000			04412cam a2200397 i 4500
001			ocn895730900
003			OCoLC
005			20251028093417.0
008			141120s2015 ksu b 001 0deng
010			_a 2014045937
035			_a(Sirsi) i9780700620777
040			_aDLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dYDX _dBTCTA _dBDX _dOCLCF _dZXQ _dCDX _dCLU _dYDXCP _dGYG _dOCL _dOCLCQ _dCHVBK _dVP@ _dSFR _dVF$
020			_a9780700620777 _q(hbk. ; _qalk. paper)
020			_a070062077X _q(cloth ; _qalk. paper)
020			_z9780700620784 _q(ebook)
020			_z0700620788 _q(ebook)
035			_a(OCoLC)895730900
037			_bUniv Pr of Kansas, 2502 Westbrooke Cir, Lawrence, KS, USA, 66045-4444, (785)8644154 _nSAN 203-3267
042			_apcc
043			_an-us---
050	0	0	_aKF 220 _b.F75 2015
049			_aVF$A
100	1		_aFriedman, Lawrence M. _q(Lawrence Meir), _d1930- _eauthor.
245	1	4	_aThe big trial : _blaw as public spectacle / _cLawrence M. Friedman.
264		1	_aLawrence, Kansas : _bUniversity Press of Kansas, _c2015
300			_a225 pages ; _c23 cm
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _bn _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _bnc _2rdacarrier
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 173-210) and index.
505	0		_aLaw and its audience -- Open to the public : the headline trial -- Political trials -- Corruption and fraud -- Was justice done? -- Tabloid trials -- Celebrity trials -- Mystery and identity -- The worm in the bud -- The reason why -- Who are we : identity and the headline trial -- Enter the media -- Instant celebrity -- A concluding word.
520			_aThe 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. What is it about these cases that captures the public imagination? Are the "headline trials" of our period different from those of a century or two ago? And what do we learn from them, about the nature of our society, past and present? To get a clearer picture, Friedman first identifies what certain headline trials have in common, then considers particular cases within each grouping. The political trial, for instance, embraces treason and spying, dissenters and radicals, and, to varying degrees, corruption and fraud. Celebrity trials involve the famous - whether victims, as in the case of Charles Manson, or defendants as disparate as Fatty Arburkle and William Kennedy Smith - but certain high-profile cases, such as those Friedman categorizes as tabloid trials, can also create celebrities. The fascination of whodunit trials can be found in the mystery surrounding the case: Are we sure about O.J. Simpson? What about Claus von Bulow - tried, in another sensational case, for sending his wife into a coma? An especially interesting type of case Friedman groups under the rubric worm in the bud. These are cases, such as that of Lizzie Borden, that seem to put society itself on trial: they raise fundamental social questions and often suggest hidden and secret pathologies. And finally, a small but important group of cases proceed from moral panic, the Salem witchcraft trials being the classic instance, though Friedman also considers recent examples. Though they might differ in significant ways, these types of trials also have important similarities. Most notably, they invariably raise questions about identity (Who is this defendant? A villain? An innocent unfairly accused?). And in this respect, The Big Trial shows us, the headline trial reflects a critical aspect of modern society. Reaching across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the latest outrage, from congressional hearings to lynching and vigilante justice to public punishment, from Dr. Sam Sheppard (the "fugitive") to Jeffrey Dahmer (the "cannibal"), The Rosenbergs to Timonthy McVeigh, the book presents a complex picture of headline trials as displays of power - moments of "didactic theater" that demonstrate in one way or another whether a society is fair, whom is protects, and whose interests it serves. -- from back cover.
650		0	_aTrials _zUnited States _xHistory.
994			_aC0 _bVF$
999			_c137040 _d137040