In this retelling of one of the great biblical stories, King Solomon commissions Ethan the Scribe to write the official history of King David. In return for the finest cooking in the land and the wages of a minor prophet, Ethan must write a proper record, full of glory and battles, statecraft and honor -- a tribute to David and to Solomon, his heir. But as Ethan explores further, he finds another life hidden behind the iron curtain dividing past from present: the story of a David who seduced, lied, bragged, and plundered his way to power. Which life should he write in the The King David Report? Written by one of Germany's most acclaimed dissident authors, The King David Report is both a masterly analysis of the writer's obligations to truth, and an astute satire on the workings of history and politics in a totalitarian state.