Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story

Max Marshall

Nov 2023 · Sold by HarperCollins

About this ebook

“Among the Bros is a harrowing and disturbing book. I have read about fraternity life but nothing like this. This book will blow your mind, each page digging deeper into the unimaginable. Except every word is true.”—Buzz Bissinger, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Mosquito Bowl and Friday Night Lights

A brilliant young investigative journalist traces a murder and a multi-million-dollar drug ring, leading to an unprecedented look at elite American fraternity life.

When Max Marshall arrived on the campus of the College of Charleston in 2018, he hoped to investigate a small-time fraternity Xanax trafficking ring. Instead, he found a homicide, several student deaths, and millions of dollars circulating around the Deep South. He also opened up an elite world hidden to outsiders. Behind the pop culture cliches of “Greek life” lies one of the major breeding grounds of American power: 80 percent of Fortune 500 executives, 85 percent of Supreme Court justices, and all but four presidents since 1825 have been fraternity members. With unprecedented immersion, this book takes readers inside that bubble.

Under the live oaks and Spanish moss of Travel + Leisure’s “Most Beautiful Campus in America,” Marshall traces several “C of C” boys’ journeys from fraternity pledges to interstate drug traffickers. The result is a true-life story of hubris, status, money, drugs, and murder—one that lifts a curtain on an ecstatic and disturbing way of life. With expert pacing and a cool eye, he follows a never-ending party that continues after funerals and mass arrests.

An addictive and haunting portrait of tomorrow’s American establishment, Among the Bros is nonfiction storytelling at its finest.

Ratings and reviews

This is a sad, terrifying story of frat life on southern campuses. A story that needs telling but this is the wrong author to tell it. While fast paced and easy to read, the choppy back and forth from character to character is jarring and not done well. But what really bothered me is twofold. First, the author is entirely too sympathetic to these bros, almost seeming in awe of them and their exploits at times. Second, he intersects his own experiences at Columbia too frequently, drawing parallels that made me question the author's integrity, and participation in hazing and drugs. There are some strong themes of deep racism, misogyny, sexual abuse and criminal behavior that are glossed over, where they should have been more of a focus. The author almost celebrates the exploits of these pros rather than condemning them. possibly the scariest part is these fats are the source of the rich and powerful in our country and the picture painted is of spoiled, immoral criminals.

About the author

Max Marshall is a writer and journalist. Raised in Texas, he attended Columbia University, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2016. He served as a Princeton in Asia Media Fellow in Hanoi, Vietnam, and his work has appeared in GQ, Texas Monthly, Sports Illustrated, and the New York Times.