Read this harrowing account of the author’s (alleged) gaslighting at the hands of Silicon Valley elites Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, Stanford Law profs and progenitors of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

THE STAR
CHAMBER
OF STANFORD

On the Secret Trial and Invisible
Persecution of a Stanford Law Fellow

The Star Chamber of Stanford

A Memoir

About Academia, Gaslighting,

and a

Young Scholar’s Fall from Grace

Read this harrowing account of the author’s (alleged) gaslighting at the hands of Silicon Valley elites Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, Stanford Law profs and progenitors of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

When I step aside from moralizing, however, I have to tell you that I loved this new book. It might be mad, bad and dangerous to know, but I want to read more from this author. … I kept getting valuable new insights and tremendous entertainment value as I read and reread. Within 20 minutes of opening my Kindle, I had received joy that greatly exceeded the $8.49 purchase price. I expect I’ll be wrestling with arguments in this book for many months to come. I plan to read his other works such as Conservative Claims of Cultural Oppression and The Critical Theory of Academia. … A book unlike any I have ever read.

Luke Ford, Stay in Your Lane

This is a fascinating memoir that is written in a voice that is as compelling as any can be. … The author writes about the manner in which he was gaslighted with forensic clarity, allowing readers a clear image of an underdog rising up against a selfish group of powerful elites. The book is written in prose that is gorgeous and captivating and the author offers powerful insights into the inner workings of academia, crafting a tale that is legally nuanced and that features compelling political themes.

Franklin Bauer, The Book Commentary

Intriguingly, it’s actually a book-within-a-book that chronicles the making of Conservative Claims of Cultural Oppression, written during Guldmann’s time at Stanford Law School between 2006 and 2011. The memoir portion of the story dovetails with an author’s study in ideology, academia, and firsthand experiences with cultural oppression, offering readers far more depth than the usual educator’s memoir contains. … The result is an exposé, memoir, and study in academic philosophy, all in one.

D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

It’s a delicate balance that must be struck in putting forward your version of events when that testimony seems far-fetched and contradictory to the accepted truth of a situation. Fortunately, Rony Guldmann’s legal background leads to him constructing his narrative in a logical and carefully evidenced manner, helping readers to understand that the seemingly incredible suggestions aren’t as far from realistic as they initially appear. It’s a commendable act of bravery to speak up against a large and well-trusted institution to show people that something we all accept at face value should absolutely be challenged and pushed back against.

K.C. Finn, Readers’  Favorite

The Court of Star Chamber

was a secretive tribunal in early modern England that dispensed the King’s justice. Unconstrained by due process, it could mete out any punishment short of death, including whipping and mutilation. While abolished by Parliament in 1641, the star chamber lives on today as a symbol for unchecked inquisitorial power in all its forms.
Former room of the Court of Star Chamber, Westminister Palace, London, circa 1800.

In this academic memoir, Stanford Law graduate Rony Guldmann recounts his own star chamber trial at the hands of his alma mater. His tribulations begin after graduation when he is offered a fellowship to stay on at the law school and pursue research on conservatives’ alleged cultural oppression by the liberal elites. Hoping to achieve a foothold in academia, he seizes the opportunity. But things go awry when the project metastasizes into an all-consuming obsession that thrusts Guldmann into headlong conflict with his milieu, and he soon finds himself gaslighted by a cabal of elites seeking retribution for his transgressions against the ideologies of academia and the chattering class.

What had started as an academic thesis now bleeds into the real world, as Guldmann comes before an invisible tribunal whose rules and proceedings will not be disclosed to him. Formerly a standout student and rising young scholar, Guldmann is steadily reduced to a mere conspiracy theorist. Yet this fall from grace becomes a philosophical awakening whereby he grows conscious of his systemic oppression by academia. Armed with this knowledge, he survives his gaslighting while scheming to unmask the perpetrators. The Star Chamber of Stanford is an all-American tribute to the renegade and underdog.

None Spared Press

Rony Guldmann

Rony Guldmann is a New York attorney who has fought the good fight against the twin scourges of product mislabeling and unsolicited commercial texting, setting his crosshairs on purveyors of fraudulent manuka honey, diluted olive oil, and deceptively oversized food packaging, among other villains. He received his B.A. in philosophy from the University of Michigan, his Ph.D. in the same from Indiana University, and his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he was the James C. Gaither Fellow after graduating. In a former life before the tribulations of The Star Chamber, Rony taught philosophy at Iona College, Hofstra University, and Fordham University in a bid to enlighten easily distracted young minds about human nature, ethics, and other lofty matters. He is the author of Two Orientations Toward Human Nature, published by Routledge and applauded in The Review of Metaphysics for doing “an impressive job of pulling together a considerable range of historical and contemporary reflection into a well-crafted, synthetically-rich, and engaging tour of human nature.” He lives in Astoria, Queens.