O. J. Unmasked

"O.J. Unmasked" is a book on the Simpson case. It aims to stand apart from the flood of predictable "formula" treatments now appearing. "O.J. Unmasked" is an analysis of all the main issues in the case, exploring aspects misrepresented, ignored, or glossed over by the media. Even readers who followed the case closely should find insight after unexpected insight, and should come away from this book with a different understanding of the trial. The Simpson trial enthralled a large segment of the population because of its combination of celebrity, passion, jealousy, dishonesty, glamorous wealth, and sordid violence. Yet there was something more: an accumulation of oddities, puzzles and genuine mysteries which the mainstream media have done little to elucidate. These enigmas are tackled here. The book contains: numerous examples where the media misrepresented vital issues in the trial, or failed to explore highly relevant areas; an analysis of one of the leading mysteries of the case - why the prosecution never presented much of the evidence pointing to Simpson's guilt, including his statement to police, made hours after the murder and containing several clear untruths; an examination of the view that courtroom cameras caused the posturing of attorneys and the slow pace of the trial - though it is easy for people to leap to this conclusion, it is completely mistaken and a clear presentation of the issues in the DNA evidence, which are in fact straightforward enough to be understood and evaluated by ordinary citizens (the media, typically and culpably, ignored discussion of these elementary issues in favour of the "human interest" aspects of the scientific witnesses). There is a scrutiny of the on-line coverage and discussion of the trial - more than any previous event in history, a vast number of people got their information on it via computer; and other reference features, including an annotated list of witnesses, a day-by-day trial calendar, a study of the jury dismissal proceedings, biographies of lawyers, the text of important sources such as Simpson's police statement and relevant sections of the California Evidence Code, and a remarkable Simpson Trial Trivia Quiz, crammed with fascinating information.