Reading 'Witness to a Prosecution' felt like being handed a backstage pass to one of the most controversial financial trials in history. Sandler's insider perspective as Milken's attorney adds layers of depth you won't find in news reports or documentaries.

What surprised me most was how humanizing the portrayal of Milken is. The flashbacks to his college days with Sandler completely changed my perception of the 'junk bond king' media stereotype. I found myself highlighting passages about his charitable work almost as much as the legal strategy sections.

The court transcripts are where this book truly shines. Reading actual dialogue from the prosecution meetings made my blood boil at times - it's shocking how clearly Sandler demonstrates the system's imbalance. I kept having to put the book down to digest some of these revelations.

As someone who only knew Milken through Wall Street lore, I appreciated how Sandler explains complex financial concepts without dumbing them down. The high-yield bond market explanations finally clicked for me during that chapter about how these instruments actually helped small businesses grow.

This isn't just a biography or legal analysis - it reads like a thriller at times. The pacing during the investigation chapters had me turning pages late into the night, and I'm not typically a finance book reader. That's Sandler's real achievement here: making securities law feel dramatic and urgent.

The most valuable lesson? How easily media narratives cement in public consciousness. After finishing, I spent hours comparing Sandler's account with contemporary news coverage - the discrepancies are startling. This book should be required reading for journalism students.