Publishers Weekly
05/27/2019
Victims’ rights lawyer Goldberg shares invaluable insight gleaned from five years of experience helping victims of assault and harassment fight their tormentors in court. She describes past and ongoing cases: one man’s ex-boyfriend posted his information on the hook-up app Grindr, inviting strangers to visit his home for sex; a young woman was manipulated into filming pornography; an adult man extorted a teenager into sending nude photos; a young teen was sexually assaulted by a classmate and, after reporting it to the authorities, was suspended from school. While detailing the cases on which she’s worked, Goldberg traces the history of relevant judicial rulings and legislation, including the legal fight to hold websites responsible for threats posted by users, the evolution of Title IX, and the work of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative to ban the dissemination of “revenge porn.” Goldberg also candidly narrates her personal ordeal with a former boyfriend who threatened her, had her arrested on false charges, and sent her private photos to her friends and family, which put her on the path toward her current career. This is an illuminating and significant window into the present state of victims’ rights and a potentially powerful resource for readers dealing with abuse or harassment. Agent: Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, Foundry Literary + Media. (Aug.)
From the Publisher
"[A] memoir doubling as a rallying cry for privacy justice. . . . Goldberg chronicles in Nobody’s Victim her battle for justice in a tone that is both take-no-prisoners and warmly gregarious . . . The cases she narrates are gut-wrenching, and her conversational approach lightens what could otherwise be an unbearably heavy load. It also makes accessible the complicated legal history leading to our current moment."
—New York Times Book Review
“In the age of doxxing, revenge porn, and misogynist trolls, this book from Goldberg, a victims’ rights lawyer litigating against online harassment, is required reading. . . . In telling these wrenching stories, Goldberg gives voice to the legions who have experienced unthinkable violence.”
—Esquire, Best Nonfiction Books of 2019
"Another essential read for the #MeToo era, Nobody’s Victim illuminates the nightmare “stalking, blackmail and sexual violence” wreaks on people’s lives and reveals how lawyer Carrie Goldberg is helping her clients fight back."
—Paste Magazine
"Goldberg’s writing is sharp and engaging. . . . Nobody’s Victim holds the bracing promise of inspiring more people to expose those mofos, get that shit off the internet, get that money—and refuse to be shamed into silence and submission."
—Bitch
“Feminists who grew up alongside the internet—who don’t see a distinction between real life and what happens online—will find Nobody’s Victim instructive; those who identify as survivors will find it essential.”
—Elle
“Arguably the defining book of the #MeToo era so far.”
—Refinery29
"Nobody’s Victim is a battle cry not just against the various subgenres of abusive men (and they are mostly men) responsible for extorting, threatening, harassing, stalking, or assaulting Goldberg’s clients, but also their enablers—the victim-blaming cops and judges, ‘chickenshit’ school officers, and the tech moguls and venture capitalists who fund and build ‘the idiot inventions that ruin our lives.’"
—Mother Jones
“In her decade as a victims’ rights lawyer, Carrie Goldberg has seen it all: a man who made fake bomb threats in his ex-girlfriend’s name; a 15-year-old who was sexually assaulted at school and suspended when she reported the crime; a man who used a dating app to send 1,200 men to his ex’s home. The resulting book details how to take control and protect yourself.”
—MarieClaire
“Goldberg writes with searing fury, but she is also smart, engaging and sometimes funny… The book’s no-bullshit, take-no-prisoners attitude is a call to arms, with an overarching goal to transform clients from survivors into warriors.”
—Ms. Magazine
“An important, harrowing look into the dark underbelly of the internet, this book sheds light on the mistreatment of victims and on the society and justice system that often fail them.”
—Bookpage
“A significant book that will hopefully spark change.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Engrossing and unique, this is an important addition to the canon of #MeToo-era social science tomes.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“Timely, disturbing, and informative.”
—Library Journal
“This is an illuminating and significant window into the present state of victims’ rights and a potentially powerful resource for readers dealing with abuse or harassment.”
—Publishers Weekly
"Nobody’s Victim is terrifying, empowering and comforting."
—The Southern Illinoisan
“We need more warriors like Carrie using the law to help take down sexual predators and the institutions that protect them.”
—Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement
“Carrie Goldberg has written a timely, necessary and uniquely authoritative book about the modern-day scourges of on-line harassment, stalking, sextortion, and non-consensual porn—and how to fight them. But her book is also a strikingly honest memoir and a riveting read. The stories she tells illuminate real horrors, as well as real bravery—her own and that of the people she represents.”
—Margaret Talbot, staff writer, The New Yorker
“In Nobody's Victim, Carrie takes on the villains threatening the lives of women and girls: Internet moguls who put profit over the safety of their users, predators who use the internet like a hunting ground, and misogynist trolls who terrorize women for sport. Thoroughly researched and with shocking anecdotes from Carrie and her clients, Nobody’s Victim is an indispensable work for anyone who wants to understand how we got here and, more importantly, what we need to do to fight back. Part memoir and part manifesto, Nobody’s Victim is thoughtful, urgent, and impossible to put down.”
—Nancy Jo Sales, author of New York Times bestseller American Girls: Social Media and the Secret Life of Teenagers and director of HBO’s Swiped: Hooking up in the Digital Age
“Nobody’s Victim provides the raw honesty that we desperately need as we examine how the Internet age has upended everyday life. Only Carrie Goldberg could tell this powerful, compelling, and lucid story, which gives voice to so many people who have experienced unimaginable harms. As policymakers debate how to make the Internet—and the world—a safer place, I hope that Nobody’s Victim will be at the top of their reading list.”
—Jeff Kosseff, author, The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet
“Carrie Goldberg is a warrior against trolls and misogynists, as she bravely details in Nobody's Victim. The experiences of Carrie's clients may boil your blood—but beneath these known statistics is the reality that most harassment remains unseen, unreported, and legal. Nobody's Victim is a call to arms against abusers, and a reminder that survivors of gendered violence are not alone in their fight.”
—Audrey Gelman, CEO and Co-Founder of The Wing
Kirkus Reviews
2019-06-17
Often shocking tales from a veteran litigator courageously battling menacing stalkers and online predators.
Brooklyn-based victims' rights attorney Goldberg profiles hair-raising cases involving extreme stalking, vengeance-driven retaliation, and rejection-fueled abuse in which families, reputations, and livelihoods are systematically dismantled by scorned lovers. The author barely survived the wrath of a vindictive ex-boyfriend, and she began devoting her expertise toward representing clientele who unwittingly become the targets of deranged stalkers, a demographic she feels is grossly underrepresented. The real-life cases she presents—some of which have garnered national media attention—chillingly illustrate the insidious nature of these types of crimes and also act as a necessary call to arms regarding the importance of victim empowerment. Goldberg notes that these incidents are far more common than many of us realize, and the perpetrators are typically male and classic masters of charm and charisma, luring unsuspecting women into whirlwind romances with "jiu-jitsu-level mind games." In the opening section, the author discusses the case of a woman whose boyfriend was discovered to be behind a barrage of mysterious online attacks, which soon turned nefarious once she terminated their relationship. Goldberg attests that many of these assailants are so skillful at using anonymizing software to cover their tracks that the time it takes to prosecute them can be prohibitively lengthy. Other cases feature a high-profile lawsuit involving a gay man viciously terrorized by an ex-lover, an arrogant "professional life-ruiner," victims of "revenge porn," and "sextortionists," who are "part of a vast league of sex predators who use intimidation, threats, and trickery to coerce victims into sex acts." Though the incidents became increasingly complex, they further sharpened Goldberg's mastery in dealing with the cases. From bullied teenagers to women exploited by revenge porn, Goldberg's cases usually get much worse before any kind of resolution is reached, but the author does an important service in bringing these horrific exploitations to light.
A significant book that will hopefully spark change.
