Ken Armstrong does cutting-edge investigative work at the heart of cultural moments, from #MeToo’s emergence to the death penalty’s decline. His reporting on a woman who was raped, then branded a liar, became a Pulitzer Prize-winning story, a This American Life episode, a book, and, now, a Netflix series. New York calls Unbelievable “one of the best crime dramas in recent memory and one of the best shows of 2019.” Starring Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, and Kaitlyn Dever, this limited series depicts the gut-wrenching experiences of the victims of a serial rapist, and the pitfalls of an inconsistent criminal justice system.
Armstrong and Miller’s original piece, “An Unbelievable Story of Rape,” tells the riveting true crime story of a teenager charged with lying about having been raped—and the detectives who followed a winding path to arrive at the truth. The ensuing book, Unbelievable, is a twisted tale of doubt, lies, and a hunt for justice, unveiling the disturbing reality of how sexual assault is investigated today and the long history of skepticism toward rape victims. Based on investigative file and extensive interviews with the principals, Unbelievable has been called “a devastating but necessary read, composed by masters of investigative journalism,” (Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy) and “a revelation—taut, nuanced, and expertly reported” (New York Post).
Watch the Trailer for Unbelievable
About Ken Armstrong
Ken Armstrong is an investigative reporter and narrative writer whose work has appeared in such places as The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Paris Review, and This American Life. He currently works for ProPublica as a senior reporter. Armstrong is the recipient of four Pulitzer Prizes for stories on painkillers, a landslide, and the shooting deaths of four police officers in addition to the subjects of Unbelievable. Before ProPublica, he reported for The Seattle Times and The Chicago Tribune, where his investigations into capital cases prompted the governor to halt executions. Armstrong’s first book, Scoreboard, Baby (co-authored with Nick Perry), won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for non-fiction. He has also received a Peabody Award and the John Chancellor Lifetime Achievement Award from Columbia University. Other honors include: six-time winner of the Investigative Reporters and Editors award; Selden Ring; Worth Bingham; four George Polk awards; two ASNE Distinguished Writing Awards; and the Michael Kelly Award for the fearless pursuit and expression of truth. Armstrong was also a Nieman Fellow at Harvard and the McGraw Professor of Writing at Princeton.
Speaking Topics
Unbelievable: The Story of Two Detectives’ Relentless Search for the Truth
What we can learn from the true story of Marie—a young woman who was accused by police of lying about being raped, only to have evidence surface, years later, proving that she had been telling the truth all along.
Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime, and Complicity
How a team won a championship, and a community lost its way. This cautionary tale reveals all the ways that the blind embrace of a college football team compromised judges, prosecutors, police, a proud university, and the media.
The Trials of Dick Cunningham: A Death Row Lawyer’s Search for Mercy and Redemption
The story of a remarkable capital appeals attorney who saved lives only to lose his own. This is a story about struggle, redemption, life, and the law, showing how a lawyer—a flawed, stubborn, principled lawyer—made an extraordinary difference.
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