Fascination with sideshow: How O.J. miniseries really mirrors the 1995 trial
The cable television miniseries about the 1995 O.J. Simpson double-murder trial has proven surprisingly popular, so much so that there’s been a good deal of interest in determining how closely … Continue reading
Ballyhoo over FX series leads to outsize claims about O.J. case
The media ballyhoo over the FX miniseries about the O.J. Simpson murder saga of 1994-95 has been accompanied by a variety of misconceptions and exaggerated claims about the case and … Continue reading
FX miniseries on 1995 O.J. case is crassly exploitative
Last night’s second installment leaves little doubt: The 10-part FX cable miniseries about the infamous, mid-1990s O.J. Simpson double-murder case is crassly exploitative. Why else revisit a case in which … Continue reading
The 1995 ‘Trial of the Century’ is back: But so what?
When the cable miniseries meets recent history, distortion is predictable. So it is with the FX network’s much-ballyhooed dramatization of the sensational O.J. Simpson double murder case, which was tried … Continue reading
Looking back at a watershed year: 1995 in blog posts
The year 1995 was a watershed in digital media, domestic terrorism, political scandal, crime and justice, and international diplomacy. Over the past 12 months, The 1995 Blog revisited the watershed … Continue reading
When America stood still: The O.J. verdicts, 20 years after
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
Hinge moment at the O.J. ‘Trial of the Century’
O.J. Simpson never testified at his sensational double-murder trial in 1995. Even so, a consistent feature of the often-absorbing, often-repellant case was that Simpson was never far from center stage … Continue reading
Part One: Highlights of ‘1995’ interview with Reason.com
Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Reason.com and Reason TV, recently spoke with me about my latest book, 1995: The Year the Future Began. The video and the transcript of the interview … Continue reading
20 years on: Recalling O.J.’s wretched bestseller
Claiming top spot on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list 20 years ago was a wretched, narcissistic little book nominally written by O.J. Simpson, who then was on trial … Continue reading
O.J. and DNA: Applying the ‘Page 99 Test’ to ‘1995’
The “Page 99 Test” holds that the contents of page 99 offer revealing insight about the rest of the book. It is an intriguing if serendipitous approach to assessing quality, … Continue reading