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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Black and White and Read All Over, September 22, 1996
By A Customer
The dust jacket for The Run of His Life is pure black on one side and pure white on the other. From the outset of the bizarre, ever-televised story, O.J. Simpson's defense lawyers sought to exploit race, and of course they succeeded beyond their wildest dreams through a combination of amazing luck and sheer audacity.
The purpose of this book is clearly not to change any minds about the substantial issues of the case itself, about which everyone seems to be intractable. Even though Toobin is one of the more objective (though not uninvolved) observers of the case and his point of view rings more true than that of the participants, the stereotypical white reader will agree with most of what's in this book, and the stereotypical black reader will find many faults.
The main value of this book is as a fascinating picture of the machinations behind the public events and of the personalities involved, and as an integrated narrative of the essentials of the story. It was utterly engaging to this reader, who followed the trial fairly closely, but it would be of great interest to anyone looking for first-rate coverage of the ultimate modern American fiasco.
It's simply an amazing story, not just about a murder case, of course, and not just about race, but also about celebrity (Simpson's, the lawyers, the witnesses, etc.) and the ramifications of race for the central celebrity, who once said in an interview, "I'm not black, I'm O.J." Johnny Cochran may be right that race affects everything in America, but for O.J. Simpson, his celebrity and wealth had an overriding impact on everything in his life, a life which even before the murders was evidently a hollow and tawdry one. Even if Simpson had been unequivocally proven innocent, his image would have still suffered from the revelations of a life filled with sycophants, ever-seedier commercial endorsements, and of course spousal battery and abuse.
Toobin provides some very fascinating background on all the major players, including the LAPD, and he makes a totally convincing case that far from there being a conspiracy against Simpson, there was incredible favoritism afforded him by police, especially in the domestic violence complaints against him and even in the murder case.
But even this white reader found himself often wondering what Toobin's sources were for many seemingly inobservable events. His list of sources at the back of the book doesn't name any interview subjects, and only on rare occasions does he attribute anything specifically in the narrative itself. For example, in the description of events leading to the infamous glove demonstration, he writes: "Clark thought about saying something, risking the humiliation of her colleague by saying, 'No! Stop!' But she kept her seat." Did Marcia Clark, a lead prosecutor, tell him this herself? (And is she likely to be telling the truth?) He doesn't say.
Given the huge axes being ground by all the parties (and even those not directly involved), one wonders about many such accounts in this book. Another example is the description of a jailhouse meeting between Simpson and three of his lawyers, F. Lee Bailey, Robert Kardashian and Skip Taft, on the night before the verdict, in which dialog is quoted which makes it clear that Simpson had already learned of the verdict via the L.A. Sheriff's department grapevine. (The Sheriff's department guarded Simpson and was also in charge of the sequestered jury.) Even though the account is plausible and there isn't any clear reason for anyone to lie, Toobin was obviously not present and the integrity of the parties is in doubt.
The main revelation to this reader was the degree to which a fair trial was impossible given the incredible attention to it and the pressure this exerted on all parties, especially the jury. Toobin readily refutes claims by jurors that race didn't play a role in their decision. He quotes from Johnny Cochran's closing argument: "Your verdict goes far beyond the doors of this courtroom. That's not to put any pressure on you, just to let you know what is really happening out there." Toobin writes: "It was, one supposes, just a sort of courtesy to warn the jurors what their lives might be like if they happened to vote to convict this man." Given the incredibly polarized public reactions to the verdict, this is a very crucial point -- picture prosecutor Chistopher Darden being spat on by black brothers and sisters outside the courtroom. In such a situation, one cannot expect from ordinary people a reasoned decision based solely on the evidence, especially given the room for doubt (if not "reasonable doubt") in this case. In the words of juror Carrie Bess just after the jury was excused after the reading of the verdict: "We've got to protect our own."
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by Elizabeth Kandel Englander
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