The Big Trial: Law as Public Spectacle

by Lawrence M. Friedman

The trial of O. J. Simpson was a sensation, avidly followed by millions of people, but it was also, in a sense, nothing new. One hundred years earlier the Lizzie Borden trial had held the nation in thrall. The names (and the crimes) may change, but the appeal is enduring--and why this is, how it works, and what it means are what Lawrence Friedman investigates in The Big Trial.

What is it about these cases that captures the public imagination?...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 070062077X
• ISBN13: 9780700620777
• Release Date: May 2015
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.7"