VSG Recommends Tom Mueller’s New Book on Whistleblowing

VSG Partner Shelley R. Slade and author Tom Mueller

 

October 6, 2019.

Journalist Tom Mueller, author of the New York Times bestseller on the olive oil industry, Extra Virginity, has just released the definitive book on whistleblowing in America: Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud.  While Mr. Mueller profiles government informants as well as corporate whistleblowers, a major focus of his book is the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions.  He educates the reader through multiple stories of individual whistleblowing that collectively help us understand the motivations of informants, how their institutions respond, the long fight they must endure to achieve results and the degree to which their actions change the arcs of their own lives and the communities for which they sacrifice so much.  The timing of this book is uncanny; it should prove particularly insightful as we all try to fathom the path of those coming forward with revelations about the White House’s interactions with foreign leaders.

Ultimately, this book highlights a principle that is of paramount importance to VSG and our clients: nothing disinfects like the truth.  The book also chronicles the arduous journeys upon which whistleblowers embark to give the truth a fair hearing.  As stated by Arthur Schopenhauer, and quoted on a poster hanging in the home of one of Mueller’s featured whistleblowers,

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”

We highly recommend this book to our current clients, potential clients and anyone interested in learning about the whistleblowers’ journey.