Trial by Ambush: Murder, Injustice, and the Truth about the Case of Barbara Graham

by Marcia Clark

The ’50s version of “the Trial of the Century.” It inspired an Oscar-winning film, I Want to Live!, starring Susan Hayward as Barbara Graham.

Two books had been published about the case. One, Proof of Guilt, by Kathleen Cairns, was excellent, but it didn’t discuss the trial either. The other, The Case of Barbara Graham, by Bill Walker, was a short paperback published in 1961 that summarized the highlights of the trial, but the selective nature of what was emphasized and—importantly—what was left out gave me pause about its reliability.

Kathleen Cairns, the author of Proof of Guilt (which I highly recommend), which discussed Barbara’s life and her case but focused on the death penalty, not the trial.