No comments about Politics on Trial.

5 comments about Monster: My True Story.

1. I had a great time reading this book. Having seen the movie a few months back I decided to purchase 'Monster' to see what else went on with this story. What a tale! So much more to be known about Wournos and written by a man who has clearly had a lot of experience talking with this woman. Using his extensive interview experience with other serial killers he has created the definitive portrait Aileen Wournos. Those who enjoy reading about this kind of crime should check out 'Talking With Serial Killers' by the same author. Again, using masses of interview material Christopher Berry-Dee has produced an absolutely chilling document. And whats more, this guy can write!



2. It seems that the author (and I'm not talking about Aileen here, since she didn't write this book, no matter what Berry-Dee is trying to convince you) has taken lots of newspaper clippings and put this book together in a quick way to make money. Although it's not badly written there is something missing. There is hardly any references to her childhood and very much about her being interviewed. Lots of stuff I believe is taken from Nick Broomfield's Aileen documentaries. It's an ok read and I'm glad I got this one from the library and didn't buy it!



3. i purchased this book written by christopher berry dee,i was very very disappointed as it said on the cover aileen in her own words,there were the odd one or two quotes,as ive read sue russells book lethal intent,i could see alot of similarities in berry dee's book.as for the one of the main topics being corky reid,maybe he should have studied the case more,and not blamed aileen for his disapperance/murder,as he went into hiding to avoid large debts he had incurred.if you want a book given both sides of aileen i would not go for this book,i would purchase sue russells book



4. I actually met Corky Reid, who thought it strange, that Aileen Wuornos should take the rap for his death, when he was very much alive. Corky turned himself into the police and back to his family, very much alive and NOT THE EIGHTH VICTIM BY WUORNOS!
   How could THIS so called WRITER state he is writing a TRUE STORY, plus from the mouth of Aileen Wuornos (who obviously knew she did not kill Corky Reid!) and have such a BLUNDER as this?! The book should be taken off the shelf, or retitled, in my opinion, as it is not truthful! PLUS, I have read all the BOOKS written about Aileen Wuornos and the only one that makes any REAL STATEMENTS is LETHAL INTENT by Sue Russell, who actually met the people she writes about and QUOTES THEM!



5. I APPEAR IN THIS BOOK, BUT WHAT IS STATED ABOUT ME IS NOT TRUE; NOR DID THIS WRITER TRY TO VERIFY ANY TRUTH WITH ME.
   
   AT FIRST BLUSH, IT ALSO APPEARS THIS WRITER SIMPLY COPIED "QUOTES" FROM COURT DOCUMENTS, AND PARROTED "THOSE" AS "AILEEN WUORNOS' WORDS"; AS I SEE STATEMENTS (SUPPOSEDLY OUT OF MS. WURONOS' MOUTH) THAT WERE TAKEN (OUT OF MY MOUTH) FROM MY LEGAL DEPOSITIONS!
   
   TOO BAD THERE IS NO LEGAL RAMIFICATION FOR PLAGERISM FROM DEPOSITIONS, OR THIS WRITER WOULD BE OUT OF A JOB. AND, IN MY OPINION, DESERVINGLY SO, AS THE ONLY TRUTH IN THIS BOOK IS THE SPELLING OF THE AILEEN WUORNOS NAME.
   
   JACKELYN GIROUX

5 comments about Shadows of Evil: Long-haul Trucker Wayne Adam Ford and His Grisly Trail of Rape, Dismemberment, and Murder (True Crime (St. Martin's Paperbacks)).

1. I echo previous reviewers' sentiments re: Mr. Smith's recounting of Wayne Adam Ford's crimes. This was not the author's best book. It did appear very unusual to read the author's views against capital punishment and his opinions re: the link between brain damage and criminal behavior on pp. 3-20. At first, I wondered if the author would ever get to the story of Ford's cimes! I usually don't care much for a true crime writer's opinions about crime and punishment; rather, I enjoy reading this genre for the historical information. I'm interested in the "what" rather than the "why". I look for facts....what types of cunning, stalking behavior are exhibited by criminals; what types of careless, naive behavior might be exhibited by victims; and what lessons should my family and I learn from these tragedies? It's important for us to realize the true nature of random acts of violence in modern America and what steps we should take to try to lower our own risks of becoming victims. To Mr. Smith's credit, however, I do think that he has written better true crime pieces: HUNTING EVIL was a remarkable work in which he demonstrated genuine writing talents, and I commend that book to all of you. All in all, if you read a lot of this genre, this certainly isn't the worst one that you'll read!



2. I am an absolute fan of the true crime genre, but this book takes the cake as the worst true crime book that I have read. The bulk of this book is spent criticizing (implicity and explicitly) the police and government - NOT for failing to stop a serial murderer, but for failing to give the author documents that he felt he was entitled to. Moreover, the sympathetic justifications for Wayne Ford's atrocities was a bit too much to bear.
   A true journalist would not let his own views taint the story that he is trying to tell. I don't think that I would rush to read another book by Carlton Smith anytime soon.



3. This book seems to depart from the usual "true crime" format. Rather than being written after the case was done it seems to have been written as the case was occurring. The legal system was suppressing the expected fine details about the criminal and the investigation which causes the book to be tantalizing but not satifying. I found the lack of finer details surrounding the actual mode of commission of each crime to be the most disappoiting aspect of the book. This, after all, is the "signature" of each criminal encountered in this type of book. Lacking some of the suspected to be interesting but not available evidence and investigative techniques used to detect and/or solve the crime is also disappointing. I think the book would be much better if it had been written after the case was ended so that it would have been more detailed and the story didn't leave the reader "hanging" for lack of a definitive ending. This is the only book I've read by this author so I don't know if this is his style of investigative writing or if this particular book is an exception to the rule. Reading reviews carefully and examining book discriptions should allow a reader to discern if this type of book is what they want or not. In summary, well written but lacked specific details and left me hanging.



4. This was one of the worse true crime books I have read. Normally I do not feel the need to review books but in this case I am compelled because the book is based on nothingness. It repeatedly tells the reader that everything is under a gag order or deleted so there really is no story here.... just pages and pages of disclaimers and citations to motions that have had all the "meat" deleted. Kinda makes you go, huh?



5. As with most of the other reviewers, I cannot believe that I paid for this book. The entire book blames the police, prosecutors and anyone else for the crimes of this man. He is not a criminal...he is mentally ill, as is anyone else in the book who does drugs, shoplifts, etc. It is a diatrabe against the death penalty also. When reading a true crime book, I do NOT want to be subject to the views of the author...just the facts, thank you. Rest assured I will never waste any money on another book by Carlton Smith.

5 comments about No Heroes: A Memoir of Coming Home.

1. Yes, I am educated enough to spell misrepresentation. I am also a graduate of Morehead State University and soon will have a Masters of Business Administration. Wait it gets better. I also have already obtained an MCSE, MCSA, Dell Certified Technician, A+ Certification, Brainbench Computer Technical Support, ExPert Rating Computer Technical Support, and 17 other professional certifications. Could this be possible? Yes, it is. Morehead State University is a fine institution and there are not as many "hicks" roaming the streets as Mr. Offutt would like to believe. There is no mistaking his imaginative talent and excellent authorship, but his egotistical dreamland is very questionable. I would recommend this great work of FICTION to anyone out there who enjoys a good Kentucky redneck or imbreed joke because you are just as imaginative as Mr. Chris Awful (oops, eye lowst meye diktonary!!!)



2. this memoir reads like a journal and seems to square many assumptions the writer went into a larger world to confirm. my own experience: leaving the south, making friends from other cultures, then coming back (for what?) line up almost perfectly with the trajectory of Mr. Offutts story. Progress has been made, work needs to be done.
   Locals who have problems with this book, I have advice: go and be.
   Chris is actually doing you a service...



3. The book No Heroes suffers from a severe dislocation, when Chris Offutt tries to tell the story of Arthur and Irene, his in-laws, and their shattering Holocaust experiences, but basically giving them short shrift and only a few paragraphs compared to his lengthy tales about encountering old chums, teachers and girlfriends when he returns to teach in the hills of Kentucky.

   His little hostage to fortune, Sam, doesn't like school there, so Chris doesn't stay long. In a way it's a shame he wrote this book because it makes nearly every person in the Kentucky hills sound like a moron. He is unforgiving in his characterization. can people really be this small-minded and idiotic? Maybe so, but he isn't doing the Kentucky visitors bureau any favors.

   At the same time, he's great at describing things, and the colorful dialect of many of his old Morehead buds will provoke a round of belly laughs, some of their sayings are both priceless and profane. He sounds like a funny and likable guy, except he's a little bit on the preachy side.

   Not really a success, but maybe he's written other and better things, I'd read more of him.




4. The author writes about his returning to his home to his eastern Ketucky roots to teach at the local college, and "give back" to his hometown. That part of the book was informative for me since I did not know a whole lot about that part of the world and its people. But, the really intersting part of the book is the parallel story he tells about his mother and father inlaw, who are Holocaust Survivors.
   That part of the book, which documents his inlaws' survival stories, is especially memorable. Now the fascinating aspect of all of this to me was that the two stories, ie his memoir, and the inlaws' history, have virtually nothing to do with each other.
   The two stories remain separate throughout the book.
   
   Offutt's style of short concise sentences, and chapters makes for easy reading. His insights into the Appalachian culture
   are eye opening for us outsiders.
   
   I recommend the book, especially for those who might be considering "going home" to give back. According to Offutt, it isn't easy.



5. In many ways, this work is more complex than you would first think. Note the various reviews here. This work seems to bring out all sorts of emotions. This work is not easy to review. I suppose the best place to start is to state my humble opinion in reference to a couple of points. First, I don't think that the author was actually "putting down" the good folks in his old home town. I think he was just calling it the way he saw it. I have traveled through this area of the country extensively, spent quite a lot of time there. To be honest, the author nailed a certain segment of the population quite well. Now let me state that I am from and live in the Ozarks is S.W. Missouri. Some of the folks here, myself included, make the people of the author's home down seem down right sophisticated. I have traveled and lived all over this country for more years than I care to admit to. To be quite frank, the people the author described here can be found in just about ever town in the U.S., from coast to coast. Kentucky does not have lock on "town characters." Secondly, the author indeed has some rather harsh things to say about Morehead State University. This was silly on the author's part. Schools are schools. I work with a lot of Harvard and Yale graduates that have far less "education" than a lot of Jr. College drop outs I work with. School is what you make of it after you get out. Those attending this college should not feel bad. After all, the author himself graduated from this "inferior school," made the most of it and seems to have done alright for himself.
   
   Now, as to the book: It is actually rather well written. I do like the author's style. The story was good, easy to follow and simply interesting. This is actually two books in one. The first is about the author and his family returning to the hills of Kentucky to teach and possibly make a difference. The second story is that of his in-laws, both of whom were Holocaust Survivors. At this point I will state that I think it a shame that the author choose to use this method to tell these two stories. Both really should have been extended and made into two separate works.
   
   The author is very, very good ad descriptions, the country, the people the background. The author is quite good a capturing emotions. Chris Offutt is obviously quite a talented writer. I should also note that a few other reviewers have stated that the author made most of the stories here up. I doubt that very much. The stories just ring too true. He may have done a bit of embellishment here and there, but is that not what most authors do?
   
   I am giving this one only four stars rather than five for two reasons. First, there is an element of "sour grapes" that runs through the story which I found unbecoming and secondly, I feel the author should have devoted an entire book to his in-laws and their stories.
   
   I do recommend this one highly. It is a very good read.
   D. Blankenship

5 comments about Exposed: The Harrowing Story of a Mother's Undercover Work with the FBI to Save Children from Internet Sex Predators.

1. I have read this book, and found it very interesting! Repetitive it was NOT. There are ALOT of sick pediphiles out there, and this lets them know we have their number! This woman works at getting them off the internet, and it doesn't take over night, it's alot of making sure she has who she thinks she has. I think R. Stephanie Good is a "PLUS" to life, if only more people were more like her this world would be a better place.



2. Hey Folks,
   Mrs.Good takes you through her experiences with the sexual predators that she enounters in her great work as a civilian UC helping the FBI put these folks where they belong...in a cage away from our kids! This book discusses the many facets of this section of law enforcement and even brings you into a trial and shows you the sleazy attempt by a defense lawyer to get the predator from having to do the time for his, or her, crime. This is a great book to companinion "To catch a Predator" by Chris Hasen. These two books are must reads for anyone interested in this subject. God Bless you all, Doneaux.



3. This book was very informative and eye opening. I recommend it for anyone with a teenager that wants to know what to look for on the internet.



4. This book is a must read for parents and for anyone working in local, state or federal law enforcement. It offers a clear understanding of how many sick people are out there and how our children are so vulnerable and easily exposed to these internet predators. The work of Good together with the FBI is extraordinary. Their efforts will not take all predators off the street, but with each one they send to jail, several of our children are saved from their lives and innocense being destroyed.



5. I thought that the book, overall, was interesting. Working in the criminal justice system, I know this occurs. I must also counter another reviewer by saying that yes, these predators do indeed succeed in luring young teens into sexual relationships. I have seen it literally dozens of times.
   
   However, I found that the book was poorly written. It was extremely repetitive and the author spends a large portion of the latter section of the book defending her actions and reiterating the fact that she didn't testify in court in order to sell more books.
   
   I must certainly commend her actions, but I believe that the author spends far too much time defending her motives and explaining why she is on the internet working for the FBI and not enough time explaining the phenomenon itself.

5 comments about Bloody Sunset in St. Augustine: A True Story.

1. I read this book my sophmore year in High School, my english teacher gave me the book and I couldn't put it down. Once I had read this book (being from the same town and all) I began asking my family questions. My grandmother actually knew Mrs. Linsley and said that she wasn't a very liked women...very annoying and snooty. My mother said that she had went to church with the supposed killer and said "I was only a little girl, but I didn't think he would ever do anything like this". I guess I couldn't put this book down because this was something that happened in my hometown...a place where these kind of things don't happen. Once I had read the book I went exploring...I actually followed the map and went to the home of the murder...didn't look like a place something like this could happen.



2. I was already familiar with this story from an episode of A & E's City Confidential and I was very intriqued. This book filled in alot of the blanks that the show left and would have been an excellent read all on it's own! Do yourself a favor and read this book!



3. Don't read it alone at night before bed....... The authors take you right through the minutes leading up to the murder and the days and months afterwards! The characters are described with meticulous detail. The only thing missing is a few photos, not of the corpse, thank you -- but of beautiful St. George St., the historic church, more photos of Athalia (the only pics are on the front and back cover), the home on Marine Street, Athalia's last husband and the accused. I am not finished with it yet but have recommended it to everyone I know. I live less than two hours away, visit S.A. fairly often and will never see it the same way again! Good read!



4. I found this book quite interesting. I read it twice and couldn't put it down the first time. I visited St. Augustine and took photographs of Athalia's home and Alan Stanford's home. It was eerie to see the murder site so close to the 30 year anniversary. I think that the neighbor did it.



5. A patient recently loaned this book to me, having visited St Augustine I was intrigued. I started the book at 12:00 pm and finished at 7:00pm that night. It is one of the greatest books I have read in recent time. I highly reccemmend it to others.

5 comments about Ponzi: The Incredible True Story of the King of Financial Cons (Library of Larceny).

1. To understand the Ponzi scheme, is to understand the basic root of all types of [cheating]. This book gives a wonderful overview of the life and times of Charles Ponzi. It is written as a historical novel, but seems to be very well researched! The epilogue alone is full of details concerning an important subject about whom little has been written. I only wish the book was footnoted as to references. Donald Dunn has done history a great service by documenting the life of Mr. Ponzi. THIS BOOK IS A "FUN READ" ABOUT A SERIOUS HISTORICAL EVENT!



2. Like a great crime drama, "Ponzi" takes you down the amazing road of a simple huckster, and how close he came to making it big. I knocked it out in under 3 days; it's impossible to put down!



3. This book is a great read that all will enjoy! Fascinating story and very well written. I am recommending PONZI for my next book club meeting. And I can't wait for the movie to come out!



4. ?Ponzi? chronicles the life of Charles Ponzi who is synonymous with the scam of paying off new investors with old investors money. This entertaining character would promise a 50% return on investment in 90 days.
   
   To recruit investors Ponzi would hire people on a freelance basis, whereby they would earn 10% of new investors money. For example, if they located someone willing to invest $1000 they would earn $100. These recruiters would target both the poor and the wealthy. This caused such a surge in demand that Ponzi could afford paying off old investors with the new money that was constantly pouring in.
   
   Each major city eventually had someone working for him, and eventually there would be thousands of investors lined up, waiting patiently for hours for the privilege of investing.
   
   At one point major banks had to shut down because most account holders were withdrawing all of their funds to invest with Ponzi. Ponzi of course had enough money to rescue some banks from bankruptcy and became a majority shareholder.
   
   These investments were based on a bogus business of buying and selling International Reply Coupons.
   
   This is thrilling to read and at times what happens sounds too unbelievable to be. Other scenes are hilarious as the story moves around from one con to another. My only complaint with this book is that at times the author ?Donald Dunn? dictates what Ponzi is thinking, when there is no actual way for him to know.
   
   This is a great addition to the ?Broadway Books Library of Larceny?. You might also want to read another book in this series titled ?Where?s the Money?, which is the autobiography of Willie Sutton, a famous bank robber.



5. Written like a novel, this is the true story of Charles Ponzi, the most famous con man using the "rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" scam. I found the book to be entertaining without a dull spot. After several unsuccessful cons, he started with a small stake and took people's money and paid them 50% in 45 days. When other people heard, the number of investors mushroomed. He finally made about $8,000,000 (in the 1920's) in this pyramid scheme before he was caught.

5 comments about Women Who Kill: Profiles of Female Serial Killers.

1. This book is good only for the 13 cases the author profiles. Each case is given its own separate chapter. The author does an excellent job in describing childhoods, important relationships and events that lead these women to kill. She also details these womens crimes. Keep in mind this is not for the faint at heart. She doesn't go into heavy graphic details of the crimes like other authors, but none the less what is written is still disturbing. The last three chapters of the book cover things like classifying female serial killers and why women kill. I was disappointed with the last three chapters. I felt the author could of done a better job. She references other books on these subjects which might be worth checking out.



2. The subject of female serial killers is utterly fascinating but unfortunately this author cannot write well. Even the editing of this book is atrocious! I counted over 200 typos, spelling errors, and inaccurate punctuation in the first 4 chapters. It is a very difficult book to read due to the sloppy, even crude writing style. I give her two stars for her effort and her research but I think this author needs to polish her writing skills.



3. Please note: The previous reviewer is mistaken about the typos and poor writing in this book. The book was originally published in the UK, has not been "Americanized" in grammar or punctuation. This may cause some confusion to those not familiar with the writing style of the author.
   
   I thought this book was very informative and well researched. The book has cases from Europe, Australia, and the USA. The part that scared me is that some of the women are up for parole and will be out roaming the streets again, one as early as this year! When she gets out she will only be 50 years old and free to kill again...



4. It's a good book, don't get me wrong, it just doesn't going into the depths I would have liked of these women's pasts. It routinely portrays them as victims of their situations and a pawn for their husband/boyfriend/lovers plans instead of a willing participant. Surely not all of these women are as frail as they are made out to be



5. I thought this book was really interesting. The cases that she used were great. You can definitely tell that the writer is British but it's still not a bad read. I really enjoyed it.

4 comments about National Nightmare on Six Feet of Film: Mr. Zapruder's Home Movie And the Murder of President Kennedy.

1. I love reading Richard Trask's books about the JFK assassination; and this one, published in late October 2005, is certainly no exception. It's very informative and definitely a worthy addition to anyone's collection of written materials surrounding the shocking murder of President John Kennedy in November of 1963.
   
   "National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film: Mr. Zapruder's Home Movie And The Murder Of President Kennedy" is a softcover volume containing 392 pages packed with just about every conceivable piece of information revolving around the infamous 26-second color motion-picture film taken by Dallas dress manufacturer Abraham Zapruder on November 22, 1963, which is a film which shows, in all its morbid detail, the assassination of an American President in broad daylight on a city street in Dallas, Texas.
   
   Mr. Trask details the full history of the film and provides a good deal of background and biographical information on Mr. Zapruder, an ordinary Dallas businessman, born in Russia, who, by pure happenstance and coincidence, turned out to be the amateur filmmaker whose name will forever be associated with the death of JFK.
   
   But, if it weren't for the prodding of his secretary, Lillian Rogers (who encouraged Zapruder to go back home and retrieve his 8mm Bell-&-Howell movie camera shortly before the President's motorcade arrived in Dealey Plaza), that brief and awful 26 seconds in history would probably have never been captured through Mr. Zapruder's lens.
   
   Like Richard Trask's other books on the JFK assassination which focus attention on the photographic aspect of the tragedy, the text of "National Nightmare" is ever-readable, easily-understood, and refreshingly-non-biased when it comes to taking a "Conspiracy vs. No Conspiracy" position by the author. Mr. Trask lays out the facts and leaves it at that.
   
   This book's endnotes/footnotes are all positioned at the back of the book in one separate section, so as to not clutter up the main text of the volume. (So keeping two bookmarks handy is recommended, because a lot of interesting info can be gleaned from some of these endnotes too.)
   
   One big surprise to this writer when perusing this book was seeing a COLOR version of the Robert Croft photograph printed on Page 67 (within a 16-page spread of mostly all-color photos and Zapruder Film frames). I had never seen the Croft picture in color previously. And it's an excellent-quality print of that famous amateur photo that I found in this volume, too. The picture is needle-sharp and the color is virtually perfect.
   
   The Croft photo, by the way, depicts the President's limousine on Elm Street, just after the car has made its sharp left turn from Houston Street in front of the Texas School Book Depository. It was taken at a point equivalent to Zapruder frame #161 (per this book's text and captions), which is just about the time the first gunshot was being fired in Dealey Plaza.
   
   Other highly-recommended publications authored by Richard B. Trask (centering on the photography of President Kennedy's assassination) ..... "Pictures Of The Pain" (1994) and "That Day In Dallas" (1998). The latter is a condensed version of the former, focusing attention on just three of the photographers who took pictures in Dallas on the day JFK was killed (Cecil Stoughton, James Altgens, and Jim Murray).*
   
   * = Although condensed into a smaller number of pages than that of its predecessor "POTP", "That Day In Dallas" does contain "revised and enlarged" material throughout its limited number of chapters. And the specific photographs represented within that volume are unrivaled in their clarity and quality of physical presentation, in this writer's personal opinion.
   
   I truly enjoyed both of those books, and was very glad to see "That Day In Dallas" come out a few years after "POTP", because "That Day" provides a larger-print format for many excellent-quality assassination-related photographs, including several pictures you're not likely to see in any other book on the subject.
   
   As a companion piece to "National Nightmare", I would also recommend highly the MPI Home Video DVD "Image Of An Assassination: A New Look At The Zapruder Film" (released in the summer of 1998), which contains four "digital" versions of the entire 26-second Zapruder Film in various formats, including "zoomed-in" variants and a previously-unseen "Widescreen" version of the movie, which includes the imagery between the "sprocket holes" from Mr. Zapruder's "camera original" film.
   
   That DVD also contains some valuable and collectible "bonus" video programming, including interviews with Zapruder associates, as well as the March 1975 "Good Night America" program (hosted by Geraldo Rivera), during which U.S. audiences first saw the horrifying images of Mr. Zapruder's movie. The DVD also has a crystal-clear video copy of the Live interview that Abraham Zapruder gave on WFAA-TV just hours after he had filmed the assassination.
   
   Many of the above-mentioned items from that "Image Of An Assassination" DVD are also referenced by Mr. Trask throughout the well-written pages of "National Nightmare".
   
   ---------------
   
   In "National Nightmare On Six Feet Of Film", Richard Trask has admirably filled in yet another in a seemingly-never-ending series of pieces of subject matter that comprise the wide and varied fabric that form the mosaic of literature covering the topic of the John F. Kennedy assassination.
   
   Nowhere can be found a more detailed and fact-based history of Abraham Zapruder's historic film than that which resides within these 392 pages.



2. I whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Von Pein's extremely comprehensive review. If you are into the photographic and film record of the Kennedy Assassination, as I am, than Mr. Trask's published works will satisfy your desire for an in-depth analysis of the major photos and films taken during the November 21st-November 22nd period of time. All three of his books are worth the investment for the wealth of photos they contain and the analysis of those photos.
   As to NATIONAL NIGHTMARE, I liken it to that first cup of cold water after a long run. It is satisfying and quenches the thirst. Mr. Trask approaches the history of the film and his analysis of it with no agenda. He is not out to change anyone's mind as to "who dun it," unlike David R. Wrone, who does a good job of describing the history of the film in THE ZAPRUDER FILM: REFRAMING JFK'S ASSASSINATION, but then goes off into the wacky world of Zapruder film tampering by unknown conspirators. I consider myself a historian, an as such, am much more impressed with Mr. Trask's objective approach to his subject. One gets the impression that he discounts the conspiracy theories in favor of the Warren Commission findings, but it serves as an undercurrent, not as a presumptious raison d'etre for the existence of the book. Mr. Trask simply presents the photographic record in wonderful detail, leaving the theories for the reader to muddle over.
   This is really an extaordinary book, and my hope is the Mr. Trask (I hope you're reading this, sir) publishes a book of all 400+ frames of the Zapruder film in the largest, clearest, most colorful format that technology can provide and takes a page to analyze each frame of the film. One frame per page accompanied by a page of analysis would amount to a holy grail of sorts for me and no doubt for all those who understand the importance of analyzing the history of November 22, 1963 through the numerous photographs and films taken on that day.



3. Richard Trask's objectivity must be maddening to the conspiracy nuts since he clearly doesn't give credence to their silly theories, while at the same time he doesn't openly criticize their ideas. He isn't looking for a fight. He simply researches the objective photographic history and refuses to jump on the bandwagon of insanity currently awash in the country by those claiming the Zapruder film has been altered. I was glad that he did not spend a lot of time in this arena, it would have cheapened the high quality of work Trask is known for. ALong with "Pictures of the Pain" Trask must be ranked among the great photographic historians of this case. I highly recommend this work



4. I'm almost finished reading this book and I must say that it is one of the best books about the Kennedy assassination. It has everything from the detailed history of the Zapruder film to a 16 page color section that includes the famous photos by Mary Moorman, James Altgens and Phil Willis, to over 100 black and white photos and diagrams of Zapruder frames and rarely seen photos and still frames from other movies made that day. I took the advice of another review on this board and bought the book with the DVD 'Image of an Assassination'. When the book references frames from the Zapruder film you can view the DVD to see exactly what it is the author is talking about. What else can be said about a book that comes in it's own wrapper. Probably a lot. A treasure.

No comments about The Art of Political Murder.