5 comments about President Kennedy Has Been Shot.

1. As the leading civilian authority on the U.S. Secret Service (and President Kennedy's interaction with the agency), I was much interested in this book by Cathy Trost. In conjunction with the audio cd, this book provides a dramatic overview of that terrible time in our nation's history. I recommend this book and cd, especially to the newcomer. vince palamara



2. I typically read books that I think will be good for my mind or my soul, rather than selecting them strictly because they will be fun or interesting. This book reminded me about the joys of pleasure reading.
   
   Of course, the topic of the book is far from fun, and I was initially disappointed by the focus of the book. Rather than focusing strictly on the events surrounding President Kennedy's assassination (which I am too young to have experienced), this book addresses those horrific days from the perspective of many journalists. It is basically a series of interviews from literally dozens of the newsmen around the country who played significant roles in the coverage of this historic event.
   
   Though I didn't really anticipate this emphasis, it was actually an incredibly fascinating vantage point from which to analyze the events surrounding JFK's death. To hear the stories of the men and women who helped the nation and world process and understand these shocking scenes was at times exhilarating and at other times gut-wrenching.
   
   Besides these fantastic interviews, the book also includes a CD, which gives the listener an opportunity to hear 42 different soundbites (most only a minute or two in length) starting with Kennedy's arrival in Dallas and concluding with the funeral. I imagine that this would resonate well with folks who heard many of these clips over forty years ago, but it was equally interesting for me to hear them for the first time.
   
   Ultimately, this book and the accompanying CD far exceeded my expectations. I was hoping to learn some interesting little trivia tidbits, but instead, I was engrossed in those terrible four days when the country suffered and grieved such a great loss. I was absolutely captivated and had a hard time putting down the book.



3. This is an excellent book(with CD) ,through the media's eyes.There is no scientific ,logical evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald shot the President.Yet,the media captures the staged-event and the hoopla connected with it. (-My theory-) Nixon never forgave the Irish Catholics for the tragic ,senseless murder of his childhood brother ,Arthur Nixon.Nor forgiving of Kennedy for the alledged voter-fraud of the 1960 race.Johnson divided the democratic vote and Nixon reaped the unified Republican consenses.So-called "witnesses" add to the myth, that all the shots came exclusively from the book-depository warehouse building.There is no mentioning of Charles Harrelson,the most credible shooter.There are Christian Masons,as well as Jewish B'nai B'rth ones.So what about the Masonic connection to Dealy Plaza?And no mentioning of the Nixon Cuban Miami goons,calling off a possible Miami assassination attempt.Nor a mentioning of George Sr. assigning landmark status to a Dallas grand hotel ,that day.If you think Oswald was the lone shooter,don't believe the hype.Investigate.One star for the pictures,and none for reporting the truth.



4. I am sure all of us remember where we were on that tragic Friday nearly 44 years ago. The book and companion CD recreates those horrible images from Dallas in 1963 up to the time of Kennedy's funeral. Whether you like him or not Dan Rather did a fine job in narrating the CD featuring the actual news clips from the broadcasts at that time. Excellent reading for those who remember this tragedy and for those who like to get a sense of what America and the world was like at that time.



5. Not one of the best efforts on compiling available facts from that dreadful day but worthy of your read. Worth the price just to have the sounds of that time.

No comments about A Nation Grieved - The Kennedy Assassination in Editorial Cartoons.

5 comments about Umbrella Man (Jack Flippo Mysteries).

1. This one kept me up late, laughing and turning pages. It's full of dead-on dialog, and plenty of twists, turns and surprises. I hadn't read Swanson before, but now I'm a fan.



2. If you like like them funny with lots of action with a macho male hero and convoluted double-double cross plots this is for you. Elmore Leonard comes to mind - although the dialog is not quite up to his standards. Flippo is not quite as rounded a character as Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, and the prose is not quite as good as Sue Grafton's but this is up there in that league. Kennedy assasination buffs might love it or hate it, but you don't have to be one to enjoy it. Dense Dallas atmosphere.



3. Jack Flippo has seen better days, but he seems on his way back up when former cop Eddie "Bent" Nickles sends him in search of a missing piece of film. A film shot November 22, 1963 in Dallas. Soon Flippo is bounced from his new job with a tony law firm, leaving behind its plush carpets and mahogany credenzas.

   Sylvan Dufrain, the film's photographer was shot and then burned in his Cadillac a month after the Kennedy assassination...or was he? Dufrain's wife and brother are now operating a shop that specializes in whoopie cushions and fake vomit.

   Lola (aka Jennifer), Jack Flippos "artistician" girlfriend is putting together a show using blowup dolls from the local porn shop. Her plans are deflated by bullets shot through the living room window of the home she shares with Flippo.

   Weldon Chaney is a disabled hitman saddled with the sons-in-law from hell. His efforts to make competent criminals of them are doomed to failure.

   Treena Watts is a bail agent with a heart of gold. She is searching for answers about the death of her brother Mineola. She is leery of Jack Flippo's help since it was Jack who sent Mineola to prison.

   This loopy cast of characters collide in a wickedly funny morality tale. Swanson expertly juggles the subplots that come together to a satifying ending that leaves Jack back in his linoleum-floored office with its metal desk.

   Watch out Kinky Friedman, Doug Swanson's breathing down your neck!




4. I didn't know what I was buying when I got this book, I just read the back and it caught my eyes. So I took it home and ended up finishing it in less than a week. I'd get tired of reading, then something would happen that made me keep it in my hands. Pick this one up for sure.



5. In this fourth installment of Jack Flippo, former lawyer turned private investigator, he's consumed with the possible conspiracy surrounding the JFK assassination in Dallas so many years ago.

   Some dubious film has surfaced (again) which shows a gunman on the grassy knoll. It was available back then but was covered up, thus the conspiracy theory. All these years, the t.v. news shows have provided this 'proof'; yet, no one in government would even consider it. J. Edgar Hoover kept all the evidence 'private' as he did the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

   A friend of Jack's owns a "you-are-there JFK deathmobile" promoting this presence of a second gunman by taking groups of crackpots to the triple overpass there near the Texas School Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald was employed.

   I still remember vividly watching live t.v. when Jack Ruby assassinated Oswald. Was this meant to be? Ruby was a part of the underworld of gangsters. Was he set up as Oswald had been to take all the flak and be killed while some higher-ups in goverment got rid of our enigmatic president of the U.S.

   At that time, as a young mother, I was doing some freelance secretarial work for an insurance adjuster by taking dictation at his home office and typing at mine. That day, we'd been hard at work but I went down the hill in the historic part of Pulaski to prepare lunch for my family. Around noon, ET, the radio announcement aired about President Kennedy being rushed to the hospital after being shot in the head. I called Brandon Davis to see if he wanted me to return for more dictation and was told we'd try. He, his wife Elsie, and I spent the next few days watching all the happenings on their t.v. set. Needless to say, not much work took place.

   I was appalled to see an innocent man gunned down while in custody of police, with his hands behind his back -- no way to defend himself. In this fine country, each person who is arrested is deemed to be innocent until proven guilty and entitled to his day in court. This 'right' was taken away from Lee Harvey Oswald with a national audience watching mesmerized.

   Sometimes the guilty get away with murder (a la OJ) as our court system is flawed and money can buy freedom. It's not the unknowns like Oswald, Sirkan, and James Earl Ray (all shady characters) who receive Justice. One Chief of Police told me "don't you know, there is no justice."

   Freedom (from harming others) goes to those in power or have the money to hire important, nasty lawyers. Jack was an honest man who was taken in by trying to prove something which will never be proved. Lyndon Johnson made sure of that; after all, this master assassination took place in his state and he benefitted to the tune of being our most vulgar president ever.

   Doug Swanson is a pretty good writer, but I wish he'd let Jack retire and find a "Fletch" (a la Gregory Macdonald).

No comments about 21st Century Essential Guide to President John F. Kennedy - 1963 JFK Assassination Documents and Warren Commission Report plus Kennedy Presidential Archives, ... Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (CD-ROM).

1 comments about Operation Rawhide: The Dramatic Emergency Surgery on President Reagan (Thomsen, Paul, Creation Adventure Series.).

1. Although I disagree with the religious views of the author, being an evolutionist and all, I disliked this book for other reasons. It really tried to shortcut medical procedures by using G-d to explain it. Obviously, this doesn't just happen to conservative Republicans, it also happens to liberal Democrats, like me. I don't think,"Because G-d did it," is a viable explanation scientifically or medically.

No comments about WHEN THE BELLS TOLLED FOR LINCOLN.

No comments about Kill the Fuhrer: Section X and Operation Foxley.

1 comments about Et Tu, Brute?: A Short History of Political Murder (Profiles in History).

1. This short book makes for invigorating and educational reading. Woolf asks many significant questions, some of which seem impossible to answer. According to Woolf, the Ides of March of 44 may be the most well documented of all Roman dates, yet the diversity of accounts that surface from the documents lead to perplexity rather than clarity. Why is it that the assassination of Julius Caesar bears such perennial gravity? There have been political murders before and since but none resonates like Caesar's. I do not think that Woolf satisfactorily answers this question but he certainly demonstrates how compelling a murder Caesar's has been for us over the last 2000 years.
   
   Although this book claims to be a short history of political murder, Woolf applies himself mostly to the Roman scene. Other political murders such as Lincoln's, McKinley's, Perceval's, Trotsky's, Alexander II's, King's and Kennedy's receive mention but Caesar and his heirs take the majority of the discussion. Cato has a strong showing and Plutarch too. The fourth chapter discusses the afterlife of Caesar in French and British theater productions from the seventeenth century to the present. In this chapter all things run back to Shakespeare's imagined Caesar.
   
   Woolf does not spend too much time on any one subject but this is a short history and his approach allows him to touch on the more lively topics. For example, was the emperor Domitian killed because he was a terrible tyrant or was his reputation as a terrible tyrant earned only after he was assassinated as a proper tyrant should be? Was there a relationship at Rome between the frequency of tyrannicide and the infrequency of civil war? Was clemency proper behavior for a king or beneath him? Even discussion of the difficulty of satisfactorily accomplishing an assassination proves of interest (the killing should be in view of witnesses, but not among those who would interrupt it, at a time of ease for the dictator...).
   
   This brief, engaging and informative book can be recommended to readers and students of ancient history, social studies and politics.

5 comments about Friendly Fire on Holy Grounds: The Stockpile Conspiracy.

1. This book reveals a highly plausible theory as to why JFK was eliminated. It is a fascinating theory full of detail and research on why JFK was killed. A must read for anyone who doubted the Warren Commission findings. This book belongs in our Universities and all JFK buffs' collections.



2. It is becoming more and more clear that the US Government has not be honest with the masses. This book helps the reader draw a FACTUAL conclusion of what the US Government has been up to using strong and organized evidence. While the first edition has some typographical errors, it remains that Hemingway delivers a strong case.



3. This is a whole new twist on the JFK assisination. The writer presented some very interesting facts which I think should be looked into further. Possible movie plot???



4. MR. HEMINGWAY SHOULD FIRE HIS PROOFREADER!!! ASIDE FROM THE TYPIGRATHICAL ERRORS THIS BOOK IS AMAZING!!!FINALLY SOMEONE IS GIVING IT TO THE AMERICAN PUBLIC STRAIGHT. THANK YOU MR. HEMINGWAY IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW. THIS IS A MUST READ.



5. Like most people that lived through the JFK assassination I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I heard the news of his death like time stoped. I never believed what the United States government passed off as factual rationale, for the cause of this tragedy. The Warren Commission report did not make sense. I read it in the 1965 and could sense that something was not right. A friend of mine recommended this book to me she knew I was like a majority of people alive, thinking that we would go to our grave not knowing what really happened to JFK. It was her husband a career law enforcement official that convinced me to read this story; it was the best documentation surrounding the crime he claimed. Mr. Hemingway takes you on a trek that only he and JFK traveled while presenting new facts that I have never heard and would have never thought of. I would have never imagined that murdering someone over a political mistake could have caused the turmoil it did. So much of the story sounds like what is going in the United States today, it borders on surreal. The book made me livid. When I was finished; there was a lot of corruption exposed. Truly I can accept this research as fact and this gives me a sense of closure to this grave incident in United States history. Some minor editing changes could be made but it did not overshadow the ground breaking content and earthshaking ideas made this incredible.

No comments about Thomas Sankara: L'espoir assassine.