{"product_id":"the-book-of-matt-hidden-truths-about-the-murder-of-matthew-shepard","title":"The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard","description":"\u003cp\u003eMethamphetamine was a huge part of this case . . . It was a horrible murder driven by drugs.  Prosecutor Cal Rerucha  who convicted Matthew Shepards killers  On the night of October 6  1998  twenty-one-year-old Matthew Shepard left a bar with two alleged strangers  Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Eighteen hours later  Matthew was found tied to a log fence on the outskirts of town  unconscious and barely alive. Overnight  a politically expedient myth took the place of important facts. By the time Matthew died a few days later  his name was synonymous with anti-gay hate. The Book of Matt  first published in 2013  demonstrated that the truth was in fact far more complicated  and daunting. Stephen Jimenezs account revealed primary documents that had been under seal  and gave voice to many with firsthand knowledge of the case who had not been heard from  including members of law enforcement.  In his Introduction to this updated edition  journalist Andrew Sullivan writes: No one wanted Steve Jimenez to report this story  let alone go back and back to Laramie  Wyoming  asking awkward questions  puzzling over strange discrepancies  re-interviewing sources  seeking a deeper  more complex truth about the ghastly killing than America  it turned out  was prepared to hear. It was worse than that  actually. Not only did no one want to hear more about it  but many were incensed that the case was being re-examined at all.  As a gay man Jimenez felt an added moral imperative to tell the story of Matthews murder honestly  and his reporting has been thoroughly corroborated. I urge you to read The Book of Matt carefully and skeptically  Sullivan writes  and to see better how life rarely fits into the neat boxes we want it to inhabit. That Matthew Shepard was a meth dealer and meth user says nothing that bad about him  and in no way mitigates the hideous brutality of the crime that killed him; instead it shows how vulnerable so many are to the drugs escapist lure and its astonishing capacity to heighten sexual pleasure so that its the only thing you want to live for. Shepard was a victim twice over: of meth and of a fellow meth user.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44974302330933,"sku":"ByrdShop_158642226X","price":92.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781586422264.jpg?v=1770652805","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-book-of-matt-hidden-truths-about-the-murder-of-matthew-shepard","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}