Unforgotten Casebook — One case. Every angle. One place.One case. Every angle. One place.
Explore books, movies, podcasts, news coverage, and court records—organized by true crime case and real-life story, together in one place.
THE CASE LIBRARY
U.S. cases, plus the Bernardo–Homolka case in Canada.
2002
Ten people were killed and three others critically wounded in the Washington-area sniper attacks of October 2002. A multiagency investigation led to the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo and subsequent prosecutions. The book 23 Days of Terror and the documentary I, Sniper explore the victims’ experiences, the investigation and the relationship between the perpetrators.
2001
Washington intern Chandra Levy disappeared in 2001, and her remains were found in a park the next year. Public attention initially centered on her relationship with a congressman. Another man’s murder conviction was later overturned and the charges dropped, leaving the killing unresolved.
1991
Anita Hill testified that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her when she worked for him. Thomas denied her allegations and was confirmed. The nationally televised hearings brought workplace sexual harassment and the treatment of people reporting it into sustained public debate.
1987–1996
People confronting AIDS organized protests, studied medical research and challenged government agencies over access to treatment. ACT UP and the Treatment Action Group helped reshape relationships between patients, researchers and regulators. How to Survive a Plague follows activists through illness, disagreement, loss and scientific progress.
1972–1974
A break-in at Democratic Party headquarters led to investigations of political espionage and a White House cover-up. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s reporting was one part of a much larger process involving courts, Congress and investigators. Their book and film focus on the newsroom pursuit of the story.
1971
Daniel Ellsberg supplied newspapers with a classified study of U.S. decision-making in Vietnam. The disclosures set off a struggle over government secrecy and press freedom. His memoir and documentary examine the decision to leak the papers, the legal response and the people involved.
1971–1993
Ruth Bader Ginsburg challenged laws that treated people differently because of sex, developing a litigation strategy before her Supreme Court appointment. On the Basis of Sex dramatizes an early tax case involving a male caregiver; her collected writings offer a wider view of her legal career.
1968–1972
Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman elected to Congress and later sought the Democratic presidential nomination. Her campaign challenged assumptions about who could seek national office. Her writing and the film Shirley explore the independence, coalition-building and resistance that shaped that effort.
1963
Bayard Rustin coordinated the logistics of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, drawing on years of nonviolent organizing. Racism and hostility toward his sexuality often pushed his work out of public view. The biography Lost Prophet and the film Rustin explore the man behind one of the civil rights movement’s defining events.
1961
Interracial groups rode buses through the South to challenge segregation in interstate travel. Riders endured mob attacks, arrests and imprisonment while demanding enforcement of existing court rulings. The campaign helped force federal action against segregated interstate bus facilities.
1958–1967
Mildred and Richard Loving were prosecuted under Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage after marrying in Washington, D.C. Their challenge reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1967, Loving v. Virginia struck down state bans on interracial marriage, changing constitutional protections for couples nationwide.
1940–1977
Lawyer, writer and activist Pauli Murray challenged racial and sex discrimination and developed legal arguments that influenced other civil rights advocates. Murray’s life also crossed boundaries of gender, faith and professional access. The memoir and documentary restore context to a figure often left out of familiar accounts.
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