Andrew Lohse’s book proposal leaks online
By The Dartmouth Staff
Published on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Web Update
Three months following the announcement of a book deal with St. Martin’s Press, a 69-page PDF file of a book proposal purportedly by Andrew Lohse '12 has leaked on the Internet. The book, "Party at the End of the World," chronicles Lohse's time at the College, including his arrest for cocaine possession and witness tampering in 2010 and the hazing he claims to have endured as a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.
The names of those mentioned in the document are redacted, and Lohse organized the table of contents into the following categories: overview, audience, about the author, about Dartmouth's Greek life, comparison titles, fraternity term glossary, outline and chapter summaries and sample chapters. The author describes the book as both a work of narrative nonfiction and a coming-of-age memoir.
The proposal begins, "Not long ago, I was a coke-addled elitist Dartmouth College fratboy watching my life slip away from me on a tide of cheap beer, vomit, and Jim Beam. I got so impossibly far from my humble, conservative middle-class suburban upbringing that a nihilistic alter-ego seemingly overtook who I had been before. I could not stop my identity's disintegration — instead, I saw its dissolution as a parable of my generation nearing the end of the world."
The document goes on to chronicle Lohse's life at Dartmouth, including numerous stories involving heavy drug use, criminal activity and hazing in campus fraternities. Lohse describes snorting lines of cocaine off of his fraternity's composite pictures, throwing a chair at a Safety and Security office, being punched by the son of a member of the Board of Trustees and being forced to drink alcohol and vomit on himself as part of his pledge term at SAE, among other events mentioned.
A link to the proposal was released on the website GoldmanSnacks.org, whose makers claim to be commissioned by "Dartmouth’s most powerful secret society." Stating that it disagrees with Lohse’s objective of "sullying" the Greek System, Operation Goldman Snacks claims to be "the lone voice in the wilderness crying out The Truth."
The site also contains options for "reputation protection" in the event that students are concerned about their names appearing in the printed version of the book.
The FAQ section of the website claims that Lohse made "numerous attempts to obtain a tap" from members of the society behind Operation Goldman Sachs. Lohse alludes to the possibility that he would receive a tap to become a member of Gryphon Senior Society in the proposal.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.
just great
By jeff.poorman@firstannapolis.com, cepoorman@gmail.com on Oct 3 | 7:02 am
Well, well, well… this makes for some precious reading.
Where should we start?
Andrew Lohse comes from a “humble, conservative… suburban upbringing?”
Yep.
And this “humble, conservative” young man fell prey to a “nihilistic alter-ego” that ruthlessly invaded his body pod and “overtook who he had been before.”
Yep.
And although he could not “stop (his) identity’s disintegration,“ he still had the power to see his own “dissolution” as a “parable of (his) generation nearing the end of the world.”
Yep… and there you have it folks.. A prophet and visionary for the 21st Century.
By Anonymous on Oct 3 | 7:55 am
Who else thinks this “leak” was actually orchestrated by St. Martin’s press to drum up publicity for the book? Clearly it’s getting the book name out there and will likely go viral within hours. It’s very common for publishers to release excerpts of an upcoming book and given the unconventional nature of Lohse’s piece, why not release the excerpts in an unconventional way.
Also worth noting is that a lookup in the WhoIs.net database shows that the registered owner of the site is Jim Kim…
By 11 Alum on Oct 3 | 10:19 am
This makes him appear like much more of the problem than the institution or the individuals around him.
By Steve Shea on Oct 3 | 10:38 am
The book is not really a critique of hazing (or a Chris Millerian praise song) but it does sound like an ordinary addiction memoir. And not a very good one – the protagonist doesn’t mature or learn much beyond the fact that society will give you a second chance twelve times over. He obviously did not learn to write well at Dartmouth or anywhere else. A high-functioning addict is at least thrilling to read about, but a petty criminal from Jersey who ends up a failure several times over? A loser.
By Anonymous on Oct 3 | 12:19 pm
It is unfortunate that Lohse is characterizing a complex system where many people have wholly positive experiences as a wholly negative system. Fraternities and sororities can be great at Dartmouth. They are neither totally good or totally bad. Fallacy of composition fail.
Getting rid of them would create other segmentation that would encourage bad behavior if you choose the wrong group. Abolishing the greek system does little to stop negative behavior just as raising the drinking to 21 certainly hasn’t stopped underage drinking—in fact it has pushed it underground to scary dangerous places.
By anon on Oct 3 | 12:23 pm
I got an email from Goldman Snacks last night telling me about the Andrew Lohse book proposal. The email also said I was one of the 37 most influential people at Dartmouth, and that they need my help to stop Lohse. How many people got that email?
I know that I am in Kappa Kappa Gamma, but does that really mean I am in the top 1% of the most influential people at Dartmouth?
By Kappa 15 on Oct 3 | 12:49 pm
Of course it was leaked by the publisher, if not by Lohse himself. Methinks Mr. Lohse has been planning this book since he was a frosh. Which St. Martin’s catalogue will it appear in- fiction or non-fiction?
By Not samsonoccam on Oct 3 | 12:57 pm
All the evidence points that this “leak” was orchestrated by none other than Lohse himself. Nobody else could think of anything as stupid and inane as the content currently posted at the “Goldman Snacks” website.This is just pure farce and garbage.
“.. commissioned by Dartmouth’s most powerful secret society. Each and every member of our secret society has taken a blood oath to defend The Truth and protect the innocent at any cost. No matter how far Lohse and his rag-tag band of petty, two-bit crooks may try to twist The Truth for their own gain, sullying the good name of the Dartmouth Greek system and its brothers and sisters, we will always be the lone voice in the wilderness crying out The Truth!”
By 11 Alum on Oct 3 | 3:34 pm
Lohse is your textbook addict. He could not handle the admittedly morally ambiguous fraternity system. Instead of tempering his enjoyment of that lifestyle, he went into a downward spiral. He is an unfortunate outlier. And in true to stereotypical addict behavior he is seeking to blame his problems on something else.
When evaluating his holier than thou soapbox diatribes, remember to very important things:
Dartmouth’s 2010 and 2012 valedictorians were members of SAE. There is a time and place for everything, and that’s collegeBy Nick Hawkins ‘10 on Oct 3 | 7:13 pm
Did Andrew’s brother ‘10 ever graduate from Dartmouth? What frat was the brother in? Was Andrew on the waitlist and did his grandfather use a classmate’s influence to get Andrew accepted?
By Anonymous on Oct 3 | 11:56 pm
If he insists on using Latin where English phrases would be perfectly sufficient, the least he could do is use correct Latin: NOLO contendere ‘I do not wish to contest’ (it’s not a Spanish direct object pronoun), and Vox Clamantis IN Deserto/Parkhursto (again, not Spanish).
By 07 Alum on Oct 4 | 12:13 am
This article has inspired me to come out of the closet. Thank you Lohse.
By Concerned Gay Man on Oct 4 | 9:10 am
is it Goldman Snacks or Goldman Sachs? does anyone care? does anyone want to share a sandwich?
By Anonymous on Oct 4 | 12:44 pm
blah blah fraternity blah hazing blah blah greek life…god this school sucks. who cares about any of this nonsense? just party have fun do well in school and get out. dartmouth is so full of lame liberal politcally correct “lets discuss and analyze and romanticize everything” students. it gets so old so fast.
By oj on Oct 7 | 3:19 pm