Writers are always looking for the perfect topic for a book. But there’s a problem.
What’s important to me may not be important to you. And what you to read about, I might not care about.
That’s why great books achieve a certain universality. They touch on the essence of life itself, of humanity itself, of existence.
Some say that the secret to perfectly spellbinding stories is a mixture of just three elements: sex, food, and spirit. That’s why Elizabeth Gilbert’s Love, Eat, Pray became such a phenomenal best-seller and movie.
I might claim that sex, justice, and military is the perfect American combination for a fiction story.
But I’m not here to talk about fiction.
I’m here to talk about hard, cold reality served up by one of St. Louis’s leading conservative writers.
Buy and read Bob McCarty’s Three Days in August_. _Read all about the book:
U.S. Army Special Forces Sgt. 1st Class Kelly A. Stewart admitted to having a one-night stand with a 28-year-old German woman the night of Aug. 22, 2008. She did, too. Both knew sex was part of the plan when they left the discotheque near Stuttgart. Two months later, however, her story changed and the highly-decorated combat veteran found himself facing rape and kidnapping charges.
During court-martial proceedings one year later, Stewart faced an Army court-martial panel comprised of soldiers who had recently returned from a 16-month deployment with the Army attorney serving as Stewart’s lead prosecutor.
Despite a lack of both physical evidence and eyewitnesses to the alleged crimes, it took only three days for the panel to find Stewart guilty of numerous offenses — including aggravated sexual assault, kidnapping, forcible sodomy and assault and battery — and sentence him to eight years behind bars.
Incredibly, the conviction was based almost entirely on the testimony of Stewart’s accuser, a one-time mental patient who, with the backing of the German government, refused to allow her medical records to be entered as evidence.
When several witnesses came forward during a post-trial hearing to reveal startling proof that the accuser had lied several times during the trial, their words were largely ignored by the court and Stewart remained behind bars.
Today, Stewart’s fighting for a new trial so he can shed the “sexual offender” label that will stay with him the rest of his life if justice remains out of reach.
Based on extensive interviews and never-before-published details taken from the actual Record of Trial, Three Days In August: A U.S. Army Special Forces Soldier’s Fight for Military Justice by Bob McCarty paints a portrait of military justice gone awry that’s certain to make your blood boil.
**Coming in eBook and print versions. Look for it at booksellers everywhere **Oct. 19.
Mark the date, October 19, down on your calendar; it’s game one of the World Series, it’s the day before the next After Party at Helen Fitzgerald’s, and it’s the day Three Days in August launches.