A Deep Dive into Scandal
Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels by Paul Pringle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Genre: Nonfiction, Investigative Journalism
Edition Reviewed: Hardcover, 304 pages
Published July 19th 2022 by Celadon Books
Upon reading Bad City by Paul Pringle, my first thought was that it might have better been named, Bad University, as most of the reporting is on the University of Southern California and the corruption that has plagued this institution. Although another thread woven throughout is the trouble Pringle, an investigative journalist for the LA Times, encountered from his own superiors while trying to tell the story of Carmen Puliafito, the dean of USC’s Keck School of Medicine. The adage, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts, holds true for the people we are introduced to in this account.
The book opens in 2016 with the scene of a young woman who has overdosed in a room littered with drugs at the Hotel Constance in Pasadena, CA, an affluent town that also houses the USC Keck School of Medicine. The hotel manager on duty left for the day with the paramedics and police on the scene, sure that and arrest would follow for Carmen Puliafito, the occupant of the room. What unfolds is not an arrest or conviction, but the realization of who this man is, a prominent USC dean who has secured big money for the school and its programs, an inventor of cutting-edge medical technology, and a practicing eye surgeon. What follows is a cover-up involving the dean, the university president, city officials and the police force, and the LA Times itself. And a reporter determined to shine a light on dirty deeds.
This shocking and disturbing account also exposes other scandals involving leadership at USC, including a gynecologist at the university’s student clinic who was allowed to practice and perform examinations on female students that were later classified as sexual assault. Protected by the director of the clinic, and even higher up the chain of command, this man was allowed to practice for 25 years with no formal disciplinary action or involvement from law enforcement and was only asked to resign with a payout when he finally left. One may ask WHY, but the inevitable conclusion, disappointing in its banality, is that money talks and institutionalized money talks and protects their own. Appalling? Yes. Surprising? No.
The men exposed in these stories are not just breaking laws they are behaving very, very badly. Pringle is a gifted reporter and admirably dogged in his attempts to expose the truth and do what is right for the victims caught in these webs as well as the public, who deserves to know.
Thank you to BookishFirst/NetGalley, and Celadon Books for the free copy of this important book in exchange for my honest review.
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I remember hearing about this book on a radio review, said it was fantastic. Going to look out for it. ❤️