The Run Of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson, Toobin - B

                                             I decided to give this twenty-year-old book a whirl because of the recent, extraordinary ESPN documentary.  Jeffrey Toobin is a journalist, a lawyer and a helluva writer. There is no doubt that O.J. was flat out guilty from moment one, but his lawyers managed to obtain his shocking acquittal because the defense team turned the trial into a referendum on the LAPD. Race was the only issue, as almost all of black LA (if not black America) thought O.J. innocent and all the whites were confident of his guilt. The defense's first lead lawyer, Bob Shapiro, decided to play the race card and LA's best known black lawyer, Johnnie Cochran, played it masterfully. The DA's office represented by Marcia Clark and Christopher Darden were cocky, arrogant and close to incompetent. The judge did not control his courtroom and thus, a year-long three-ring circus played out around the world on Court TV. The sequestered jury, the majority of whom were black woman, freed the 'Juice' on its first day of deliberation. As well-written as this book is, it's hard to get too excited because the story is a demoralizing travesty.