In Contempt By Christopher Darden: A Review

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In Contempt by Christopher Darden: A Review

This report is based upon the book In Contempt, written by Christopher A.
Darden with Jess Walter. This book is published by Regan Books an imprint of
Harper Collins Publishers and is copyrighted 1996 by Christopher A. Darden.

Introduction of the Author

The book In Contempt was written by Christopher A. Darden. Chris Darden is famous for being one of the prosecuting attorneys in the court case, The
People vs. Simpson. He has worked hard his whole life to reach the status he has now achieved. He proved to America that even though he wasn't a high-priced private lawyer that he could present a well-thought out and planned case under tremendous pressure he and the other prosecutors had to endure during the
Simpson case.

Summary

I found this book to be very well thought out and well written. Most people would assume that this book was written with the intentions of making a quick-buck off the misfortune of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman. I, however, do not believe this to be true. The way that he speaks of the victims in the book, and the way he spoke of them before and after the trial shows that he really cared about the lives of these people that he didn't even know. He even went as far as to say in the book that this was the first case that affected him personally and emotionally. As one may expect the majority of this book is taken up with the Simpson case but, chapters two through six detail his life from birth, his childhood in a working class district of Richmond,
California, and becoming a district attorney of Los Angeles in 1981. Chapters two and three mostly consist of stories of him and his brother, Michael, stealing from local stores or his brothers drug deals. When Michael hit his mid-teens hestarted selling marijuana off the front porch of the house and Chris was his lookout. In return, he was told that he would be cut in on the action
(but never was). No matter what, Michael always told Chris never to use drugs.
Throughout the book Chris Darden refers to his brother as a good role model for him no matter what he did.
I feel the purpose of Chris Darden writing this book is to try to show the hardships he had to go through as a black man trying to become a lawyer.
Also I feel that he is trying to reveal the truth behind what was happening in the Simpson case.

Body of the Review

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