Hardcover
Published in 1993
by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
397 pages.
Paperback
Published in 1994
by Ballantine Books
494 pages.
A brutal struggle in the cutthroat computer industry; a shattering psychological game of cat and mouse; an accusation of sexual harassment that threatens to derail a brilliant career...this is the electrifying core of Disclosure.
At the center: Tom Sanders, an up-and-coming executive with DigiCom in Seattle, a man whose corporate future is certain. Until: after a closed-door meeting with his new boss -- a woman who was his lover ten years before, a woman who has been promoted to the position he expected to have -- he is accused of sexually harassing her. Now he finds himself trapped between what he knows to be true and what he knows others will assume to be the truth. And, as he uncovers an electronic trail into the company's secrets, he begins to grasp just how cynical and manipulative an abuse of truth has actually occurred...
Note From Michael
It's based on a true story: two former lovers, now highly-placed executives in the same company, had competed for the same job, which went to one of them. They had then met privately one evening, and the next day each accused the other of sexual harassment. The problem for the company was what to do - fire them both? Fire neither? Keep one and fire one? If so, which one?
This story was told to me by a lawyer in 1987 as a problem of corporate governance, but I thought the story was more interesting than that. Eventually I found another use for it.
I imagined that both men and women would benefit from a better understanding of what harassment felt like. So I reversed the usual roles, allowing both men and women to experience what the other side felt like. I think this procedure worked and it made a lot of people angry.
The book was harshly criticized by feminist commentators, who saw it as just another vilification of working women. But a careful reading of their complaints made it clear to me that many had not read the book. (It's much easier to criticize a book you haven't read.) They had, however, read each other's columns.
At the same time I was being criticized by leading spokeswomen, I found that working business women often went out of their way to tell me they liked the book (and later, Barry Levinson's excellent movie.) This reaction of actual working women was in sharp distinction to their supposed spokespeople.
Eventually I concluded that working women liked the story because it focused attention on a female character they found difficult to deal with-the unscrupulous corporate climber. They weren't able to publicly criticize these climbers, because back in those days, working women thought they should stick together and not criticize each other. So they were pleased that a book did it for them.
Disclosure Produced by: Warner Brothers Directed by: Barry Levinson Written by: Paul Attanasio Based on a novel by: Michael Crichton Starring:
Michael Douglas
as Tom Sanders
Demi Moore
as Meredith Johnson
Donald Sutherland
as Bob Garvin
Dennis Miller
as Mark Lewlyn
Originally Released: 1994 Runtime: 128 minutes
His career. His marriage. His future. It's all on the line for DigiCom executive Tom Sanders, after he rejects the passionate advances of his new boss. Now she's charging him with sexual harassment. Suddenly, Tom must scramble for his corporate life - a scramble that will lead him into the cyberworld of DigiCom's new virtual reality corridor --- and lay bare a conspiracy involving key company personnel.
