5 comments about Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill?.

1. This is a well written, well researched book that should be required reading for all professionals involved with adults and children who exhibit anti-social behaviour. It will be invaluable to educators, psychologists, attorneys, police officers,psychiatrists and more. Why wouldn't anyone who can do so not want to be aware of new findings that could lead to identifying, intercepting and possibly changing the course of a future serial killing or classroom tragedy? Take the time to read the book. It's worth it.



2. The point of this fairly slim volume is to convince the reader that many (perhaps the vast majority) of our most dangerous criminals have neurologic impairments, and that brain dysfunction, along with child abuse and paranoid thinking, is at the heart of much violent behavior. This is not an entirely new message, but it is one Pincus approaches with a great deal of authority -- he's a professor of Neurology at Georgetown, was formerly at Yale and has studied dozens of death row prisoners along with his colleague Dorothy Ortnow Lewis.

   Dr. Pincus clearly decided not to risk alienating readers with scientific terminology or complex explanations of brain physiology. The book follows the familiar "casebook" true crime format used by various ex-FBI profilers, coroners, and cops. Most chapters focus on a particular criminal Pincus had dealings with (many of them in his role as an expert witness) and what that criminal's life story shows about the origins of homicidal violence.

   The coversational writing style (and oddly cheery alliterative chapter titles) stand in contrast to the horrific nature of much of the material. The crime scene details will be familiar to any reasonably hardened reader in the literature. What really stood out for me was the descriptions of childhood abuse endured by many of the perpetrators Pincus has studied. As a former inner-city teacher, I taught kids from pretty screwed up homes, and had some friends from abusive families while growing up. But the stories Pincus recounts (corroborated by siblings and others) remind us that there is almost no downward limit to the depths of human depravity.

   What's rather odd about all the better works in the study of violence and homicide is the sense that this field is under-funded, under-appreciated and obscure. Pincus and other pioneers in the field have answered some important questions, but their work raises hundreds more. If, say one percent of the money our government has spent trying to prove that marijuana is dangerous were instead spent on studying the roots of violence, perhaps we'd have more answers.




3. "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill?" by Jonathan H. Pincus, MD, ISBN 0-393-32323-4 pbk, Norton & Co. 2001: a 225 page disquisition plus 13 pages of notes by a NYU Professor of neurology & psychiatry and graduate of Columbina CPS who investigated some 150 murderers over a 25-year period and tenders his unified theory that "killers kill for the same reasons," regardless of their classifications (single, mass, serial, & perhaps genocidal).

   Pincus observed that killing arises in the milieu and troika of disturbances which generally discloses (1) childhood abuses (sexual, verbal, physical), (2) frontal lobe damage (birth trauma, chromosomal, genic, infectious, toxic as alcohol & drugs), and (3) a medley of mental (neuro-psychiatric) impairments e.g. bipolar depresssion, paranoia, ADHD, CD, ODD, etc. He hypothesizes that single, mass, and serial killings have similarities with the Nazi/Hitler's paranoid anti-Semitism, Gaza Strip atrocities and various terrorist factions of more recent vintage.

   He opines the only feasible remedy would be prevention of child abuse and cites pilot studies underway, and also specifies factors impeding implementation of other remedies including treatment of convicted murderers. He details his basic neurologic testing format including specific tests directed at eliciting impairment of the frontal lobes, the latter being somnething he states most/many neurological examiners fail to do. Dr. Pincus has worked successfully on a number of defense cases aimed at getting death sentences switched to life without parole.

   The treatise is not overly technical, the writing style is a bit wordy, and very minor detractions were noted (i.e. XYY in not a chromosomal deficit but a chromosomal excess or defect; Trisomy 21 is no longer referred to as mongolism but Down's syndrome; and this reader is skeptical that someone could & would drink a 12-pack of beer and a pint of whiskey in 45 minutes (one can every 3.75 minutes & not counting the hard liquor).

   This study is an important contribution to the study of homicide and it provides engaging thought-provoking commentary on what makes murderers murder and also a workable solution to the problem of homocides. This book gives ample graphic grisly details of physical & sexual abuse, sans pictures, which some readers will find disturbing, but so then is murder. This is a must read.




4. I just finished "Base Instincts: What Makes Killers Kill" and I am adamant that our society shows so much more monetary respect for crime and punishment than early childhood education. We have had recent headlines about men, here in Austin, spiking babies and toddlers like footballs after a touchdown, in anger, killing or maiming them and ending up in prison for life. While this outrage is profoundly disturbing, professionals dither at whether or not early childcare intervention is ethical, cost effective or necessary in our society. Paying attention to parenting of the young child uplifts not just that family, but our societies future well being. Child abuse is the single most important determinant of future violence, and it is endemic and epidemic in our frontier based national mind set. We need to launch an all out campaign to raise the national consciousness about the importance of the nurturance of women, and the children that they in turn nurture, in the first three years of life, and beyond.



5. Pincus weave a fascinating, true tale of what makes killers tick in this 2001 book. Pincus himself interviewed hundreds of killers during his career as a neurologist. He combines his knowledge of the human body and psyche to draw his own conclusion about why people kill. Whether or not you buy into his theory, Pincus offers a solid case in a well-written, slim book that is an excellent, quick reference for fiction crime writers.
   Angela Wilson
   Author

5 comments about The Gates of Janus: Serial Killing and Its Analysis.

1. Brady's "Gates of Janus" is one great read. He offers devastating social commentary, and I often found myself squirming as I turned the pages. His analyses of individual serial killers are less interesting (though they do have some splendid moments). A lot of his analysis of the profiling of serial killers seems to have been lifted from the FBI manual.
   
   Brady is at his best when (1) philosophizing - talking about the nature of good and evil, of morality, choice, and free will; and (2) offering social commentary - white collar v. blue collar crime, nonviolent sociopaths who rise in business and politics, the growth of the prison and military industries, the corrosive influence of tabloid media, etc.
   
   It's almost frightening to me that I agree with so much of his philosophy and social critique. However, his evil deeds ultimately undermine what he says. Society may well be as bad as he says it is, and morality may well be the sham he declares it to be, but how on earth could kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering children possibly be an appropriate response? Big business may well be as corrupt as Brady says, but why did he think that doing what he did to Lesley Ann Downey could constitute an appropriate solution?
   
   In the end, it's an attempt to justify the unjustifiable. Still well worth reading, and the ideas have considerable merit apart from their author's heinous actions.



2. WTF? what kind of animal would BUY and then READ a book penned by someone who tortured, raped, and killed CHILDREN? are you all insane? Go Kill Yourselves Scum.



3. Ian Brady's work is interesting, insightful, and generally well-written, though his penchant for 50-cent words gets a little tiresome. He is VERY full of himself (one of the defining points of serial killers, it would seem), and I think that his arguments would probably look better to the casual reader if he weren't so constant in his railing against authority. Instead of coming across as well-reasoned, as he honestly does most of the time, during these episodes he just appears childish and whiney. I think he could have gotten that particular point across--that evangelical Christians, politicians, and corporate CEOs are often far more dangerous and destructive in their repression and extremes of moral/ethical hypocrisy than the working-class criminal--without the constant railing against "The Man." Of course, I was able to remain patient with it, primarily because I understand that he hand-wrote the whole book, as do many who write from prison. It's a ton of pressure, knowing that you can't just hit the "backspace" key and edit your words; I think that, given that kind of pressure, he did an admirable job.
   
   That said, he makes a LOT of good points, which is something that people, like the reviewer below who apparently thinks that people who want to understand such things should kill themselves (way to go, by the way--real nice attitude there), generally don't WANT to know about someone who could commit such atrocious crimes. He is extremely intelligent, very well-read, and often very well-reasoned. More importantly, I think he generally delivered on the stated purpose of the book, which is to provide an understanding of why people like him work the way they do. To a great extent, it's a treatise in moral relativism at its best--or worst. I honestly couldn't disagree with a lot of what he had to say, much as I may have liked to. He KNOWS himself, which is sadly something that I don't believe can be said of most people. In that, kudos to him.
   
   The afterword by Peter Sotos is another creature entirely. To get a good grip on what he's driving at, it's helpful to have read some of his other works--if you can stomach them. A great fan of child torture and rape who professes an extreme misogyny second only to the medieval Church (as seen in his interview in the "Apocalypse Culture" series, if you don't have the fortitude to read anything else), Sotos is, in his way, far scarier to me than Brady. To put it bluntly, if I had to overnight with one of them, I'd take Brady any day--a perspective, I'm sure, that would leave Sotos smiling. Yet again, Sotos seems to have an understanding of himself and his own psychology that is demonstratively lacking in the general populace, so... much as I hate to say it (especially as a woman), kudos to him.
   
   These men are monsters, but they know it, understand it, and respect it. Can most people HONESTLY say the same?



4. The Gates of Janus: Serial Killing and Its Analysis
   
   I bet Amazon does not have the guts to publish this. Anyone who supports Brady's coffers by buying this book is as bad as Brady himself. He was a serial killer of little children and has no remorse. Why would anyone see him profit? I am disgusted, Amazon.



5. Brady, a man of some intelligence, struggles with the written word. Like many an undereducated suburban letter-to-the-editor writer he tries to lift the tone by using long words where short would do. A fair proportion of the book is more or less lifted from other sources. Many of the crimes analysed start with fairly ludicrous descriptive passages dealing with the weather or the traffic, typical of lower end true crime writing. Given Brady was unable to do any field research you might assume that is what they are. Other more technical passages are lifted from such sources as Robert Hare's "Without conscience".
   
   Brady could be accurately described as Sadean in that his crimes mirrored the fantasies you find in "120 days of Sodom", "Juliette" and other sources. On the other hand Nietzsche seems little more than a catch phrase to him. Old Friedrich would probably have found Brady's attacks on children more unter than uber.
   
   Brady possesses little insight into his own psychological state and the resentments that drove him but does sometimes reveal himself obliquely. His analyses of the crimes of others are facile and occasionally random. All this is what we expect from a psychopath.
   
   The book tries and fails to alter our impression of Brady, a small man who tortured and killed the weak.

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 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.

4 comments about Murder Gone Cold.

1. This is a very overdue book about the most mysterious disappearance of these two girls back in 1956. Tamara Shaffer has done her research in her book and it clearly shows it. The author takes us back to the years when Chicago's children freely walked their neighborhood and neighbors looked out for one another.
   Barbara and Patricia went out to the movies one evening like all the other children. Except, this time they didn't return home. Numerous sightings of the girls were reported to the police. Elvis, the girls icon during those times, even released a public statement asking the girls to go home to ease their mothers worries.
   Then one cold January day, their lifeless nude bodies were found in a ditch, along German Churuch Road. Since, jurisdiction was an issue and politics played a role, could this case have slipped through the cracks?
   Tamara Shaffer takes us through the events and brings to light on information that could possibly play a role on solving this case.



2. Three days after the 1956 Christmas celebration, fifteen year old Barbara Grimes and her twelve year old sister, Patricia, left their Chicago home to see an Elvis Presley movie. They never returned. Barely a month later, after a nationwide manhunt and appeals from Presley himself, their frozen corpses were found near Willow Springs. Both girls had been sexually assaulted. Parents who were already living under a cloud of fear brought on by the recent murders of the Schuessler brothers and their friend Bobby Peterson were thrown into new depths of anxiety and terror by the Grimes slaying.
   
   Author Tamara Shaffer was sixteen years old when Barbara and Patricia Grimes were killed, and her own memories of the dread that pervaded Chicago in the aftermath make "Murder Gone Cold" a memoir as well as a murder story. She offers a solid documentation of the unsolved case from the moment the girls leave their home on South Damen Avenue right up until the present time, when she discusses the fate of the key players in the tragedy and mentions that Kenneth Hansen, currently serving 300 years for the Schuessler-Peterson murders, was questioned about the Grimes case during the 1990s. She even injects a paranormal perspective by describing how people near the area where the bodies were discovered report hearing car doors slam and tires squeal during a hasty retreat... only no car can be seen. It's not often that a True Crime manuscript can mention hauntings and get away with it, but these supernatural undertones don't detract from this book's credibility. After all, the Grimes murders haunted Chicagoans for years.



3. Rarely can a writer combine a baffling who-done-it with such a vivid restoration of time and place, which qualifies Tamara Shaffer's Murder Gone Cold as nothing less than a masterpiece. In the absence of CNN or Fox or even an effective network of television news, the killing of Barbara and Patricia Grimes in 1956 attracted only fleeting attention outside Chicago, as had the previous Schuessler-Peterson murders or that of Judith Mae Anderson a few months later. All were young, none were solved, and the city escaped what today would have made it a minor "murder capital" during an era otherwise deemed peaceful. The author, then also in her teens and living in a quiet middleclass neighborhood only ten blocks from the Grimes Sisters, rode the same buses and street cars and frequented the same stores and theaters. After years of research she now takes us back to the scene of that crime and into an age hardly remembered by many and not known to most.



4. Anyone living in the Chicago area in the 1950s frightfully remembers the disappearance of these young girls, and the horror on the day their bodies were found. Tamara Shaffer has produced an excellent work covering all aspects of the story, including many details never revealed to the press. She takes you back to the neighborhoods and the people of that day as if these many years never passed. There is a chilling and eerie feeling as you read this book, and view the never before seen photos. Knowing that this crime was never solved leaves one pondering all the facts presented by Shaffer's thorough investigation.

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.

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