No comments about Julius Caesar (The New Cambridge Shakespeare).

5 comments about The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin: A Novel.

1. The tyrant Stalin is seriously brooding about what his arch-enemy Trotsky may write about him in a biography. Stalin contemplates what section of his past may be available for Trotsky to discover and tell the world. So we hear the Soviet Leader on his early life in seminary school, and the beginnings of revolution, and Stalin's participation or non- participation in these events. Will Trotsky suggest Stalin's early contributions were less than satisfactory? Will Trotsky mention Lenin's serious misgivings about the character of the future dictator? And we are given a grand tour through the 1937 Trials of former comrades. Therefore, Stalin must do away with Trotsky, and arranges a massive spying operation in Trotsky's Mexico City Compound. Told with verve, nastiness,and even some very dark humor, this short and incisive work will be hard to put down for anyone. My only complaint is that many aspects of the 1930's USSR are not mentioned, especially the man-made famines in Ukraine, but still a fine piece of work!



2. That's the first line of this strange little book, and almost the theme of it. The author attempts to get us into the mind of Stalin, and gives us a biography of sorts, up until about 1939 or so, but the main thrust of the work appears to be Stalin's obsession with Trotsky, and the fact that he is writing a biography of him from his exile in Mexico. Stalin is extremely afraid that Trotsky is going to find out the big secret Stalin is trying to hide, but anyone with half a brain can figure out the secret the first time it is mentioned! The book was interesting, however, for it's heroic attempt to give us some inkling of what goes on in the mind of a mass murderer.



3. Of course he never wrote an autobiography, but if he told it to cronies, it would sound like this, then he'd have them shot. So imagine Stalin telling his life story, a crude thug boasting of his power, telling little anecdotes about exterminating millions, and sharing his innermost "thoughts". It's black humor at its best. Lourie is a sovietologist and literary translator from Russian, he's done the research, spent time in Russia, he knows his stuff. It's hard to imagine a more accurate portrait of the monster, and once you start reading, you can't put it down. Should be required reading, lest we forget. Highly recommended.



4. 
   A very unusual way to write a book about a person who had such an impact on the 20th Century.One could argue endlessly whether Stalin or Hitler was the most evil and who had the most evil impact on the world during the century. However;don't expect this book to settle that question.What the author does, is try to explain what it was that made Stalin so important,how he thought,what his goals were and how he went about attaining them.
   Normally ,this would be done via a Biography;but this author does it via an Autobiography. He has "created" the autobiography that Stalin would written ;if he had written one himself. By doing this the author tries to get deep into the personal thinking and feelings of Stalin. At the same time, he gives great insight into Lenin ,Trotsky,Beria and many others who surrounded Stalin;particularly as to what he thought of them.This book is considered fiction or a novel;but that hardly does it justice. If you go along with the author's knowledge and intent of purpose ;while technically speaking,it is fiction,it is more important than that.
   This book answers many questions as to what motivated Stalin.We see that he was total believer in diabolitical,dialectic materialism. The only thing that interested him was his own pursuit of power.He had no feelings whatsoever of any concept of right or wrong.He didn't have any concern for Russia,the People,or even Political Systems.He used everyone and everything ,in any way he rationalized, in his pursuit of personal power.
   The author follows Stanlin from his early days in Georgia up to the time where he has used everyone or eliminated them to become the undisputed ruler of Russia at the age of 50 ,in 1929. History has shown that in the end he accomplished nothing more than absolute power for himself and hence when he died that power dissipated,leaving nothing but strife and misery. It is little wonder this was the result when you see he had no other interest than that of self power.
   The book does an excellent job of showing haw one person can get control of so many people and cause such evil. It has happend many times in history and there is no reason it can't happen again.All it takes is someone driven by evil and in search of power.
   It is worthwhile srudying how historical figures came on the scene in their day,how they got control and compare these people with what is taking place today on the world stage. It's scary!



5. This is a great piece of fiction that really grabbed me by the collar and held on to me in a way that most novels don't. Although some background on Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union helps the reader catch all of the allusions, the storyline stands on its own as a psychological thriller. This isn't intended as a work of history, but author Lourie does have some things to say about Stalin's rise to power and what might have stood in its way. It is quite an accomplishment to humanize a monster without sentimentalizing or excusing his crimes. History buffs, radicals and thriller aficionados will all enjoy this book.

5 comments about Right or Wrong, God Judge Me: THE WRITINGS OF JOHN WILKES BOOTH.

1. In my opinion "Right or Wrong,God Judge Me" is a blessing;mostly for the masses growing up believing only one side to a twisting and tragic tale.John Wilkes Booth is humanized,he is presented as a multi dimensional conflicted individual,far from the "mad man" we were all taught to despise for his repulsive crime against the US government and Lincoln. The evil I once thought he posessed is not the main struggle of his personality;his struggle seems to more or less be over his love and jealousy of brother Edwin and his fears of being loved and admired.His heart is tormented by the carnage of the Civil War,which in turn causes him to side with just about anyone who hates Lincoln. As I found by reading the book,he was not as mad as I once believed,but seemed more a sad and lonely man admired mostly for his looks yet he seemed to be upset about the sexual objectivity given to his person,hence he burned fan mail sent to him by rather amourous ladies,I feel from reading this book that he needed more than theatre and adoration from screaming females;he wanted to be taken seriously and make a difference in the world.Unfortunately he chose a rather brutal means of attaining this goal. I do think that his appearance can somewhat color judgement.Do we feel more sorry for him because he was extremely handsome? I wonder if he would have been homely if he would have gotten as much sympathy? Maybe not,but still I understand his mentality better and why he turned out the way he did.



2. This is an interesting book regarding the state of mind of the wealthy and famous actor of the time. The book carefully places his letters chronologically and also backs them by giving historic references and explanations of the events that surrounded the man. How his "flowery-like" letters could ever hint at a man struggling with the problems of the country isn't told in them. It's ironic from such writing that this man who had fame, fortune and social approval also had a deep and ever growing anger against northern politics. His inner anger seemed depressed awaiting a chance to explode. This book easily portrays Booth as a caring man yet also one who sympathized with the Southern cause. It briskly explains his premeditated thoughts of assassinating Lincoln and has little information regarding putting his thoughts into motion. Yes, this book is about his letters and offers a quick coverage of the events surrounding Booth before and after the killing of Lincoln. For those looking for a complete biography this book isn't the one. For those looking for added insight who may have already read about Booth before, this is a great bonus of information.



3. The title is a promising one, if you're interested in JWB and the Lincoln assassination; and the compilation is thorough, if what you want is to have the complete known products surviving from JWB. The problem is that 90% of what does survive (thus 90% of this book) is really insignificant stuff that sheds very little light on the man's ideas, opinions, or thoughts. It's mostly brief, impersonal, non-revealing notes written to confirm theatrical engagements, &c., &c. Much of it is repetitive variations on a few business-oriented themes. Too bad this is al that survives from him!



4. "Right or Wrong, God Judge Me" is a fascinating collection of all the known existing hand-written documents left by John Wilkes Booth. Most of his written materials were destroyed by family, friends and acquaintances in the aftermath of Lincoln's assassination for fear that the holders of the documents may be accused of being an accessory to the crime. What is printed here (many for the first time) are those documents left by JWB that managed to be preserved. These materials include letters written to a friend William O'Laughlin (brother of Michael O'Laughlin who was a co-conspirator) when JWB was a teen-ager, poems written in autograph books of fellow actors, information on his theatre work and financial investments written to his business partners, love letters to Isabel Sumner, and a lengthy pro-Union speech intentionally preserved by brother Edwin written only a few days after South Carolina seceded from the Union. In the latter as well as the famous "To Whom It May Concern" letter also published here, JWB explains his sympathy with the southern cause, the influence of watching abolitionist John Brown hanged, his feelings towards his country, his personal views on slavery, etc. Two pocket diary entries written while he was a fugitive (surprised at the negative reaction his deed received from the public) as well as a sarcastic letter written to a doctor who would not help him as he was fleeing authorities on an injured leg are the last entries in this book.
   
   What makes this book even more fascinating than reading the words of one of the most notorious men in American history, is the incredible research completed by the editors. Every document, including letters of only a couple sentences, are followed by many footnotes detailing the people, places, and events in JWB's life pertaining to the document. This information includes theatre reviews, most in praise of Booth's performances, especially his sword fighting. The dangers and hardships actors endured traveling to shows in those days is explained. The editors also include historical background and context to the documents. Even the letters on his theatre schedule and investments were interesting because of the additional information the editors provided. I felt as though I was following JWB's life through these letters and footnotes. I've come away from this book with a much better understanding of what motivated JWB to commit his crime. Anyone interested in Booth and the Lincoln assassination needs to read this book. The 171-page book includes a section of illustrations, including photos of three of the handwritten documents.



5. this book is a decent account of John Wilkes Booth, but there is nothing that has not been already examined in countless other books pertaining to this topic. The book does not give as much detail about booth as one would expect. If you really want a great book about John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assaination, and the several weeks that followed, i strongly recommend "American Brutus" by Michael W. Kauffman, this was one of the best books ive ever read on the subject.

1 comments about Autobiography of a spy.

1. Bancroft, Mary 1983. Autobiography of a spy. William Morrow and Company. Inc. New York. ISBN 0688020194
   
   This is a very informative and sensual book, providing insights and links between seemingly different events. This book contains detail after detail of rare and varied historical information. Aside from the routine of spy-craft there are endless enlightening data. Bancroft's description of the sugar mill and port town of Antilla, and Banes the birthplace of Fulgencio Batista, in eastern Cuba and the life, mores and conditions of those places in Cuba are vivid, if sometimes uninformed. One realizes, without mention of names, she is dealing with people like Angel Castro, father of Fidel, and his business of importing seasonal contract labor from Haiti to work in the cane fields. Bancroft describes vivid characters such as the "minor" Rumanian Prince whose ambition was to open a high class brothel over a hat shop in Paris, and the genocidal horrors of the Yugoslavian conflicts. She explains in matter of fact tactful tones the amorality of her spy trade, the exploitation of diverse sexuality, and the realities of survival of the "international" of desperately arrogant gay diplomats cooperating across borders, betraying their countries in order protect themselves, are described discretely. Her contacts with and instruction by Carl Gustav Jung, her lovers and husbands, her uncaring braveness, the casual skill with which she does her job, and arranges her employment by and affair with Allen Dulles, are erotic without being explicit.

3 comments about Coup D'Etat in America: The CIA and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy.

1. Webberman and Canfield present a chilling theory behind who assasinated President Kennedy. This book answers the questions relating to who benefited most from the assasination and who had the power to cover it up. After reading this book, even hardline Castro/Mafia theorists will ponder over their conclusions



2. I read this badly reasoned book when it was released back in the seventies. That a man enjoined, as one of the authors was, from digging in Bob Dylan's garbage be considered a serious researcher, much less a target of guffaws, is beyond the limits of my ratiocination. The thesis here is simple: America is evil, led by such right-wing extremists as lead the Brookings Institution (a big surprise to not only them, but also conservatives), and Mr. Kennedy was removed to remove from a path the sane know he himself supported. Buy this for a chuckle. For the assassination, read Posner's book.



3. This wonderful book grows from the photos of Dealy Plaza tramps on captured Nov. 22, '63. Author Weberman had a website under the name of the book and it was so 'dangerous' that the FBI arrested him for possession of marijuana with intent to sell and his marvelous website melted away--that's how 'deadly' this book is! Some of the very shooters are pictured and documented and yet NO record of their arrest or interrogation in Dallas PD custody is left--Duh! Nixon may be implied merely as a dupe by deep-CIA machinations, but the Nixon/Watergate tapes do reveal the burglaries were really about the assassin's blow-back control, not political bungling. This is the best book yet I've read about the assassination, and if anyone cares about truth and history, and our present situation, this book is a must read!

5 comments about The Owl and Hawk: An End to Terrorism.

1. This is an exciting and enlightening novel. On one level it is a well told action narrative but it also seems so credible that you ask yourself - why wasn't this the way (or a similar way) we dealt with Al Quaeda in 2001 or soon thereafter. This book makes a good case for surgical removal of this demented enemy rather than using a sledge hammer to swat a fly. Read it and decide for yourself. I hope someone is working on a movie script because this could make a great few hours on screen.



2. Clear your schedule before you start reading this book, it is a truly realistic version of Middle Eastern mores.
   For a first novel Mr. Errett has made me a fan for life! A true page turner in the genre of Vince Flynn thrillers.
   Kudos galore for a book that's timely and well researched...A MUST read!



3. The book reads like a manifesto, and it's very clear that the author has a specific point to make. The dialogue is stilted and on the whole it's not worth the time.
   
   Here's the deal: the book loses complete track of time. It's jumbled. He's trying to write like Tom Clancy and at the same time show us the brilliance of his POP plan and his brilliant way to end terrorism.
   
   I have seen some of the marketing materials for the book. It assures booksellers that this is not a self-published tome. It reads like one. Far too many errors in style and typography. Far too weak a storyline. Far too thin characters. Far too coincidental a plot.
   
   No fiction press would touch this book. I recommend that you follow their lead. Life is too short to read horrid books.



4. The cover alone got my attention and after reading the first chapter I couldn't put it down! The Owl and The Hawk is an excellent read! Each chapter makes you long for knowing what will happen next. I highly recommend this book. It gives you a chilling look into terrorism and a plan to defeat it!



5. Wake Up Call
   
   There is no doubt that this book is a wake up call - and as such its message is likely to be received negatively by those who choose to keep their heads under their pillows as the alarm goes off. Strangely, those who would deny that it is time to get up and do something (about terrorism) are more interested in attacking the messenger than addressing the problem itself. This makes the task of getting the message out about the reality of terrorism even more difficult.
   
   Clearly, the book does have a point to make (I do hate books that are pointless). I think it is great that the author has the guts and drives to not only bring the reality of terrorism back to the surface but to construct a viable plan to do something about it. How many other ordinary citizens can say that? - (not including of course our military and first responders who are our everyday heroes and not ordinary at all)
   
   The story line is very believable (remember the book ""On Wings of Eagles" by Ken Follet - the true story about how Ross Perot used mercenaries to rescue his company's employees from being held hostage in Iran?). The terror that Errett's book portrays is all too real for too many of our global community's citizen. It is a message that no compassionate human being can fail to miss.
   
   The book is an exciting tale that does not slow down - but author, John Errett, deserves credit for more than just writing a great read. He needs to be applauded for his brilliant use of fiction as a device to jar a somnambulant public (that seems to have all but forgotten what happened on 9/11) and propose a new solution to terrorism as well.
   
   If Errett is a self published author - so what? - He would then be in the same company of many entrepreneurial Americans who take initiatives and do not wait for someone else to do, fix, start. The internet has changed the way the world does business (the Amazon model was originally mocked by the book world too).
   
   Life is too short to be hostile to new ideas. Don't just buy this book -tell everyone else about it too.

5 comments about Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln.

1. Come Retribution is opaque, at times difficult but a wonderfully fresh look at the official role of the CONfederate government in the assasination of Abraham Lincoln. Unlike most works on the Civil War, it is not a re-comilation but a new look at an old subject using new evidence. And the evidence is damning -- the authors, all modern day intelligence experts, argue convincingly that the death of President Lincoln was a runaway operation that was designed to kidnap the president and/or blow up the War department. The authors ability to uncover fresh evidence at so late a date is an indication that modern research and analytical techniques used by the intelligence community have a strong and valuable role in historical reseacrh as well. This book is an absolute must read for anyone interested in the assasination of Lincoln, the Confederate Secret Service or historical detective work. MichShul@aol.com



2. While not as readable as a novel or even a narrative history, this book is fascinating reading for anyone interested in the subject of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. While everybody and his brother has been accused of killing John F. Kennedy, few have questioned the "lone gunman" theory that John Wilkes Booth was a madman who acted on his own. Some years back there was an inept attempt to blame a conspiracy involving Union secretary of war Edwin Stanton, but no one seems to have thought to explore the obvious possibility of Confederate involvement--at least not since Stanton himself gave up trying to pin it on Jeff Davis shortly after the event. Now this book presents a sizable body of circumstantial evidence to show that, at the very least, the assassination was a last-minute perversion of a Confederate plot to capture Lincoln and thus bargain for its independence, or at least for its soldiers in Federal prisoner of war camps. The book is well written, and the thesis it presents is convincing. No one who has not read this book really understands the end of the American Civil War



3. "Come Retribution" is a lengthy and often technically detailed effort to place the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln into the context of Confederate Secret Service operations during the Civil War. The first half of the book lays the ground work by an extended discussion of Confederate intelligence and covert action activities. This discussion highlights the difficulties of reconstructing activities that were highly secret and poorly documented, especially in the chaos of the closing months of the Civil War. The second half of the book is the application of what is known about the Confederate secret service to the events around Lincoln's assassination. What emerges is a more richly nuanced explanation of those events, in which an extended effort to orchestrate Lincoln's kidnapping becomes an assassination plot after the fall of Richmond in April 1865. The gaps in the record, based both on the passage of time and the secrecy in which these actions would have been carried out means the authors must often imply or suggest links in their explanation based on their characterization of the assassination as an organized secret service mission. The motley band of misfits led by an allegedly insane actor found in traditional histories are in this version replaced by a purpose built organization recruited, financed, and directed to some significant degree by the Confederate Secret Service. The authors' explanation is reasonable and plausible, if not fully documented. The writing in this book is sometimes tedious and repetitive, and will be of most interest to serious students of the Civil War and especially of Lincoln's assassination. This book will be of particular interest to those with a background in intelligence or special operations; indeed, a full understanding of the book almost presupposes such a background. Those who choose to favor exotic conspiracy theories about the Lincoln assassination will be disappointed; Tidwell and his fellow authors prefer simpler explanations.



4. Although many people today have assumed that Booth acted to kill President Lincoln, Seward and Johnson as an act independent of Confederate complicity, the authors of 'Retribution' document that Booth was well connected with the Confederate special operations unit and agents. The complicated Confederate special operations provided agents not only in Washington D.C. and Maryland but also NYC, Canada and other keys areas inside Union lines. After describing in detail the clandestine activities of the Confederates, the authors outline how the network of agents were implanted that were active in gaining and transferring information but also prepared to support Booth and his companions in the kidnapping of Lincoln aiding his transport through Maryland all the way to Ashland, Virginia and beyond. Unfortunately, definitive proof of the Confederate secret operations may not be explicitly connected to Lincoln's death, it is apparent that Booth was active with operatives in NYC, Canada and agents in eastern Maryland, the flight of his escape. When Booth determined to assassinate Lincoln, there is no conclusive evidence that Confederate authorities approved of his action; however, as the authors point out, the approved element of kidnapping risks death of the object of that kidnapping. In that sense authorities knew with the initial kidnapping plan, that the possibility of Lincoln being killed was a risk does indicate complicity in the possibility of his death. This is a very detailed and well documented book that demonstrates that the Confederate special operations were very active whether in germ warfare with a failed effort to contaminate NYC with yellow fever or to contribute to anti-war sentiment particularly in NYC or even to free Confederate prisoners in the Great Lakes, it is very apparent that Confederate agents were willing to use extraordinary measures to end the war. It's amazing that Lincoln was so vulnerable to being kidnapped or assassination and that he was virtually unafraid, leaving it all to fate as he often rode off alone and refused protection unless coerced upon him. It is ironic that perhaps an unwritten code not to assassinate Lincoln protected him when he was vulnerable during most of the war and just a reasonable complement of bodyguards in the end would have saved his life. While Stanton somberly stated, "Now he belongs to the ages," upon Lincoln's death, it appears that Lincoln trusted a higher authority in protecting his life or in determining his time. How good is this book? The author of one of the most recent and acclaimed books on the Lincoln assassination, "Blood on the Moon" frequently references "Come Retribution" calling it a great scholarly history on the Confederate spy and special operations network and its activities.



5. I read all the reviews on this book, and was really looking forward to reading it. With all due respect to the author, the book is hardly referenced, speculative, and relies on highly circumstantial evidence in support of its thesis: namely, that Lincoln was the victim of a Confederate plot. Also, the writing style is dull and unimaginative, hardly provoking much desire to turn the next page.

5 comments about When the News Went Live: Dallas 1963.

1. I stayed up all night reading when my copy of When The News Went Live, Dallas 1963 arrived. This book is a classic and should be included in the curriculum of every journalism and political science classroom in America.
   
   Huffaker, Mercer, Phenix and Wise have written the Texas story of the Kennedy assassination, the inside scoop on Oswald's murder and the history of the evolution of modern journalism. These four men were Dallas television reporters, on the scene and on their own, in the middle of the news story of the century.
   
   It is a salute to their training and their integrity as newsmen that their coverage under duress stands today as a compelling rendering of those fateful moments. I am glad they were the early ones on the scene, for they were the ones who broke the news to me in my elementary classroom. The story gives their perspectives more fully; all these years later, this book helps me understand the events and how they affected Texas and the nation.
   
   Bob, Bill, George and Wes were there in Dallas with their Southern sensibilities. They weren't easily pushed around or manipulated that dark day and still aren't. They were taught to tell the truth as objectively as possible, and they reverted to that training and their good common sense when placed in positions lesser men might have blown or exploited. These four men cared about truth and justice and fairness and still do. I hope all young journalists will read this and learn about balanced reporting.



2. 1963 nov 22 brought to life again but with more professionalism.some very interesting facts that confirmed my own thoughts .



3. We have become accustomed (yea, verily, some would say desensitized)to horror unfolding before our eyes in our very own living rooms. Bob Huffaker's book brings us back to a time before the desensitization, when we could scarcely believe what our eyes were telling us. I recommend this book highly to those who were there, watching as I was, and even more so to those who were not there. The young, raised in an era of suicide bombers, need to understand that it was not always thus.



4. "With three shots from a mail-order rifle, Lee Oswald set off a worldwide tragedy that developed too fast to print. .... Broadcast journalism came of age in that crisis of grief and uncertainty, and as it drew its mourning audience, it helped to hold the nation together." -- Bob Huffaker; From the Preface of "When The News Went Live: Dallas 1963"
   
   ----------------------
   
   "When The News Went Live: Dallas 1963", published in 2004, paints a vivid word picture of many of the incredible events that surrounded President John F. Kennedy's assassination in November of 1963, as seen through the eyes of four journalists -- Bob Huffaker, Bill Mercer, George Phenix, and Wes Wise -- who covered those events as they happened for CBS affiliate KRLD-TV and Radio in Dallas.
   
   President Kennedy's shocking and appalling assassination on November 22, 1963, was the very first really big "Watch It Unfold Live On TV" news event of the television era, with four full commercial-free days being devoted to nothing but exclusive assassination-related coverage by all three major TV networks (with KRLD's on-the-scene Dallas reporters frequently feeding CBS-TV headquarters in New York).
   
   And the four reporters whose intriguing stories unfold within this 224-page hardcover volume were right smack in the thick of things during the rapidly-developing events -- from the initial sketchy bulletins that told of the President being shot in Dealey Plaza during a motorcade drive through the city of Dallas -- to the announcement of JFK's death at Parkland Hospital -- to the capture of the accused assassin (Lee Harvey Oswald) in a nearby movie theater -- to Oswald's very own murder on live TV (with Bob Huffaker reporting live from the basement of the Dallas Police Department, where the single gunshot from Jack Ruby's pistol added yet another hard-to-believe chapter to the weekend's nightmarish story).
   
   It was a mesmerizing weekend in American (and television) history, to say the least. And those days are re-lived with clarity in this engaging book by way of the recollections of four men who lived through and reported on those events when they were occurring.
   
   "When The News Went Live" contains several excellent black-and-white photographs, too (some of them I haven't seen published elsewhere).
   
   On a personal level, I have had the pleasure of communicating (via e-mail) with Bob Huffaker several times. He has been very cordial and gracious whenever answering the questions that I had for him. His personal insights into the events revolving around JFK's death are fascinating glimpses into the past, and are insights that I have enjoyed reading immensely.
   
   A sample e-mail excerpt from Mr. Huffaker:
   
   ----------------------
   
   "David, you're right about the presidential visit and motorcade being the main attraction that all Dallas media were covering, of course. But all our stations had limited capabilities for doing mobile TV, which then demanded either cables or microwave dishes--as well as a receiving dish within line-of-sight beaming or bouncing.
   
   Hence the pool TV arrangements, limited to three planned locations. The local TV stations did live TV from the FTW {Fort Worth} breakfast, Love Field, and the Trade Mart. But this was, indeed, the day the news went live on television, unplanned.
   
   WBAP-TV in Fort Worth had a non-running TV van, which they had towed all the way from Cowtown to Dallas Police headquarters, and we sent both of our KRLD-TV vans into duty--the Bread Truck at DPD and the Blue Goose on the 24th to the county jail, etc.
   
   This was the first time in TV history when on-the-spot news suddenly demanded to go live from the scene. Before that, radio news on-the-spot descriptions such as ours that day were common (like the Hindenburg broadcast--radio only), and live TV was usually reserved for major speeches, sports, etc.
   
   Bob" -- E-mail to this writer; May 30, 2006
   
   ----------------------
   
   Relating to the subject of "WHEN THE NEWS WENT LIVE", I'd like to offer up the following observations as an extension of this book review.....
   
   To those JFK conspiracy theorists who seem to favor the Oliver Stone-like or Robert Groden-promoted assassination scenarios (that feature a minimum of three gunmen and anywhere from 6 to 10 gunshots being fired at President Kennedy in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963) -- I always suggest to them that they ought to dig up some of the originally-aired "As It Is Happening" live TV or radio broadcasts from that dark Friday in American history.
   
   After performing that exercise of watching a few hours of the November 22 television coverage of the assassination (in real time), or listening to some of the radio broadcasts in real time (which works just as well) -- I challenge anyone to then arrive at the same conclusion that was slapped up on the big theater screen in 1991 via Director Oliver Stone's blockbuster, conspiracy-laden motion picture "JFK".
   
   Watching the day's events unfold "live" in front of you (or listening to them unfold on the radio as it was happening) should, in my opinion, provide everyone with a good general idea of how utterly impossible a task it would have been to have "faked" so much stuff that was being IMMEDIATELY reported to the world on live television and radio within minutes and hours of the President's assassination (and within a very short space of time following Police Officer J.D. Tippit's murder as well).
   
   Via those original live TV/Radio broadcasts, you're not going to hear a SINGLE report that resembles anything close to the Oliver Stone/Jim Garrison-endorsed nonsense of:
   
   "Three gunmen fired six shots at President Kennedy's motorcade today here in Dallas!!"
   
   What you will hear, instead, is live coverage, as it happened, of a ONE-GUNMAN assassination taking place from where the majority of witnesses said it took place (the Texas School Book Depository Building), with no more than three shots having been fired by the SINGLE SHOOTER, which is a shot count that over 91% of the witnesses concur with -- including the small percentage of witnesses who heard only one or two shots, who are witnesses that certainly don't do Mr. Stone's "6-shot ambush" theory any favors.
   
   Upon evaluating virtually all of the TV networks' live assassination footage from November 22nd, 1963, there is no possible way that a reasonable person could arrive at a conclusion that JFK was shot by three assassins, firing from both front and rear. Let alone arriving at an even more-cockeyed "8-to-10-shot" shooting scenario, as purported by Mr. Groden and some other CTers, which is an outlandish conspiracy-flavored scenario that has John Kennedy and John Connally being shot by way more than just the two Warren Commission-backed Mannlicher-Carcano bullets from Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle.*
   
   * = And Mr. Groden's theory (that sports from 8 to 10 gunshots) also features an additional hunk of lunacy, in that Groden thinks it's very likely that NONE of these eight to ten shots came from the "Oswald window" in the Book Depository! (I'm not making this crazy stuff up here. I promise. Anyone who owns a copy of Robert Groden's 1993 book "The Killing Of A President" can check out Groden's preposterous theory for themselves, on pages 20-40.)
   
   The bottom line is -- Very nearly all of the information being reported on TV and radio that November day favored a "Lone Assassin" shooting scenario (including the info concerning the Tippit murder in Oak Cliff), with very little evidence and information being broadcast that would support any type of a "conspiracy" whatsoever; and certainly no "conspiratorial" evidence that has ever panned out and "proved" that a multi-gun plot ended JFK's life in Dallas.
   
   This is quite a telling "One Killer" fact. Because, in my view, if a vast conspiracy and subsequent "cover-up" had been in place on November 22nd (given the immense amount of TV and radio coverage, with reporters scrutinizing everything coming across their desks and digging hard for any type of case-solving clues during those first hours and days after JFK and J.D. Tippit were killed), I think that at least SOME pieces of the conspiracy would have leaked through to the sweeping television and radio coverage surrounding the two Dallas murders.
   
   And I'm guessing that every reporter and newsman in the country (including Messrs. Huffaker, Mercer, Phenix, and Wise) would have loved to dig up some "conspiracy"-proving angle during that weekend in November of '63. Being the person who uncovered such a huge story would certainly be a feather in that reporter's cap, to be sure. But, as it turned out, nothing of that nature occurred....and has yet to occur all these many years later.
   
   To think (as many theorists do) that these conspirators were so smart and so quick to have had the capabilities to immediately eliminate virtually every last scrap of information leading to a conspiracy plot of some kind, making sure that none of the "multi-gunmen shooting event" details seeped through to the media (multiplied by TWO separate murders as well, counting Tippit's!), is to think that any such evil-doers had powers similar to "Superman".
   
   For example -- Almost every one of the initial reports concerning the number of gunshots heard by witnesses stated "3 shots". And while it's true that the very first report of the shooting from UPI's Merriman Smith (which was broadcast over all the television networks) stated "Three shots were fired...", it's also worth noting that Smith's initial bulletin was not the ONLY "three shots" account that was reported during those early hours just after the shooting.
   
   For instance, Jay Watson of ABC affiliate WFAA-TV in Dallas (who happened to be in Dealey Plaza during the shooting and nervously reported the first bulletins to the unaware Dallas TV audience) is heard multiple times on November 22nd saying he heard "3 shots" fired.
   
   Plus, several other members of the media are also on record stating their own PERSONAL beliefs that exactly three shots were fired by the assassin, including Robert MacNeil, Jack Bell, Bob Clark, Jerry Haynes, and Pierce Allman, among still others.
   
   Some of the other "Three Shot" witnesses who were riding right in the Presidential motorcade itself include -- Photographers Tom Dillard, Robert Jackson, Mal Couch, and James Underwood. Plus, both John and Nellie Connally, who were riding in the same car with President Kennedy.
   
   In addition, Presidential aides Ken O'Donnell and David Powers, who were both riding in the Secret Service follow-up car directly behind JFK's limousine, can also be added to the lengthy list of witnesses who heard precisely three gunshots.
   
   And then there's also amateur filmmaker Abraham Zapruder, who took the most famous 26-second home movie in history when he captured the entire assassination with his 8mm Bell & Howell movie camera -- Zapruder showed up on live TV about 90 minutes after the President's murder took place and gave a graphic account of the horrifying event that had taken place in front of his very eyes.
   
   Mr. Zapruder told the WFAA-TV viewing audience that he had heard two or three shots (but definitely no more than three), and he also demonstrated on live television where on the President's head he had seen the effects of the fatal gunshot. Zapruder puts his hand over the right-frontal portion of his own head to demonstrate where he saw the blood coming from JFK's head.
   
   That's pretty amazing "LIVE" stuff from Mr. Zapruder's own lips (within approx. an hour-and-a-half of the assassination). And it's especially incredible and amazing if there had actually been many more than just two or three shots fired at the President, and if the fatal shot had actually (as many CTers believe) caused a huge hole in the BACK of John Kennedy's head, instead of the location where Zapruder placed it on live television -- i.e., the RIGHT SIDE AND FRONT portion of the head.
   
   How could the so-called "conspirators" have possibly gotten THAT lucky with respect to Abraham Zapruder's live "on-the-air" WFAA-TV statements and head-wound "demonstration"? How?
   
   And -- Could these ultra-clever conspirators have somehow managed to "manipulate" several reporters who were relaying the news live to the world immediately after the event, and have them ALL report on hearing just "three shots" (or, in a few cases, hearing only TWO shots, which is a number that certainly does not favor a "Multi-Shooter Conspiracy Plot")?
   
   Or did the plotters just happen to get really, really LUCKY (again) when virtually all of the news reports favored the "Three Shots Fired" conclusion? With this 3-shot scenario matching the precise number of bullet shells that were found on the 6th Floor of the Book Depository after the shooting; and also perfectly matching the exact number of shots heard by TSBD witness Harold Norman, and also perfectly matching the precise number of bullet shells (3) that Norman heard hitting the plywood floor directly above his 5th-Floor location within the Depository.
   
   Which, per Oliver Stone's movie, would mean that a full 50% of the ACTUAL number of gunshots were somehow inaudible to the enormous majority (91%+) of the earwitnesses! And, remember, Oliver has NONE of the shots within his movie's six-shot assassination ambush being "synchronized" in order to merge together with the sound of some of the other shots.
   
   And yet, per Mr. Stone, we're supposed to actually believe that approximately 9 out of every 10 witnesses somehow missed hearing HALF of the gunshots fired that day! A reasonable thing to believe....or not? I ask you.
   
   Were these so-called conspiratorial shooters so good that they could make 4 to 10 shots sound like only three to the vast majority of witnesses scattered all throughout Dealey Plaza? Highly doubtful, to say the least.
   
   Again -- I'd advise all conspiracy theorists to sit down and watch the live TV footage....or listen to some of the surviving 11/22/63 radio tapes....and then try to find a "Multi-Gunmen Conspiracy" lurking within ANY of those original broadcasts. If anybody finds proof of a conspiracy via those means, please let me know. And let the world know too.
   
   David Von Pein
   December 2006
   January 2007



5. There are so very few books that convey a sense of "being there" when it comes to the Kennedy assassination. This outstanding book takes the reader back to that fateful weekend of November 22nd 1963 in Dallas, Texas and does so in an open, honest and compelling manner.
   
   "When the News Went Live" is written by four journalists who were in Dallas on that day covering the presidential visit. Bob Huffaker and the other three newsmen share many interesting stories that you will not find elsewhere and that have been untold for many years no doubt to all but their personal friends. This is why the book is such a valuable contribution to the historical record. Such first hand observation regarding not just those few seconds in Dealey Plaza, the murder of Officer Tippet and the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, but how in fact the entire story unfolded, makes fascinating reading.
   
   As an aid to anyone interested in the assassination, this book is a must have. I would emphasize - rarely do you find first hand knowledge like this - much of what is written on this subject is written by people many steps removed from the event where fact and fiction merge into one. Not so here. A fabulous book which is refreshingly free of the conjecture and myth that is so common in the Himalayan pile of work on the Kennedy assassination and is highly recommended.

5 comments about A Dangerous Road (Smokey Dalton Novels).

1. As a mystery author with my debut novel in its initial release, I was fascinated by A DANGEROUS ROAD. Kris Nelscott has set her novel in Memphis in the days surrounding the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. She takes this factual historical mystery and superimposes her own fictional historical mystery on top of it. A intriguing technique in itself, but she doesn't stop there. She introduces a strong potential series lead in Smokey Dalton. In this book, a wealthy woman named Laura Hathaway wants to learn why her mother left Dalton some cash in her will. Dalton realizes this gift is the second significant contribution to him from the Hathaway family. Previously, an attorney delivered him a check from the Hathaways but refused to tell him why. Soon, Mr. Dalton and Ms. Hathaway join forces and launch their joint investigation against the backdrop of a city divided along racial grounds in one of the most chaotic eras of recent American history. Excellent book.



2. This mystery introduces us to Smokey Dalton, a black private investigator living in troubled Memphis in 1968. Due to the colour of Smokey's skin and the period this is set, the racial issues dealt with are bordering on explosive. This is a remarkable work of fiction that integrates a factual event, that being the days leading up to the assassination of Martin Luther King, jr. It captures the tensions of the day with remarkable clarity and gives us an insight into how the black community of Memphis may have been affected.

   The actual mystery part of the story involves a white woman, Laura Hathaway, who walks into Smokey's office one day, demanding to know why her mother would leave Smokey a bequest of $10,000 in her will. Although Smokey doesn't know her or her mother, he has always wondered about a mysterious benefactor who anonymously donated the same amount of money to him ten years ago. Laura decides to hire Smokey to find out about her family background, what secrets they were hiding and how he is involved in it. The results are shocking for the two of them.

   This is a private investigator story with a difference; thanks to the time it is set and the fact that the protagonist is black. These two unique factors presents hurdles not faced by the majority of private investigators we read about these days. It's a powerful debut novel that has introduced us to a particularly likable, ethical character. Nelscott told us a great deal about the background of Smokey Dalton, making us sympathetic to his feelings and reactions, yet when I finished the book, I felt as though I wanted to learn more.




3. This book is one of the best novels I have read this year and has the well-deserved distinction of having been nominated for the Edgar Award for best mystery. The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale is good but I consider Ms. Nelscott's novel to be better.

   Her main character is Smokey Dalton, a jack-of-all-trades who also finds work as a private investigator in Memphis, Tennessee. We learn that he was a former school classmate with Martin Luther King, Jr. and he is as happy as he can be living his life. Unfortunately, his world is about to be turned upside-down when he meets Laura Hathaway, who flew all the way from Chicago to look for him. It seems her mother left Smokey an inheritance for $10,000 and she wants to know why her mother willed him that money. He later discovers that Laura has a lot of questions regarding her mother and she hires Dalton to investigate. What Dalton discovers is a sinister connection with Ms. Hathaway that will change their lives forever.

   The story takes place during the late sixties when Martin Luther King was active with the sanitation strikes occurring in the South. Dalton experiences prejudice, hatred, violence and turmoil throughout the entire book which in the end will only make him stronger.

   Ms. Nelscott does an excellent job in developing this character that keeps the reader entranced to the plot. There is also a story of a little boy whose mother abandoned him and his brother is contributing to his possible delinquency by involving him as a drug courier and making him cut school. Dalton does his best to try to save this boy.

   There is so much I would like to say about this book, but it is better if you read it and make up your own minds. You will be glad you did. I am also looking forward to reading Smokey Dalton's next book SMOKE-FILLED ROOMS which is now available.




4. (...)I just want to urge you to find "A Dangerous Road" and read it. You'll be convinced that Kris Nelscott has debuted with a winner. More than "just" a detective/mystery novel, Nelscott has given us real literature about a tragic and heroic figure. If you are tired of waiting for the next, long-overdue installment in Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins series, this is the book that will distract you from your misery.

   I'm lucky. I learned of Kris Nelscott and this book only recently, so when I finished I was ecstatic to learn that the second installment, "Smoke Filled Rooms" was out in hardback.

   Let me give you a clue as to how much I enjoyed this book: After reading "A Dangerous Road" in paperback, I immediately ordered the hardback edition for my library and then ordered "Smoke Filled Rooms" in hardback, too. Most of you devoted readers will understand that such a gesture is high praise indeed. Now I have Smoky Dalton's continuing adventures in my bag, just waiting for the moment I open it and read that first sentence.

   All I need now is a visit by Nelscott to a local book store so that I can have my already treasured copies of the product of her art autographed and given a place of honor next to Mr. Mosley's novels (in hardback).




5. Smokey Dalton leaps off the pages as a smart, moral, and meticulous black detective, who's as real as you and me. The depth of character and plot here is astonishing. And to set the mystery against the backdrop of the 1968 Sanitation workers strike in Memphis is just fascinating. I have never read a more authentically feeling historical mystery. All the characters are well developed, and dialogue is fresh, and the mystery unravels quite naturally. Smokey Dalton takes on an unusual client--Laura Hathaway--a white woman who is curious about her dead parents' past. In addition, her mother's will leaves Smokey $10,000. Intrigued, Smokey, years ago, accepted the same amount from an anonymous source. The book really works because Smokey has a personal stake in this case. What he finds out about Laura's parents will also lead him to uncover his own troubled past. Simply brilliant!

2 comments about Mr. Wilson's War: From the Assassination of Mckinley to the Defeat of the League of Nations.

1. John Dos Passos wrote this history of World War One in 1962, and much of it appeals to my nostalgia for the great ideas that were expected to make the world safe for democracy in that century. Dos Passos is sensitive to the progressive issues which were supposed to make politics meaningful to ordinary participants in the process, but the end of the book runs into prohibition, the moralistic attempt to legislate the end of all evils, which produced an economy of booming illegality and immorality on a scale that this book does not attempt to encompass. Wilson's great wish, when the Treaty of Versailles was placed before the Senate, was, as Wilson put it, "The united power of free nations must put a stop to aggression and the world must be given peace . . . It has come about by no plan of our conceiving but by the hand of God who has led us into this way." (p. 483). This is at the beginning of Chapter 24, which is called "The Supremest Tragedy."

   President Wilson, somewhere in this book, is asking the people who are talking to him for a continuation of his ideal: please find an American president who can think of the entire world to come after him. He did not mean that American corporations need to acquire the right to see the whole world as booty in their quest for profits. Personal details on how Wilson actually perceived the world include the Wilsons preparing for "the final longdrawn ceremonies of a dinner at the Elysee Palace:" (p. 482):

   (When the invitation came from Poincare Wilson flew off the handle. He vowed he would not sit down at table with the swine. It was as if all the resentment of the frustrations suffered in Paris were focussed into hatred of the stubby little President of the French Republic. It was all House and Henry White could do to convince him that not to accept the invitation would cause an international incident. Perhaps Mrs. Wilson had already clinched the matter by getting a special dress for the occasion designed for her by Worth.) (p. 482).

   One of the major characters in this book is Teddy Roosevelt, who became President in September 1901 after President William McKinley was shot in Buffalo, in the Temple of Music of the Pan-American Exposition. The assassin declared that he had been inspired by "Emma Goldman who was inciting working people in Chicago to bring about the triumph of right and justice through anarchy. . . . The Chicago police arrested Emma Goldman but the judge turned her loose for lack of evidence. Editorials demanded the deportation of foreign anarchists." (p. 4). This book keeps bringing in T.R. as representative of the politics of these times until he was "too weak to talk." (p. 432). "By Christmas T.R. was thought sufficiently recovered to go home. Two weeks later he died, without a murmur, in his sleep in his own bed at Sagamore Hill." (p. 433). There was a Congressional election campaign shortly before the armistice is 1918. Late in July T.R.'s youngest son, Quentin, "had been shot down fighting a formation of German planes. At first he was listed as missing. Then the Germans reported his death and burial with full honors behind their lines near Cambrai." (p. 432). T.R. made a campaign appearance "in Carnegie Hall, flashing his eyeglasses and clacking his teeth and waving his arms with his legendary zest" (p. 432):

   On October 26, before a packed and cheering audience, he hauled the President over the coals for his call for a Democratic Congress. He denounced the arrogance of Wilson's conduct of the war. With his customary combination of wild inflammatory statements and commonsense reasoning he tore the Fourteen points to pieces, crying out that they were shams and would not bring the peace with justice the American people wanted. (T.R. hadn't been able to get Wilson's war away from him: maybe he could carry off the peace.) (p. 432).
   Photograph number 25 from 1916 shows a campaign truck with a sign on the front that says:

   VOTE FOR WILSON
   PEACE WITH HONOR
   PROSPERITY
   PREPAREDNESS

   On the side: WHO KEEPS US OUT OF WAR?

   The captions on the photos are brief, as skimpy as subtitles in a silent movie. By 1916, "on the western front the British had lost half a million men and the French nearer two million, with the gain of only an occasional thousand yards of shellpocked mud on the Flanders front." (p. 156). Wilson's Secretary of War, Lindley Garrison, and Assistant Secretary Breckenridge resigned because they favored universal military service while Wilson still thought "that the Administration could not move faster towards military preparation than the people moved." (p. 160). Eight soldiers and eight civilians were killed in Columbus, New Mexico by several hundred men led by Villa on March 9, which was about the size of any problem an American Secretary of War ought to be able to handle, and "Wilson picked a man after his own heart. Newton D. Baker was a progressive reformer and a Wilson man from long before Baltimore. He was reputed to be an ardent pacifist." (p. 161).

   There are some exciting descriptions of the war in France and the confusing situation in Russia at that time. Details like "The growth of war exports, without compensating imports, tended to fill the railroad yards in the east with empty freightcars waiting for a westerly load. On top of that the prolonged cold spell froze up locomotives, trapped barges on rivers and canals and increased the nationwide demand for coal and petroleum products." (p. 297). People couldn't use the internet to plan their trips, back then.




2. I read this book at the suggestion of my father and I found myself completely immersed in a historical tale of Woodrow Wilson and the war that consumed the world. Dos Passos' writing is spectacular and adept, leaving many indelible images of Wilson and the events at that time in your mind. More than any other, the moment I best remember from this book is the image of Woodrow Wilson, following his speech asking Congress for a Declaration of War. He is sitting at a desk, where he states to his advisor, Colonel House, that he had just asked for the death of thousands of American young men, yet the people cheered his Declaration of War. He then begins to weep. It's images like these that allow this book to remain one of my favorite works on the United States.