PBS doc on OKC bombing signals anew the significance of 1995
PBS on Tuesday is to air an “American Experience” documentary about the deadliest episode of home-grown terrorism in U.S. history, the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. The program revisits a … Continue reading
The ’90s: With us still
In ways metaphoric and real, the 1990s linger, offering reference points and context for contemporary events and personalities. A telling example came at Times Square on New Year’s Eve, when … Continue reading
Colin Powell, three electoral votes, and what might have been
Colin Powell, the former U.S. secretary of state and a hero of the 1990-91 Gulf War, scored three electoral votes in this week’s formal election of the next American president. … Continue reading
When the U.S. stood still: Awaiting the O.J. verdicts in 1995
The watershed year 1995 produced two flashbulb events in America — moments so powerful and memorable that for years afterward people remembered where they were, and what they were doing, … Continue reading
The O.J. Simpson case: Five readable books
The recent bouts of television-induced fascination with the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder case have eased, thankfully. But residual interest is keen enough that suggestions for reading in some depth about … Continue reading
ESPN’s O.J. doc: Less exceptional than its rave reviews
For a five-part documentary that lasted nearly 8 hours, ESPN’s much-hyped treatment of O.J. Simpson was often short on nuance and explanatory detail. The film in the end was far … Continue reading
ESPN’s documentary about O.J. Simpson: A dissenting view
Amid the glowing, even fawning reviews of ESPN’s docu-series about O.J. Simpson, herewith a dissenting view. The first of five installments of O.J.: Made in America aired last night, but … Continue reading
‘Everything O.J. is in the zeitgeist right now’
Call it the long reach of 1995. It is rather remarkable that a 21-year-old murder case — in which most people now think defendant O.J. Simpson committed the grisly crimes … Continue reading
Misportrayals and missing DNA: Closing observations about flawed O.J. miniseries
In its finale the other night, the popular FX cable miniseries about the 1995 O.J. Simpson murder case again played fast and loose with the record, putting dramatic words he … Continue reading
Beyond 1995: Accounting for the pop culture allure of the O.J. case
The week brought word that Martin Sheen plans to produce a docu-series claiming O.J. Simpson was innocent of the brutal slayings in 1994 of his former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, … Continue reading
The 1995 Blog 