A thoughtful exploration of how cases are tried in public opinion as well as in court.
Attorney Bremner explores the role of the media in legal cases.
The author, a lawyer and legal commentator, centers her book on the 2008 Amanda Knox case. Bremner was part of the team of American lawyers who dealt with the case’s repercussions outside the Italian courtrooms where Knox was repeatedly tried for her roommate’s murder. The author alternates episodes from Knox’s story with other cases she has worked on or discussed as a commentator, including Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial, Scott Peterson’s murder conviction, the rape accusations leveled at members of the Duke University lacrosse team, and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, as well as several other lower-profile and historical cases. The book discusses the known facts of each case, assesses the courtroom performances of the prosecution and the defense, and looks at how media attention shaped the public’s perception of the defendants’ guilt. Editing out some of the book’s repetitions (noting that a bra clasp used to convict Knox was “kicked around,” using a Benjamin Franklin quote twice) would have improved the book’s pacing, but the author is a skilled storyteller, and readers will be left with no doubts about her ability to present a compelling argument to a jury (Bremner calls Knox’s case “a conviction based on kisses and cartwheels”). There are several interesting insights, particularly in Bremner’s evaluations of attorneys whose failure to prove a defendant’s legal guilt led to jury verdicts at odds with public opinion, as in the Casey Anthony murder case. While the book’s legal analysis is solid, the sociological and psychological context provided is often less robust, making it occasionally unclear how the system should best provide due process to all participants. The book’s more memoirlike aspects, like the author’s relationships with her clients and colleagues, and her process of learning how to become a successful media commentator, are frequently fascinating and bring a welcome personal perspective to the topic.
A thoughtful exploration of how cases are tried in public opinion as well as in court.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2022
ISBN: 9781510751361
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 10, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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