readers to demand change.”
–Samantha Zaboski, Shelf Awareness
“The inquiry Michelle Bowdler poses in the title of her debut book, “Is Rape a Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto,” is neither a trick nor a rhetorical question. It is an indictment of one of the most glaring contradictions of the US criminal justice system.”
–The Boston Globe
"Is Rape a Crime? is beautifully written and compellingly told. In 2020, we were all looking for solutions and this book was right on time. It is one we should all be reading."
―Anita Hill
"Bowdler’s combined memoir and manifesto is provocative and illuminating.”
– Booklist
“A brave, illuminating book that’s difficult to read and impossible to put down."
–Brandeis Magazine / On the Bookshelf
“An urgent, necessary, stark exploration of one of the most horrific violations that can happen to a human being.”
–Kirkus
“This is a brilliant study of how society views rape.”
–Publishers Weekly
"I promise you, this is the most important book you will read this year. With searing clarity and unflinching honesty, Bowdler’s account of her rape and law enforcement’s repeated failure to investigate it, will enrage you, shock you, inspire you, and ultimately change you forever. Bowdler is fighting for all of us, recovering all our stories―this is indeed our manifesto."
—Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals
“This book should be on the ‘important reads list’ for everyone over the age of eighteen living in the United States; for survivors, for those who care about and for them, for medical and criminal justice professionals, psychotherapists, and social activists who insist on dignity for all. It takes a deeply personal look at the experiences of one rape survivor combined with the systemic and shocking societal brokenness that multiplies that harm. And yet, Michelle Bowdler reminds us, "sustained change takes time and persistence and it is never only about one person." It is about all of us and our everyday actions both small and large.”
—Janet Yassen, LICSW, co-founder of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center
“A devastating, necessary, and compelling account of one woman's experience combined with astute analysis of our country's troubling relationship to sexual violence. Bowdler's book should be required reading for all who live here."
―Melissa Febos, author of Whip Smart and Abandon Me
“Beyond Michelle Bowdler’s lucid prose, what I find most remarkable here is this: even when the stakes are personally overwhelming and she feels as if she cannot go one step further, Bowdler constantly thinks of others―her roommates, her mother, her wife, her children, and, as she discovers how many rapes go uninvestigated, her fellow survivors. Smack in the middle of a story filled with headlines, the uncanny humanity with which Bowdler tells her story is moving, urgent, and necessary. In this she shows us a way toward repair."
―Kenny Fries, award-winning author of In the Province of the Gods
“Is Rape a Crime? filled me with equal parts rage and awe: rage at the grave failures and chronic indifference of our 'justice' system, rage that the question can be asked at all. I am in awe of Michelle Bowdler’s resilience, her activism, and the devastating matter-of-factness with which she tells her story and makes her case. This book is a must-read for every human.”
―Christopher Castellani, bestselling author of Leading Men
“Michelle Bowdler’s memoir is a powerful testimony and eloquent plea to rethink how rape is handled in America and around the world. Bowdler's writing is beautiful, compelling, and urgent. This book is a knockout.”
―Alysia Abbott, author of Fairyland
“As a fellow survivor, I am in awe of what Michelle Bowdler has achieved with this masterful, suspenseful, and impeccably researched book. Bowdler courageously searches for an answer to her central question even when it seems the answer is devastating: It’s not that we don’t believe victims; it's that we don’t particularly care. But this is not a book about despair. Arming the reader with knowledge and the power of storytelling, Is Rape a Crime? is essential reading for a better, more just society.”
―Grace Talusan, author of The Body Papers, winner of the Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing in Nonfiction
“Michelle Bowdler's remarkable, beautifully constructed book is essential reading. It forces us to confront both the reality of sexual assault and the repeated brutalities of a system that treats survivors of rape with disdain and neglect. And yet Bowdler is no victim. This book is not only a memoir but a call to action, one that will inspire and galvanize every reader.”
―Ayelet Waldman, executive producer and co-creator of Netflix's Unbelievable and author of A Really Good Day
“Raw, visceral, urgently researched, and impeccably argued, Michelle Bowdler’s Is Rape a Crime? is a book for our times. From the horrific crime she suffered―one familiar to too many women―she extracts a public call to action, forcing us not to turn away from a message at once vitally personal and publicly searing. I felt honored to read this book, and changed by it. Bowdler’s voice is one we need.”
―Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Lambda-award winning author of The Fact of a Body
“Tracking police inaction on her own case, Michelle Bowdler wields memory as a weapon then a banner to urge an end to this most wretched and devastating of crimes against women. Take this book in hand and join her. Rape is a crime! Here is our manifesto!”
―Honor Moore, the author of the National Book Critics Circle Award finalist The Bishop’s Daughter