4 comments about The Man Who Knew Too Much: Hired to Kill Oswald and Prevent the Assassination of JFK Richard Case Nagell Is.

1. Richard Case Nagell was involved in the world of intelligence, sometimes working for the US, sometimes apparently, or possibly, working for the Soviets. His history parallels that of Lee Harvey Oswald and the many federal agencies and right-wing groups that haunt the edges of the assassination of President Kennedy. While never definitive as a whodunit, it is extraordinary in showing the vast covert world of which most Americans are totally unaware. This is clearly the best-researched book on this subject, and necessary if anyone hopes to begin to understand the killing of President Kennedy.



2. This book is a true masterpiece! Even if you only have a fleeting interest in JFK conspiracy theories you will enjoy this read. If you like a great mystery novel or chilling spy drama 'The Man Who Knew Too Much'will have you under its spell the way few non-fiction books will. Dick Rusell seems to understand what few JFK assassination book writers do: theories need to be backed up by facts!....I'm sure the true elements of the plot to kill JFK are in this book...everyone gets a name check; from Hoover to Oswald, from the Mafia to secret far-right groups Russell illuminates the dark world of espionage and counter-espionage and centers on the tale of one-time double agent Richard C. Nagell. Nagell it seems sent word of the assassination plot two months BEFORE Nov. 22 to the FBI, who did nothing. In a moment of desperation he fired off a gun in an El Paso bank and got himself arrested......but Nagell is but one figure in the macabre house of cards that led to the death of perhaps our most popular President. Russell has not just written the most coherent analysis on the JFK conspiracy he's written a great book. Period.



3. Dick Russell has out-investigated the entire FBI in the JFK assassination case and provided his findings in his book, The Man Who Knew Too Much, so renaming FBI Hqs in his honor would be appropriate. If the FBI had expended a fraction of the effort that Dick Russell devoted to the case (not counting the FBI's effort that went into the coverup), the conspirators would have been wrapped up long ago. Russell is thorough (just look at the number of pages!), fair, and objective, clearly seeking the truth and not trying to force facts into a preconceived notion. He's attempted to follow the facts to wherever they lead. Undoubtedly, solutions to the mysteries surrounding JFK's death will involve some of what is provided to us in this book with regard to events that Richard Case Nagell witnessed. If you want to look into the JFK case, this book is indispensible.



4. This version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" has nothing to do with the classic Hitchcock movie(s). Rather it is the story of Richard Case Nagel, an obscure and very shadowy former C.I.A. agent, who may have worked for other spook agencies as well. MWKTM tries to make the case that Nagel was hired by the KGB to kill Lee Harvey Oswald before LHO could assassinate President Kennedy. If such a scenario appears implausible, it is fully in keeping with the tangled web of machinations and wire-pulling painted by author Russell. MKTM is prodigiously researched and documented, nearly 600 pages of information including 105 pages of appendices and notes. However, MWKTM contains far too much information, too many names, too copious acronyms and too numerous possibilities concerning who did-or did not- plan the Kennedy assassination. This reviewer is decently well read on the subject, but was left more confused at the end than at the start. The view from this source is that author Russell's painstaking research and detective work is mostly for naught. Previous reviewers are in disagreement! The bottom line here is that those interested in assassination should NOT start their research with MWKTM, but should turn to reliable standards like Jim Garrison's "On the Trail of the Assassins", Jim Marrs' "Crossfire" or even Matthew Smith's more challenging "The Second Plot". Once grounded, they could proceed to Mr. Russll's tome. MWKTM certainly warrants a 5 star rating for effort, but points must be reluctantly deducted for an uneven and highly verbose performance.

1 comments about Evil Empire: The Irish Mob and the Assassination of Journalist Veronica Guerin.

1. I was very pleases with the service and the quality of the book would do business again with them.

5 comments about The Darkest Dawn: Lincoln, Booth, And the Great American Tragedy.

1. He was merely a player in this tragedy. Trained as an actor, he did his biggest role which changed the face of this country forever and ended his short life. John Wilkes Booth would never have killed Lincoln on his own. For some reason, by indoctrination or brain-washing by the conspirators who wanted Lincoln dead, he was used by the group and was in his own mind playing the theatrical role of his life. He was A Deluded Southern Sympathizer. He sprang from a great family of actors; his brother Edwin was an accomplished stage actor. Edwin did his deed so as to be famous in his own right. Many books have been written about John Wilkes Booth's participation in the Lincoln death.
   
   It is sad that so much blame was put on his shoulders. I have been interested in Lincoln's assassination for over twenty years, mainly because they hanged Mary Surrat, the first woman to be officially killed in this manner. It was at her boardinghouse where the conspirators met to discuss and plan killing Lincoln and others in his Cabinet. John Wilkes Booth, from a prominent acting family, was a Confederacy sympathizer. But that in itself does not make him guilty. He was denied his right to a trial.
   
   Most of the South were more than a little upset when Lincoln was inaugurated for the second time. They refused to accept him as "our" President. We had Jefferson Davis who married Zachary Taylor's daughter. I have read so much about Lincoln and also sympathized with Booth's reasoning. Lincoln, as it so happens, was a Shakespeare fan and enjoyed going to Ford's Theatre. John Wilkes Booth (Brutus) was one of the most promising young Shakespearean actors of his day. Booth considered Lincoln an "American Caesar." John Wilkes Booth is sometimes called the "American Brutus." There is a book out with that title, also one called The Myth of John Wilkes Booth.
   
   He was a very handsome man and, even though he broke his leg in the leap to the stage (instead of running down the back stairs), he eluded capture with the help of a Dr. Mudd for twelve days. He was not given a chance to tell his side and the complex, misleading reasons he did what he did. That took fortitude! He did not act alone! That's a major issue. He was cornered in that barn like an animal and burned (at the stake) by the vigilante cowards. He was merely a misinformed player who ended up "on his own" after the dasdardly deed. He deserves better than to be called a devil. To some, he was an avenging angel. Terry Weber played the dual role in the Knoxville production of "Killing Lincoln," and had both Lincoln and Booth down pat. I have read many books about Abraham Lincoln and several about John Wilkes Booth which I have reviewed for Amazon.com



2. I thought I knew a lot about the assassination of Lincoln. I was wrong. This easy to read book holds your attention as well as a novel, but is completely documented to please an academic. It provided intriguing information on the era, the people, and most notably to me, Mrs. Lincoln. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American history.



3. I've read all I've found on Lincoln and yet I found new details about his death here that I had not read elsewhere. It doesn't rehearse the ins and outs of the conspiracy which is good if you've read "Blood on the Moon" and, even more so, "American Brutus". My cavil with 'Darkest Dawn" is that it portrays Booth all but sympathetically and Mrs. Lincoln as the devil herself. Mary Todd Lincoln was, without doubt, a manic-depressive who was dogged by bad health and hellish luck. She was a difficult lady who nevertheless withstood considerable slander and ridicule from both North and South. However, she was a staunch abolitionist who loved her husband dearly and was a kind and devoted mother. The author has the irritating habit of referring to her consistently as the "woman" and even finds her breakdown immediately after the assassination as reason for criticism. I guess if she hadn't, he'd be accusing her being part of the murder plot.



4. I enjoyed this book a great deal. The author is obviously not as much an admirer of Lincoln as I am. Other books I've read are more biased in Lincoln's favor. This author went much deeper into the history of the conspirators and others surrounding the assassination than other have done. A refreshingly unbiased account of the months before and after America's greatest tragedy.



5. He is one of the most recognisable figures in history: The tall, angular frame, the sad half smile, eyes dark, tired and sunken. The last picture of Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, and reproduced here, is that of a man whose race is almost run.
   
   Taken four days before the prominent actor and Southern sympathiser John Wilkes Booth ended his life with a shot to the head, Lincoln seemed ill at ease, the slight blurring around the hands indicating he was unable to keep them still for the time required for the exposure to take effect.
   
   Could he be wondering about the next four years of his presidency, the monumental task of healing the wounds of a civil war he had insisted should be fought? The conflict, in which he had thrown the overwhelming might of the United States at the rebel Confederacy to bring about a difficult and costly victory, was all but over, but as shrewd a man as he would have guessed that the peace was going to be an even more formidable adversary. Did he have the answers?
   
   We shall never know as Booth's dramatic act at Ford's Theatre in Washington relieved Lincoln of that responsibility, leaving him simply as the leader who saved the union. Dying with Southern armies still in the field and the final acts of the war yet to take place, his administration was linked wholly with the conflict. The emotions his assassination unleashed ensured not just his place as a great American president, but his conversion into a secular saint.
   
   As Goodrich points out in his epilogue: "In the stampede to elevate the slain president, his virtues were magnified and his vices diminished until the one became a caricature and the other all but forgotten." The cynic might add: "good career move, Abe."
   
   The author, an historian and storyteller, who has specialised in this brief, dark period in American history, has taken the events of a few weeks of the spring and summer of 1865 and made them live again.
   
   An act of outstanding scholarship, he has amassed hundreds of contemporary sources - biographies, eye-witness accounts, newspaper articles - to the point where he blends his own narrative with the quotations from which he draws, producing compelling descriptions that immerse the reader in the zeitgeist. His passage on the chaos that resulted from a `lying in state' in Philadelphia during Lincoln's cross-country funeral procession is typical.
   
   "Mingled with the normal dull roar of so many thousands were the shrieks of crushed women, the shrill cries of trampled children, and the cursing and shouting of men. Silk hats, bonnets and parasols were smashed flat, dresses were ripped, hoop skirts were broken and mangled, the neatly pinned hair of ladies now fell to their waists in a disheveled mass. Ragged and tattered debris, including destroyed mourning badges and black crepe, littered the ground below."
   
   The book is full of such rich description, including the wild and random acts of vengeance wreaked on anyone who did not show proper respect for the slain president. Any words said against Lincoln in public risked a beating or worse. Lynch law took hold. Even those whose mourning was not considered sincere enough faced the anger of the mob.
   
   In the occupied Confederacy, civilians were forced to decorate their houses in black to honour the man they hated and reviled. Most swallowed their pride and complied, some like Mrs Stuart, hung herself rather than yield to the humiliation.
   
   From the fall of Richmond, which signaled the end of organised resistance in the Confederacy, and Lee's surrender at Appomattox, through the assassination, its aftermath, the funeral procession, the death of Booth and the trial and execution of his associates, Goodrich opens a series of windows on those troubled, turbulent times.
   
   For a while the victorious north, plunged from the pinnacle of joy to the depths of despair, became unhinged. As one witness recalled: "The sorrow and sadness caused...cannot be written; no pen can tell it. Only those who lived in these dreadful days can appreciate the pain we suffered."
   
   Thanks to this book, we can appreciate a little of the anguish experienced by the bloody, war-ravaged nation as, united once more, it wearily resumed the journey towards its ultimate destiny.

No comments about Our Murdered Presidents: The Medical Story.

5 comments about Eros, Magic and the Murder of Professor Culianu.

1. Culiano taught religious studies at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago--the hand-picked successor to the great Mircea Eliade. Culiano specialized in magic, dualistic heresies and mystical experiences. He practiced what he studied as well, entertaining students and aggravating colleagues. But he also wrote political articles and fiction for a Romanian journal. These got him in trouble with the Romanian secret police; his murder has never been solved.

   Blending religious studies, occult phenomena, political analysis, and true crime journalism, this book is also an entertaining and intriguing look at Culiano, academics in America, Romanian intellectual traditions. I hope many people read and enjoy it.




2. The shot that killed professor Ioan Culianu while he was sitting in a stall in the men's room came from a small Beretta: a .25 caliber gun, fired at leat 18 inches away from his head, for there were no gunpowder traces around the entry wound. It was the work of an expert, a person who stood on the toilet seat of the adjoining stall, and fired downward and into the back of his head; probably the shot of a left hander. Why only one shot? Why such a small caliber gun? Professionals are more heavy handed, more redundant, more brutal. This was exquisitely done, with minimal fuss and no traceable clues.

   It was May, 1991, a little after one in the afternoon, at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Prof Culianu, a handsome man in his 40's had three books in press, was about to get married, was loved and respected by students and faculty, and was at the peak of his profession as a historian of religion. His work was recognized internationally, and he could look forward to the honors and comforts of a successful academic career.

   Ted Anton presents the true tale of Prof. Culianu with deftness and care. It is a story that to this day continues to reverberate in academia and law enforcement because it has never been solved. Far more exciting than fiction, the story of this professor takes turns and dips that keep the reader on edge and breathless.Culianu was an expert not only on the traditional aspects of religions, but had an interest in the occult arts that formed part of the ancient rituals and practices. He was an expert in divination through geomancy, and was about to teach a course in this practice. He gravitated towards the occult. He knew about near death experiences and about the transmigration of souls; and at the same time he maintained his status as a legitimate scholar and teacher in one of America's prestigious universities.

   Fictional stories about crimes and police work are very enjoyable, but reading a book like this renders the others insignificant by comparison. Of course truth is stranger than fiction, but it is also more exciting, more interesting, and finally...more scary.




3. If you enjoyed Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_, you will undoubtedly enjoy this true life tale of magic, European politics, and murder. The book gives an accounting of the life of Ioan Culianu, a professor of comparative religion at the University of Chicago, from his birth in Romania to his untimely murder. Professor Culianu provided astounding insights into the world of magic and attempted to explain its occurrences through complexity. He published many books on magic, comparative religion, shamanism, and gnosticism. Like Mircea Eliade, a fellow Romanian and his mentor before him, Culianu contributed a great deal to our understanding of religion and magic. He also wrote several novels along with his fiancee Hillary Wiesner. This book provides a look into not only the worlds of Eliade and Culianu, but also a disturbing examination of far-right politics in Romania. Culianu's murder remains unsolved despite its obvious link to his outspoken views on the Romanian revolution which occurred just prior to his murder. However, many disturbing coincidences abound regarding this event.



4. 
   I first heard of the murder of Professor Culianu when I was an undergrad at the University of Chicago. I was immediately drawn to find more about the man who allegedly believed in the magic he studied. After reading "Eros and Magic" and "Out of this World", I thought that this biography might shed some additional light on the man, his scholarship, and his occult dabblings.
   
   I must admit I was somewhat disappointed. The book is very dry and factually oriented. The facts themselves appear to be well-researched, but are simply presented without much else. Mr. Anton tells us where Prof. Culianu was born, where he studied, what books he wrote, but seldom goes deeper than that.
   Ironically, given the themes in Culianu's work and life, Mr. Anton fails to realize the importance of evoking the imagination in telling the story, to bring the facts to life in a meaningful, interesting way.
   
   There are only the slightest hints of the exciting ideas that motivated Prof. Culianu's scholarship and personal life.
   It is said that Prof. Culianu took a personal interest interest in the ideas he was studying, actually practicing divination and teaching a course on it. But rather than exploring in any depth either Prof. Culianu's professional ideas or personal interests, these facts are simply used as "hooks" to carry the reader along.
   
   If you are interested in the ideas of Prof. Culianu and/or his interest in occult scholarship, this book will probably disappoint you. If you are looking for a lot of biographical facts about Prof. Culianu, then this book may be for you.



5. This is an insightful look at the life and work of a brilliant Romanian scholar and exile, and at the frightening overseas activities of the Romanian secret police in the post-communist years. Written in a clear, elegant style, with plenty of references to Culianu's writings and glimpses at his complicated personal interactions, this book is a great read. As the author concludes, Culianu "left a legacy of the dangers of a life of the mind." Without this biography, his undeserved fate may well be forgotten.

5 comments about Glass Tiger (Otto Penzler Book).

1. If you've read Gores 1989 novel 'Wolf Time' you'll recognize the back story of this book...except the names have been changed. Corwin was called Fletcher, Wallberg was Westergard, Nisa was Nicole etc, etc,
   The familiar plotline drove me crazy until I finally remembered where I'd read it before...why it was not 'billed' as a sequel to 'Wolf Time' is a mystery; the answer maybe known only to Joe Gores and his publisher. Gores is always great but his remixing of a previous book was disconcerting and vaguely annoying. 5 star rating would have to be 32 Cadillacs!



2. 
   
   This is excellent genre fiction, boasting an edgy plot that begins with an assassination attempt on the newly-elected President of the United States, Gus Wallberg, the author skillfully building the tension between the pursued and the pursuer. Everybody has an agenda in this thriller, from the President-Elect, who wants his potential assassin, a man from his past, eliminated, to his chief of Staff, who indulges in rough after-hours sex games, and top FBI agent, Terrill Hatfield, head of the Hostage and Rescue/Sniper Team, who is determined to come out on top when the dust settles, no matter who he has to intimidate. Ambition is a powerful motive and none of the power-brokers around Wallberg shirk from violence in the name of expediency.
   
   Besides Hal Corwin, Wallberg's friend from his high school years, is an ex-Vietnam sniper and arguably the best in his field; Brendan Thorne is the wild card in this cat-and-mouse game. Thorne is minding his own business, a guide for rich tourists in Kenya, his killing years for the CIA left behind, when selected by the administration to track down Corwin before he surfaces. Corwin is a virtual doppelganger for Thorne, a match in wits and expertise. True to form, the FBI, in the person of Terrill Hatfield, heavy-handedly maneuvers Thorne into an untenable position, his future return to Kenya at stake. Doing their bidding, Thorne uncovers sensitive information that unfortunately renders him a target just as he is closing in on his quarry, now an endangered species just like Corwin.
   
   In top form, Gores' prose is relentless, the plot a serpentine maze that inevitably leads to the heart of the killing field, fueled by one man's crime and another's ambition, both feeding upon power and greed. With Corwin in his sights, Thorne's Ranger training kicks in, in spite of insurmountable odds and the awesome power of the Feds on the hunt. Thorne proves a formidable threat to the status quo, especially when someone he cares about is threatened. In this brave new world of terrorism and politics, Glass Tiger adds a chilling element to this assassination tango, the power of a rouge agent to threaten the lives of citizens under the banner of National Security. In the end, Thorne barely escapes his intended fate, sure that that killing "is for younger men whose consciences have not yet made cowards of them all." Luan Gaines/2006.



3. Under the theory that it takes a sniper to understand a sniper, FBI agent Terrill Hatfield pressures ex-Ranger and ex-sniper Brendan Thorne into tracking down Hal Corwin, a legendary Vietnam operative who has threatened the life of new President Gustave Wallberg. Backed up against the proverbial wall by the machinations of the ruthless and ambitious Hatfield, Thorne starts to shadow Corwin's footsteps, getting into his prey's head, puzzling out just how and when the killer will strike. Doing so, he develops a grudging admiration for the man, whose tragic past bears eerie parallels to his own. Digging into Corwin's seemingly twisted motivations, he also discovers secrets which make him dangerous to Hatfield and the current Administration.
   
   Although it starts from a similar premise as Stephen Hunter's Point of Impact (determining the best way to assassinate a target) and explores similar terrain (extraordinary individuals in extraordinary situations), Joe Gores' latest is very much its own book, an engaging battle of wits between two very similar men whom life has treated very badly. Gores brings each of his main characters to vivid life; readers will have a difficult time deciding whom to root for over the course of the novel, as its twisting course provides different perspectives on each. Fast paced and surprising, Glass Tiger finds Gores getting better with age--at a time in his life when the majority of his contemporaries are content to (literally) rest on their laurels, this multiple Edgar Award wining scribe continues to pen novels that challenge and entertain.



4. Though the twists are obvious, Gores can still turn the pages. Good beach book. No heavy lifting.



5. At first glance Joe Gores' Glass Tiger fits neatly into the genre of political thrillers that recruit past agents to plan nefarious deeds for which they are then blamed, and spend the rest of the story proving their innocence. Don't be deceived. Joe Gores begins breaking the rules almost immediately. He brings a fresh and human approach to the old story.
   
   The protagonist is Brendan Thorne, an ex-assassin who is unwillingly recruited to help out think a sniper who has threatened the President. It doesn't take long for Thorne to learn that he isn't wanted by all the members of the team. Thorne had been living in Kenya, but was framed in order to force him to cooperate. There is a good reason that Thorne went to Kenya. He went to live out the vow he made to never kill again.
   
   The team surrounding the President needs Thorne's input but the team leader in particular is eager to use Thorne's scars against him. The novel proceeds at a breakneck pace as the layers are peeled back and Thorne is forced to look hard at his own life and choices.
   
   I always enjoy a book that takes a cliché and turns it on its head. Joe Gores' Glass Tiger does this and more. His characters are well developed. The story is complex and well constructed. I found that the more I read, the more I enjoyed the story. The ending is very satisfying. Glass Tiger also manages to make profound statements about the world we live in without ever becoming preachy or moralistic.
   
   Glass Tiger is a book that defies expectation. I will be looking for more of Joe Gores' books.
   
   According to his web site, Gores is one of only two authors to receive Edgar Awards in three separate categories: Best First Novel, Best Short Story and Best TV Series Segment. His novels 32 Cadillacs and Come Morning were nominated for Edgars as Best Novel, and his 1973 novel Hammett was adapted for the screen by producer Francis Coppola and director Wim Wenders. He has also written episodes of such popular TV crime shows as Mike Hammer, Columbo, Remington Steele, Kojak and Magnum, P.I.
   
   Armchair Interviews says: Stunning read!

4 comments about Ghosts of Medgar Evers, The: A Tale of Race, Murder, Mississippi, and Hollywood.

1. A sixth-generation Mississippian, Willie Morris is particularly well known for his many books ("The Courting of Marcus Dupree," "New York Days," and the classic autobiography "North Toward Home"),and articles in which he compares his experiences and his long and complex Southern heritage to America's own history. Morris once again effectively juxtaposes and intertwines history with autobiography in "The Ghosts of Medgar Evers." He served as a historical consultant for the movie, "Ghosts of Mississippi," the true story of the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers and the 30-year pursuit of the assassin, Byron De La Beckwith. Morris not only provides an insider's view to Hollywood film making, discussing the making of the movie and why it failed at the box office, but lyrically blends the past and present as he examines his beloved Mississippi, the South, and racial healing. A compelling book by a first-rate writer and well-known commentator on the national scene. (And don't miss the wonderful reminiscences of his youth, "My Dog Skip.")



2. Medgar Evers was a great man! If Martin Luther King hadn't been born, Evers would have been the one to change it all!



3. First and foremost, Morris is an excellent writer and is particularly adept in my favorite genre: Creative Nonfiction.

   The book starts with a short Medgar Evers history lesson culminating with his assignation and two hung juries in the subsequent murder trials of Beckwith. The book picks up in present-day Mississippi and details the reopening of the case, investigation, and eventual prosecution and conviction of Beckwith. That probably comprises the first third of the book. The next two-thirds detail the conception and execution of the Movie: Ghosts of Mississippi. Morris is detailed in his descriptions of movie making, from nuts and bolts film making to Hollywood politics. Of particular interest, is how the locals in Mississippi reacted and how Hollywood got along in the Deep South during the filming. He was able to deftly weave in pearls (as well as substantial blemishes) from Mississippi's past, much as he did in "The Courting of Marcus Dupree". Morris takes us through the filming of the movie to its nation-wide release and eventually to what he calls "troubles". The "troubles" piece is essentially a description and commentary on the reception (and substantial criticism) that "Ghosts" received in Hollywood, Mississippi and around the country.

   If you enjoy nonfiction and have interest in the South, Hollywood, and Civil Rights I think you'll enjoy it (regardless of your opinion of the movie it describes).




4. First and foremost, Morris is an excellent writer and is particularly adept in my favorite genre: Creative Nonfiction.

   The book starts with a short Medgar Evers history lesson culminating with his assignation and two hung juries in the subsequent murder trials of Beckwith. The book picks up in present-day Mississippi and details the reopening of the case, investigation, and eventual prosecution and conviction of Beckwith. That probably comprises the first third of the book. The next two-thirds detail the conception and execution of the Movie: Ghosts of Mississippi. Morris is detailed in his descriptions of movie making, from nuts and bolts film making to Hollywood politics. Of particular interest, is how the locals in Mississippi reacted and how Hollywood got along in the Deep South during the filming. He was able to deftly weave in pearls (as well as substantial blemishes) from Mississippi's past, much as he did in "The Courting of Marcus Dupree". Morris takes us through the filming of the movie to its nation-wide release and eventually to what he calls "troubles". The "troubles" piece is essentially a description and commentary on the reception (and substantial criticism) that "Ghosts" received in Hollywood, Mississippi and around the country.

   If you enjoy nonfiction and have interest in the South, Hollywood, and Civil Rights I think you'll enjoy it (regardless of your opinion of the movie it describes).

No comments about The Art of Political Murder.

1 comments about The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: A Searching Look at the Conspiracy and the Cover-Up, 1968-1978.

1. This was one of the very first books on the RFK assasination and still one of the best. Bill Turner was an FBI agent who published other true crime books and Jonn Christian was a former TV reporter. The prose in this volume, while not spectacular, is highly readable, especially relative to other assasination/conspiracy books. (Is it just me, or do a lot of other people feel a sense of total and irreperable fatigue after about 20 pages of your typical JFK assasination book?)
   
   When one considers the bizarre nature of the known objective facts of the RFK assasination and the stakes involved, it is truly amazing so few books are available. Sirhan Sirhan is a true cipher, and nothing in the 'official' story about him allegedly murdering RFK makes any kind of sense. I will not get into the specifics here, as I think this book spells them out quite nicely, and anyone competant in Google can get a good summary of the points anyway on the 'net. (Also, I highly recommend a book from the early 1990's called 'It's a Conspiracy!' by the National Insecurity Counsel, for a very concise version of these points). But consider one this: The LA Police never released the details of their investigation, destoyed hundreds of crime scene photos and a bullet-struck tile at the crime scene (yes, they destroyed a bullet hole at the crime scene!), and shredded hundreds of pages of witness interviews. Instead of a full report, they released a 'Summary'...in 1986!!! (18 years after the event. Hmmm...)
   
   Americans are astoundingly naive regarding assasinations. We are conditioned from grade school onward to think that assasinations are usually committed by a 'lone nut,' when all of human history shows that virtually all of the time, when a nationally prominent political leader is murdered, it is a conspiracy.
   
   When a schmuck like you or I gets murdered, it might be a lone nut, just like it might be a mugger, or a rapist or a jealous lover. You or I might get murdered for a wallet, or a bag of dope, or it could be a random psycho job. But a national leader gets murdered for political purposes. Period.
   
   If Tony Blair of Vladimir Putin got murdered, would you believe it if the cops said it was just a 'lone nut' that did it? Heck no, you would lay all odds that it was conspiracy because that's the way politics work. Yet the U.S. government expects us to believe that kind of thing only happens in other countries. Give me a break!
   
   When RFK was murdered in 1968, there was no specific federal statute against murdering political candidates, so that the whole investigation was controlled by the LAPD and the LADA. Despite the image purveyed by TV's Dragnet, those agencies where famously, famously, corrupt in those days. And there was no federal oversight.
   
   Anyway, Turner and Christian's book is a really good place to get the most important core facts of the RFK assasination. The basic facts of the RFK case are, to put it mildly, completely bizarre and it is obvious that LAPD did a complete cover-up. The authors do not get into much speculation as to why the LAPD did the cover-up or who actually was behind the assasination, and based on my furhter readings, I think those who get into that territory tend to seem rather speculative. I give this book props for not going into that area without good evidence.
   
   A couple points of trivia. In the immediate aftermath of RFK's assasination and once it became obvious that LAPD was covering stuff up, a bunch of RFK's former boosters and some others formed an ad-hoc volunteer group to investigate the whole thing. This group included Robert Vaughn, a largely under-rated actor who played the Man From Uncle on TV. Robert Vaughn was one of many Hollywood types who had supported RFK. Paul LeMatt,one of the stars of 'American Graffiti,' was also part of this group, and there is a photo of them included in most editions. It's interesting to look back on that corrupt and violent period in America, and know that a few semi-idealistic Hollywood types were trying to push against the current for a little justice. Nowadays of course the media tries to demonize a star who does that, but that is another story.
   
   Anyway, this ad-hoc group eventually enlisted former FBI agent Bill Turner and TV reporter Jonn Christian, and they did what amounts to the first true public investigation into the RFK assasination. I believe that if you read this book you will be amazed at the facts.

No comments about An inquiry into the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.