{"id":1663288,"date":"2026-03-04T18:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T23:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/03\/04\/\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T18:05:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T22:05:52","slug":"from-the-archive-the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey","status":"publish","type":"daily","link":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/03\/04\/from-the-archive-the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Archive: \u201cThe Mystery of JonBen\u00e9t Ramsey\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the June 24, 1999, issue of&nbsp;<em>The New York Review of Books,&nbsp;<\/em>Joyce Carol Oates wrote about the murder of JonBen\u00e9t Ramsey and dissected America\u2019s fascination with \u201cthe category of nonfiction known as \u2018true crime.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/share.transistor.fm\/e\/0efa0f97?color=990101\"><\/iframe><br><p class=\"color-gray mb-0 text-label font-ivar text-center mt-xs-1 img-caption d-none d-lg-block\">Click the \u201cSubscribe\u201d link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform.<p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In this episode of\u00a0<em>Private Life<\/em>, \u201cThe Mystery of JonBen\u00e9t Ramsey\u201d is read by writer Alissa Bennett.\u00a0This reading accompanies the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/02\/25\/joyce-carol-oates-on-true-crime-her-improbable-life-and-joan-didion\/\"><em>Private Life\u00a0<\/em>episode<\/a> featuring Oates discussing her novels, essays, and the improbability of her life. You can also read \u201cThe Mystery of JonBen\u00e9t Ramsey\u201d on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/1999\/06\/24\/the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\/\">website here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the June 24, 1999, issue of&nbsp;The New York Review of Books,&nbsp;Joyce Carol Oates wrote about the murder of JonBen\u00e9t Ramsey and dissected America\u2019s fascination with \u201cthe category of nonfiction known as \u2018true crime.\u2019\u201d Click the \u201cSubscribe\u201d link in the player above to follow this podcast on your favorite listening platform. In this episode of\u00a0Private [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":1663294,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[31385],"daily-type":[],"coauthors":[7382,31420],"class_list":["post-1663288","daily","type-daily","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-private-life","author-roles-by","author-roles-read-by","author-cap-joyce-carol-oates","author-cap-alissa-bennett"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"http:\/\/nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/03\/04\/from-the-archive-the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"From the Archive: \u201cThe Mystery of JonBen\u00e9t Ramsey\u201d","url":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/03\/04\/from-the-archive-the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/online\/2026\/03\/04\/from-the-archive-the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/PL-OatesTitle-FeaturedImage-1600.jpg?w=125","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/PL-OatesTitle-FeaturedImage-1600.jpg"},"articleSection":"Uncategorized","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joyce Carol Oates"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Alissa Bennett"}],"creator":["Joyce Carol Oates","Alissa Bennett"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The New York Review of Books","logo":""},"keywords":["private life"],"dateCreated":"2026-03-04T23:16:13Z","datePublished":"2026-03-04T23:16:13Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T22:05:52Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"From the Archive: \\u201cThe Mystery of JonBen\\u00e9t Ramsey\\u201d\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/online\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/04\\\/from-the-archive-the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/online\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/04\\\/from-the-archive-the-mystery-of-jonbenet-ramsey\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/PL-OatesTitle-FeaturedImage-1600.jpg?w=125\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/PL-OatesTitle-FeaturedImage-1600.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Uncategorized\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Joyce Carol Oates\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Alissa Bennett\"}],\"creator\":[\"Joyce Carol Oates\",\"Alissa Bennett\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"The New York Review of Books\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[\"private life\"],\"dateCreated\":\"2026-03-04T23:16:13Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-04T23:16:13Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-03-11T22:05:52Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nybooks.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/1663288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/daily"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/1663288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1663305,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily\/1663288\/revisions\/1663305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1663294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1663288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1663288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1663288"},{"taxonomy":"daily-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/daily-type?post=1663288"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1663288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}