What You Will - and Won't - Find in the Epstein Files

"Publishers panic-rushed at least 1.5 million copies to bookstores. (Because the report was a government document, anybody could reprint and sell it without having to pay for intellectual-property rights.) The Starr Report doubled first-day sales of Tom Clancy's wildly popular novel Rainbow Six - and it spurred a collateral spike in demand for Leaves of Grass, the Walt Whitman poetry book that President Bill Clinton had given to his White House intern, Monica Lewinsky."

"Public interest in The Starr Report pushed the outer capacity of the then-nascent internet. The Chicago Tribune noted that while some official government websites "virtually seized up," private commercial sites generally fared better in "one of the biggest tests yet of the global electronic network." The Wall Street Journal marked the occasion as both a political and technological landmark: "Starr Report Makes History and Marks Web's Emergence.""

The Starr Report, released September 11, 1998, became a runaway bestseller after being rebranded and freely reprinted as a government document. Publishers rush-published at least 1.5 million copies, doubling first-day sales of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six and boosting demand for Leaves of Grass. Massive public interest strained early internet capacity, with some government sites virtually seizing up while private commercial sites held up better. Major outlets called the moment a political and technological milestone. The report contained lurid, extensive details of President Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky, including prurient material later conceded by a prosecutor to be more than necessary.

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