Amazon.com (ISBN 0684842785, Paperback)

Now out in paperback (with a new chapter on the civil trial), and still at the head of the very crowded class of O. J. books, this isn't just a book for O. J. junkies; it's a book for anyone who wants to understand how the criminal justice system breaks down. Toobin, a former prosecutor, chronicles the great and small things that led to what he views as a miscarriage of justice, such as the prosecution's courting of the media, which took the grand jury out of the process and forced a preliminary hearing in which the defense got an unnecessarily good peek at the case; Marcia Clark's decision to ignore a high-powered (and pro bono) jury consultant's advice and to go instead with her "gut"; and Chris Darden's impetuous and unilateral decision to have Simpson try on the gloves. Of course, there was also a jury that utterly failed to deliberate--Toobin reports that just after returning the verdict, one black juror explained her decision this way: "We've got to protect our own."