Marcia Clark takes us inside her head and her heart. Her voice is raw, incisive, disarming, unmistakable. Her story is both sweeping and deeply personal. It is the story of a woman who, when caught up in an event that galvanized an entire country, rose to that occasion with singular integrity, drive, honesty and grace.
In a case that tore America apart, and that continues to haunt us as few events of history have, Marcia Clark emerged as the only true heroine, because she stood for justice, fought the good fight, and fought it well.
My Thoughts: I eagerly approached Without a Doubt, having seen portions of the trial and the miniseries based on the trial; I have also read Marcia Clark’s mystery fiction, so I already knew that I could connect to her voice.
Her account of the trial and its preparation was presented intelligently and with a touch of personal drama, which gave her story a special appeal to me. Even as I knew how it all turned out, I was eager to watch it unfold through her revelations of the long months leading up to the verdict.
I could feel how personally affected Clark was as the defense Dream Team twisted events, focused on their conspiracy theories, and played the race card over and over. The inability of Judge Lance Ito to take control of the defense attorneys added to the frustration I felt on behalf of the prosecution attorneys. Marcia Clark wrote: “We lost because American justice is distorted by race. We lost because American justice is corrupted by celebrity. Any lawyer willing to exploit those weaknesses can convince a jury predisposed to acquittal of just about anything.” In the OJ case, “a handful of expensive attorneys were allowed to manipulate the system by invoking the wholly irrelevant, yet provocative issue of racism.”
Time has revealed the error of those touting Simpson’s innocence in that his numerous poor choices afterwards have lent credence to the guilt many believed in. A compelling book that earned 5 stars for me.
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CURL UP AND READ 
Sounds very informative. Thanks for the review.
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Thanks, Mystica, I really enjoyed it.
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This sounds interesting and I’ve often wondered if those who were so convinced that Simpson was innocent still think so after everything else. I’ve always been sympathetic to Marcia Clark -what a job she had. I can’t imagine the level of frustration she must have felt.
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Thanks, Katherine, I loved reading this book…and I also enjoy Marcia Clark’s mystery fiction.
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I bet this was so interesting. We could all see the travesty but it is true about the racial aspect and the celebrity etc. I didn’t know of Marcia Clark but she had her finger on the pulse.
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Thanks, Kathryn, I liked reading the book more than watching the televised portions back in the day. I just got angry from watching…and didn’t like how it took over all the TV stations!
I hope you enjoy it…if you give it a whirl.
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Great review! I’m glad you enjoyed this one. You’ve reminded me that I’ve had this book on my TBR for a long while and you’ve made me want to bump it right to the top of my TBR. I may put this on my list for non-fiction November later this year.
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Thanks, Hayley, I had put it on my “wait” list because of how long and full of facts it would be…but the author led me right through all of it with aplomb. Enjoy!
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