The Suspect: An Olympic Bombing, the FBI, the Media, and Richard Jewell, the Man Caught in the Middle
About this audiobook
A contributing source for the Warner Bros.’ film Richard Jewell starring Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates, Jon Hamm, Olivia Wilde and Paul Walter Hauser!
A gripping insider account of the terrorist bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games that captured the world’s attention, and the heroic security guard-turned-suspect at the heart of it all
On July 27, 1996, a hapless former cop turned hypervigilant security guard named Richard Jewell spotted a suspicious bag in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park, the town square of the 1996 Summer Games. Inside was a bomb, the largest of its kind in FBI and ATF history. Minutes later, the bomb remotely detonated by the attacker amid a crowd of 50,000 people. But thanks to Jewell, it only killed two and wounded 111, not the hundreds who authorities estimated could have otherwise died. With the eyes of the world on Atlanta, the games continued. But the pressure to find the bomber was intense. Within seventy-two hours, Jewell went from the hero to the FBI’s main suspect, a false accusation that forever changed his life and let the true bomber roam free to strike again.
In a triumph of reporting and access, Kent Alexander and Kevin Salwen’s The Suspect is a gripping story of the rise of domestic terrorism in America, the advent of the 24/7 news cycle, and an innocent man’s fight to clear his name.
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About the author
Kent Alexander was the US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia at the time of the 1996 Olympics. He spent hundreds of hours working with the FBI to find the bomber, and he ultimately wrote and hand-delivered Richard Jewell’s clearance letter.
Journalist Kevin Salwen was a longtime Wall Street Journal reporter and editor who ran the paper’s southeastern section during the Olympic Games. He is the coauthor (with his daughter, Hannah) of The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back.
Paul Michael was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada where he performed on stage, radio, and TV including a regular role on the TV series The Beachcombers. He also received an ACTRA award nomination (the Canadian equivalent of an Emmy) for best actor in a TV movie for Gold Mountain Fever. Paul has guest starred in several American TV series including VIP and Alias and has narrated nearly fifty recorded books, both abridged and unabridged, and has been twice nominated for an Audie award. Some of his most popular recordings include The Tristan Betrayal, Hollywood Tough, Sons of Fortune, Second Spring, and The Da Vinci Code. Paul now makes his home in Southern California with his wife and two daughters.
