The Big Trial

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.