Right on, Vincent Bugliosi.

I LOVE Vincent Bugliosi. If you don't know him, he's the attorney who not only successfully prosecuted Charles Manson for his many crimes, but also wrote a page-turning and bestselling true crime classic about the case titled Helter Skelter. He's written other books too, including another true crime/legal thriller And the Sea Will Tell, as well as last year's massive Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I don't know how the guy gets it all done, frankly. He must have a long-suffering spouse who doesn't care that he's a workaholic.

But his recent title has cemented my affection. Check out this shot across the bow: The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder. You can see why he wins all his jury cases, can't you? The guy doesn't pussyfoot around, I'll say that.

I flipped through the book but will not read the whole thing because, frankly, Bugliosi's preaching to the choir here. He doesn't need to lay out logical, numbered, and legally argued points to convince me that W. is a liar and a murderer. I can tell you what I think reviewers who don't like it (I have to make this up, since few have had the cojones to review it at all)might say:

There's a bit too, well, too much "Vincent Bugliosi" in the front of it (and there is a lot of talk about his own career, which I think he's offering as some sort of explanation for why he's written this book). Some of it can be very legalistic, and dry. (Much of it appears in the form of numbered points which Bugliosi is trying to make as though he were standing before a jury.) It's blatant political writing (well, it's not really, but try convincing any Republican of that). The illustrations included are meant outright to outrage and manipulate: There are several pictures of military cemeteries, crying families, Iraqi mothers holding dead babies, followed by a two-page spread of pictures of W. smirking, laughing, smiling, and leaning on the podium.) Okay, that's pretty blatant. But let's not forget Bugliosi is, first and foremost, a trial lawyer dedicated to putting on a show. Also, he meets the�charge that the picture montage might be a bit over the top preemptively, by adding this note:

"As for the photos of Bush himself, the prologue proves beyond all reasonable doubt that throughout the sea of blood and the screams and cries of men, women, and children, even babies, coming out of the hell on earth he created in Iraq, unbelievably, he laughed and joked, had fun, and enjoyed every day of his presidency. I mean, he told us this. I'm going to have a 'perfect day,' he said. Laura and I had a 'fabulous year' and we're 'having the time of our life.' Bush, in addition to his transcendent criminality, has added a snapshot view of extreme grossness and vulgarian audacity to this otherwise sacred selection of photos."

The whole book's pretty much like that, with Bugliosi quoting the president and the vice-president at every turn, and using those statements to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

So, you go, Vincent. I wish I could be on the jury of the case you want to bring.

Comments

[Venta]

The Daily Show had a clip of him testifying at the impeachment-lite hearings, and he was one super mad guy. I thought, "All right!!"

So, which is more classic - Helter Skelter or In Cold Blood? Or is it too difficult to compare the two? What other true crime books stand up with these two?

[Citizen Reader]

Venta,
Oh, he's pissed, all right. You don't have to read very much in the book to figure that out. That's part of the charm, frankly--Bugliosi seems to me one of the few people anywhere who is reacting with the correct amount of rage to all the senseless killing.

Hm, "classic" is always a tough one. I'd say for notoriety, the two books (Helter Skelter and In Cold Blood) are probably on a par. They're very different though; Capote's really is like a novel while Helter Skelter is pure true crime, with an almost numbing amount of detail (of the crime, of the investigation, of the prosecution).

True Crime classics. (Actually, it's been a while since I read any true crime. Hm.) I'd put John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on that list. Definitely Lawrence Schiller's Perfect Murder, Perfect Town (about JonBenet Ramsey, although with the new developments in that case recently, I don't know). And have you read Mikal Gilmore's unbelievable Shot Through the Heart (about his brother, murderer Gary Gilmore)? A must-read, so yeah, I'll call that a classic. And, of course, anything by Ann Rule, but particularly A Stranger Beside Me (about how she actually knew Ted Bundy, ick).

Well, this is kind of a depressing comment. Sad that there's so many true crime books.