Kennedy Books

A very well-written decent story for everyone of any age. It was easy to read and to relax with. I would recommend this story to everyone. It takes you back to days of the American Settlers when times were simple. It is refreshing to read and to escape the confusing, busy, and complicated days of today.

A wonderfully heartwarming story about how God provides bountifully and often unpredictably for the needs of those who have faith in Him. The main characters are genuinely kind and caring. I'd like to read more about them!

Having just received my copy of HARVEST HOME, I started reading the first story in this newest Inspirational Anthology from Barbour Publishing. HARVEST OF LOVE by author Janet Lee Barton, is filled with characters the reader will love. Liddy and Cal's sweet romance will remain in your mind for years to come. Janet Lee Barton has captured the art of creating memorable and real characters whose faith and perseverance will touch your heart. Liddy's best friend, Emma, will remind you of your own best friend or sister. Trust me! A wonderful story!

In the fourth novella of the Harvest Home Anthology, talented author, Janet Spaeth, weaves an emotional romance filled with love for God, family, and the Dakota Territory of 1879. ONLY BELIEVE shows the hard work and faith of two people, Catherine and Micah, who fall in love in the midst of trials they both face as they harvest the wheat crop. Woven into the story are touches of the humorous talent of this endearing author. Janet uses the embroidery of the bible verse, `Be not afraid, only believe,'(Mark 5:36), as a memorable setting, along with that of the beautiful prairie of the Dakota Territory, for this wonderful, heartwarming harvest story of true love. I could not put down the Harvest Home Anthology from Barbour until I finished Janet Spaeth's novella, ONLY BELIEVE. I know you will enjoy Catherine and Micah's love story as much as I did. And that like me, you will remember to -- be not afraid and only believe -- for miracles in your life.

Debby Mayne's "Sunshine Harvest" stands out in this anthology with a tale of deeply inspirational romance. She has painted a colorful backdrop with the citrus groves, migrant workers and tropical Florida locale. Her heroine takes us through a gamut of emotions after her father dies and she must summon the strength to hold his dream together while dealing with his loss. But what I liked best about this story was the hero! Daniel is a sensitive, intelligent, spiritual leading man, and I did some swooning along with Anna as I got to know him. Debby Mayne writes with a very visual stroke; "Sunshine Harvest" would make a stunning and romantic movie!

Sferazza-Anthony has put together a book on the Kennedy White House that is like none of the other million Kennedy books out there. It includes many never-before-seen photographs such as the Wexford interiors (surprisingly ugly and unstylish!) an interior shot at Glen Ora, etc. The details of day-to-day life in the Kennedy White House can only be matched by JB West's "Upstairs at the White House" (out of print). A must-have for Kennedy buffs and admirers.

This book was a wonder to read and the pictures in it were amazing. Defentitly recomment it!

While the pictures are, for the most part, fantastic, the author does tend to make outlandish claims about some of them...The ONLY picture of JFK holding one of his kids, or the ONLY picture of him with Dr. Max Jacobson. Simply not the case! A little more care with details like that would have been nice!

And PS RED Fay did not serve aboard PT 100, as is claimed in the book.

This book is primarily worth it for the mnay great photos of JFK and Jackie, especially of the White House rooms themselves. That said, the text is pretty good, as well. Two items of interest--that isn't J. Edgar Hoover behind Jackie on the front cover but lookalike Secret Service agent Stewart G. "Stu" Stout, Jr. Also, I like the picture of Marilyn Monroe with Secret Service agent Floyd M. Boring (wearing glasses) in front of her on the steps!
[...]

What a classy book that one is! The White House as it was at the time of the Kennedys... and looking at some of those never seen before pictures, we can relive the elegance, charm and grace of that unique period. Two thumbs up Mr. Sferrazza!!

This book is extremely well written, which is to be expected, I suppose, since Fonzi is, by trade, a journalist. This book does not focus on the JFK assassination per se, but rather on the mid-1970s congressional investigations of it. To that extent, his story is a fascinating one, and one that is a first-hand account. In addition, the main focus here is US intelligence agencies' involvement in the JFK assassination- one touchy (and important) subject. And while it certainly seems clear that David Phillips lied to Fonzi regarding the identity of Maurice Bishop (an alias that Phillips used), just because Bishop/Phillips was seen in a Dallas lobby talking with Oswald a month before the assassination, it doesn't necessarily mean that Phillips had a hand in the assassination. In fact, in Ultimate Sacrifice, we are led to believe that Phillips was setting Oswald up to be a patsy for an assassination of Castro. (The same could be said of Morales' quote, "We got those little...(expletive)"...referring to JFK and then RFK. The use of 'we' does not establish direct involvement in an assassination. In short, while I sympathize with those working on uncovering a JFK (or RFK) conspiracy, the fact remains that there's very little here that demonstrates direct involvement in the planning and/or carrying out (or covering up) of the JFK assassination (at the end of the book, Fonzi writes that Oswald and Phillips had to be up to something connected with the planning of the JFK assassination because if they weren't, then why would Phillips later lie to him about it? Well...? I can think of a few good reasons...). Garrison's "On the Trail of the Assassins" is far more eye-popping in this important respect. The Last Investigation is, I agree, an important contribution. But, in the end, it's too far removed from the events surrounding November 22nd, 1963 to be considered the smoking gun that conspiracy theorist minded folks like myself yearn for.

What most attracted me about this book was the fact that its author, Gaeton Fonzi, is an investigator who can write not based on other researchers' data and conclusions, but on the evidence he himself gathered during the House Committee on Assassinations lifetime.
In this book you will learn about how the CIA planted a fake "communist" Lee Harvey Oswald in Mexico City in order to put the blame on Communists, specifically Fidel Castro. Fonzi greatly reinforced my conviction that the CIA was behind this coup d'etat.

America owes a debt of gratitude to Gaeton Fonzi, former House Select Commitee on Assassinations investigator.
The HSCA was formed to give we the people the truth about the Asassination Conspiracy of President John F Kennedy, but instead, tons of HSCA documents are sealed away for decades to come!
What the HSCA didnt want to make too public, and what the media has totally hidden, is that the HSCA investigation proves once and for all that Lee Oswald was being framed for the assassination MONTHS before it happened!
Gaeton Fonzi is one of the few investigators for the HSCA who has gone against the grain, and who has come out to tell the American People the truth. He did so by writing this book.
One of the main points of Fonzi's book, is that CIA man "Maurice Bishop", was an alias used by David Atlee Phillips, former head of the CIA's Western Hemisphere division!
The identity of "Bishop" has long kept JFK assassination researchers interested because "Bishop" was seen with Lee Oswald in Dallas not long before the assassination, proving that the CIA had a link with Oswald, even though they said they didnt.
Couple this with the fact that Philips ("Bishop") did work for the CIA in Mexico City WHERE AN OSWALD IMPERSONATOR FRAMED HIM (Oswald) BEFORE THE ASSASSINATION, and the JFK murder mystery becomes much clearer.

Another good companion volume to Ultimate Sacrifice
Former Senate investigator Gaeton Fonzi, of whom I have corresponded with, is to be commended for writing an excellent book about the HSCA, Cuba, and the JFK assassination. It is scholarly works like this that give the research community a good name. Get this!
Vince Palamara
Secret Service expert, author of 2 books, in over 32 other author's books, History Channel,etc.

I highly recommend former HSCA investigator Gaeton Fonzi's book, as it is a great companion volume to Ultimate Sacrifice. Fonzi's book is very well written and put together. You can't go wrong with this one. Get it!
vince palamara

This book has been one of the best I have come across about John F. Kennedy and his extended family... I absolutely adore it! Jacques Lowe was a very gifted photographer, and I find it is quite sad that many of his negatives were destroyed during the September 11th attacks.

I found the photographs just plain astonishing. Jacques Lowe was invited to come to anything from Cabinet Meetings with JFK, to family cookouts in the Hickory Hill, and what he captured from these things are compiled to make this amazing book. Most of these private, intimate pictures I had never seen in any other book, and I spent hours just looking through them, just amazed. This book is mind-blowing. I would give it more than 5 stars if I could.

WOW!!! What a group of luscious photographs from a man who obviously loved photography and the Kennedys, a great combination! As a portrait photographer I was impressed by the rich quality of the prints as well as the overall stories told with these photographs and I can only imagine what a 1st generation print would have looked like. Thanks to all who helped put this book together, but especially to his daughter Thomasina.

very interesting photos that I had never seen before. too many books on this family are filled with all the same photos. Nice to see some new ones.

The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 may have destroyed Jacques Lowe's negatives of the Kennedy family, but not the photographs or the brilliance evident in the camera capturing this shining light that once was Camelot. On the fortieth anniversary of the assassination, which is astutely, not for the first time, linked with September 11, 2001 as a turning point and a loss of innocence in our country's history, the magic of the Kennedys portrayed through Jacques Lowe's wise, perceptive lens makes us mourn for all we've lost.

Modern pundits and social critics might decry our fascination with the Kennedys, but their influence is felt strongly, especially now in Maria Shriver and hubby Ah-nold, a fierce Republican but a believer in the service to God and country that JFK practiced. You can't ignore Jack and Jackie keeping company with Premier Nikita Khrushchev, or Kennedy shaking hands with coal miners. Lowe's close-ups of the miners illuminate the dignity and strength of these men.

The Kennedys romp through a time of change in social, personal and political home movies. Particularly striking are the unguarded JFK moments, such as the photo of JFK thinking with a cigar (no Clinton jokes, please), or the sequence and closeup illustrating Kennedy's distress over hearing of Prime minister of Congo Patrice Lumumba's murder. We see the Kennedys, and they are us, with the added weight of John-John's salute. The intimacy lends more depth of history to this important, moving book.

What a surprise when I found this book.To think that after 40 years a refreshing new book on President Kennedy could still be published.All the photos were taken by Jacques Lowe,who was essentially the Kennedy family photographer.His photos show the personal and human side of Kennedy and the Kennedy family as well as the people who were close to the family.
Once JFK became President, things changed drastically,and we no longer saw the same kind of photos Lowe gave us.It is a shame that Lowe did not continue on as the family photographer and hence continue with the personal glimpses he gave us.This book also has many photos which were not previously published,which show the real emotions of the people involved.Also surprising is how good the text is that accompanies the photos.
Of the many Kennedy books I own or have seen,none is better or more personal and character revealing ,than this one.
One can only imagine what a treasure trove went up in smoke when all of Lowe's negatives were lost in the World Trade Towers destruction on 9/11.
This is a large,heavy,well printed and bound book using top quality paper;a little expensive,but worth every penny.

If you are traveling to a city and spending only a short time (3 or less days) you need nothing more than an Eyewitness Top 10 Guide. I will never go anywhere without one. It categorizes and boils things down, but the print is large enough to read. If you will be spending longer in your destination (for instance you are studying abroad) you will want a more comprehensive guide. Don't hesitate to buy any of the Eyewitness Top 10 Guides -- I have 3 of them.

the top 10 guides are the greatest books for traveling. they give the top 10 of everything you would like to know-sights, resturants, hotels. we traveled through europe and book several different types of books and the top 10 were our favorites! some of the info is a little off like the hours of the collsium and the prices of somethings so i would confirm

This little book was our bible on a recent trip to Rome. I will always be grateful that DK included San Clemente in their top 10. This amazing little church is like a layer cake of fascinating things to see. The street level is a lovely 12th century church with beautiful floors, columns, and frescoes. Underneath is an excavated 4th century church that includes a frescoe with the first sentence ever written in Italian: "Fili de le pute traite", or "Pull, you sons of whores!" I kid you not. This level also includes the tomb of Saint Cyril, creator of the Cyrillic alphabet, and a wonderful tombstone with a pagan inscription on one side, and on the other, an early Christian inscription -- it was recycled! They have it set up so you can flip it over to see both sides. Finally, the bottom level has ancient ruins, including a Mithraic (pagan) shrine.

The only time the book let us down was its recommendation of Da Augusto, a restaurant in Trastevere. This was their #1 listing under "Cheap Eats" for Trastevere but it was the only unappetizing food we were served in our whole trip.

This is an excellent book to walk around with in Rome and it is also a very popular choice. During my recent trip to Rome, I saw many other tourists walking around with this book in their hands. The book is small enough to fit easily in a woman's purse and has a very good and detailed map of the historic centre of the city. There is also a decent but less detailed and less useful map of greater Rome.

Like the other "Top 10" travel guides, "Top 10 Rome" is in the format of top ten lists with related narrative and information for things like tourist sites, hotels, restaurants, etc. The list of top ten tourist sites is followed by lists of the top ten things about each site, and there are maps/diagrams of the Vatican, the Forum, Palatine Hill, and several museums. There are also top ten lists of sites, restaurants, shopping, bars and nightlife for different sections of the city with small maps showing where each place is.

There are top ten lists of "Ancient Sites," "Museums and Galleries," "Squares and Fountains," "Villas and Palaces," "Romantic Spots," "Green Spaces," and "Rome for Children." There are top ten lists for things such as "General Information," "Getting to Rome, "Getting Around Rome," "Eating and Drinking Tips," "Rome on a Budget" and "Things to Avoid." There are eight top ten lists of hotels/places to stay.

There is a top ten list of churches but in Rome you would really need a top twenty-five list of churches. You don't have to worry much about this, however, as most other churches of interest that are not included in the "Top 10 churches" list are included in the top ten lists of sites for different areas of the city, with one noteworthy exception: The book does not mention Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, founded in AD 320, where pieces of Christ's cross and an inscription by Pontius Pilate are on display.

My wife and I love the Top 10 series. We always buy a Frommers or Rick Steves book for the trip's planning, but the Top 10 is a must for the trip itself. It'll fit in a pocket (a long one), and will provide quick and easy references to the most important sights, as well as maps and public transportation routes.

A classic. Excellent book with recipes from around Mexico. Very informative sections on basics of authentic Mexican cooking. If you're ready to move beyond gringo burritos and enchiladas, this is the book for you.

My idea of heaven is a meal with savory black beans, fresh tortillas, a couple of chile rellenos in a tomato/garlic/cinnamon broth, finished off by a curdy sweet flan for dessert. Diana Kennedy steps you through the processes of each dish, and adds all the little touches to get it JUST right! Some will dispute my choices, I suppose, and prefer a turkey breast and thighs in a chile/ chocolate mole sauce, or maybe the traditional September treat of chiles en nogada (ground pork inside freshly roasted green chiles, covered with a white walnut sauce, sprinkled with persimmon seeds). She has all the recipes, they're all great.

This is not a book for beginning cooks. Most of the recipes are arduously complicated, but I've been using it for years with great results. I use Mexico the Beautiful more because it's a little more realistic in terms of how long one is willing to spend making a "simple" dish.

Mrs. Kennedy reminds me a lot of Rose Bernbaum of The Cake Bible in slavish dedication to detail.

Apart from the time required to make some of these dishes, they are indeed quite authentic. I've lived in Mexico for years and all my Mexican friends enjoy these recipes. If you're serious about graduating from Taco Bell sludge, get this book. It will make an expert out of you.

I have owned this book for several years. Some ingredients are hard to find but can be adapted. Everyone loves the chorizo rice recipe when I make it for work and my kids love the mexican rice recipe. My husband loves all of them. I enjoy the introductions about the recipe and where she found it. Out of the many cookbooks I have, this one is often used.

I keep renewing this book from the library...can't wait until it's in stock so I can finally own it. I lived in Mexico for a year, fell in love with the food, and now have discovered that I never even ate as well as Diana Kennedy must cook. Now I'm obsessed and force my boyfriend to eat homemade Mexican every single night (not really a punishment.)

While reading Sheldon Stern's book, I felt as if I were having a conversation with him. Relating the facts of that event in a manner and detail that made this reader want to know what came next was a gift! Detailed, yes; comprehensive, yes; accurate, no doubt!

Stern has offered the most complete understanding of the Cuban missile crisis, and of Kennedy himself, in this the most intimate account of those October days, drawn directly from the taped deliberations. His reconstruction destroys the simplistic characterizations of JFK as a "cold warrior" and leaves the reader grateful for his handling of that showdown with the Soviets. I would consider this account more definitive than any other now available, or likely to be in the near future. This is essential reading.

This book may be the most readable (for being a narrative) account of those challenging days when our great and elected President brought us back from the brink of nuclear war and possible annihilation as a nation, as a people, as a species.

Thus this thick book may further serve as a solid introduction to the primary sources of that time, from Tuesday, October 16th through Monday, October 29th, 1962, now 45 years ago. We must have a national celebration and commemoration of the President who kept us OUT of war and the world from bloodshed. Read this book to learn how and why.

Sheldon Stern is an academic professional historian who took early retirement to write this book as the EXComm tapes became declassified. He therefore places these tapes within their historical context, fully presenting their background, as well as providing a learned and helpful running commentary throughout his presentation of the transcript. He also provides a technical analysis of the transcript, including its reliability and validity, and the peer-review process by which it was developed. For instance he provides an interesting analysis of alternative interpretations of some points in the tape, and thereby the alternative political implications, and also reflects upon the technical quality of the recordings.

All in all, this is an excellent presentation of those courageous days in every aspect, and probably their best general presentation, comprehensive while accessible to the general reader. Certainly it will present a purpose for further study of other historical documents from that crucial period in which our President kept us out of war, which he termed the "final failure," and recalls to our hearts a time of great, serious, intent, decisive, moral, experienced, humane, elected, wise and intelligent leadership concerned for the safety and well-being of all people, sadly lacking since.

This is the book, I'd wager, that everyone thought they were getting when they purchased "The Kennedy Tapes" (Zelikow and May, 1997 Harvard Press). After struggling through that seminal work, the need for a narrative form of this compelling side of the Missile Crisis was palpable...fortunately, retired JFK Library historian Sheldon Stern also saw the need and completed what was clearly a passionate "life's work" with "Averting the Final Failure". Stern takes years of study and scrutinization of the White House tapes that eavesdropped on the EXCOMM (Executive Committee of the National Security Council) as they advised and debated the day-to-day issues associated with the Crisis and turned a complex story into an amazingly lucid and cogent narrative that should become THE source for White House activities during the Crisis.

Newly declassified and available, Stern has added immensly to the growing amount of literature/transcripts of these profound tapes. The difference here is that Stern is clearly the one who has spent the most time and study on these tapes and, coupled with his surprisingly apt story-telling capability, has developed an authoritative work that defines the "who? what? where? when? and how?" of the Kennedy advisor "inner-workings". Time and again, Stern destroys myths and legends as his narrative describes each meeting and the theme that each one invoked. He interprets each discussion and adds his own attempt at tone and voice inflection to give not only the content of the discussion, but the "atmosphere" as well. The result is almost as good as hearing the tapes themselves...giving the true feel for what these "Best and Brightest" advisors went through.

The story of course has been told time and again...Soviet leader Nikita Khrushev surreptitiously installs nuclear capable missiles and the associated warheads in Communist ally Cuba and this subversion is discovered with American U2 spy plane photography. The subsequent actions taken by the U.S. government are fortunately recorded on a complex White House taping system by President John Kennedy, thus providing an invaluable insight into this provocative period in the Cold War. Unfortunately, these recordings leave much to be desired in terms of quality and many have attempted to transcibe them into a useful tool for historians. The "Kennedy Tapes" book attempted to publish the full transcriptions, but this work was so disjointed that it tended to confuse more than educate. Stern, having initially supported this effort by Zelikow and May, becomes more and more dismayed with the quality of this transcribing work and decides to offer his own interpretation of the tapes and the Crisis. Having spent many years analyzing them (long before they were declassified) he provides an amazing insight and scholarship, while clearing up many "unclear" voice transcriptions.

Taking all this information and recognizing that just another publication of transcripts would not be useful, he decides on a version that describes these actions on the tapes in narrative form. He clears up the collateral chatter and keeps a thematic focus on the narrative and comes up with a wonderfully clear and concise coverage of this event. More than just an interpretation of tapes, Stern also accompanies the narrative with a surprisingly readable summary of events and, happily, a destruction of many of the afore mentioned myths that have survived throughout the years. Well known Crisis stories such as Robert Kennedy's "hawkish" anti-Communist stance, the deception and negotiations of the agreement to extract nuclear missiles from Turkey as a trade for extraction of the missiles from Cuba and the continued iintransigence of Fidel Castro and the Cuban government are denounced here by Stern...offering a new and embellished perspective on the Crisis. Kenndy's "free-wheeling" meeting style is amazingly supported by the tapes and stand in stark contrast to the popular theme presented in such movies as "The Missiles of October" and "Thirteen Days"...an example being JFK's response to the shooting down of an American U2 spy plane at the height of the Crisis on October 27th...the movie version has JFK and the EXCOMM loudly debating retaliatory responses when in reality JFK's calm and measured response was: "...this is an escalation by them isn't it?" and the meeting went on.

"Averting the Final Failure" comes 42 years following the denouement of the Missile Crisis and thouroughly ties together all loose ends associated with White House activities during those heady 13 days. This is an important and monumental addition to the vast amount of literature available on the Crisis and should be considered the first reference used by historians for the White House perspective of the Crisis...I would overwhelmingly recommend this work to anyone interested in those activities in October, 1962.

History has two definitions: a chronological record of significant past events, and a story. Sheldon Stern's story of the Cuban Missile Crisis is history (both definitions) at its best. The scholarly, time-consuming, and meticulous research that went into this work abounds throughout its pages. The author's willingness to challenge earlier historical works on the translation of the crisis's audiotapes makes this book a must for any student of JFK, his administration, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Because of the comprehensive nature of history, a reader might conclude that this is just another dry historical work. Far from it - this book reads like a Robert Ludlum novel. The reader is caught in the tension as the missiles are first discovered, held as the conflict escalates to an almost unbearable crisis, and released as the resolution unfolds. But this was no political thriller, it was real life. Mr. Stern has taught us all a great lesson of history: that real people make real decisions, that these decisions have consequences both foreseen and unforeseen, and that there could have been other choices made with different outcomes. Our world would be a much different place if JFK had listened to his advisors. I believe this book will become the classic study for the story of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Averting the Final Failure is a must read.

As someone that lived through the events depicted, and someone who was enamored with JFK, I found the book quite good. Its a mixture of fact and opinion and is quite successful in bringing the two together.Its focus is on how the legacy of JFK differs from the facts, and how opinion about him was shaped beginningthe day of his death. I found it to be persuasive.

Lee Harvey Oswald was Kennedy's would-be lone assassin. I said "would be lone assassin" because the circumstances surrounding Kennedy's death were a little more outré than those suggested by the Warren Commission. Interested readers should refer to the suppressed out-of-print gem "Mortal Error" by Bonar Menninger.

That having been said, Oswald was as guilty of Kennedy's murder as if he'd fired the shot to the head that killed him and he was the only individual morally responsible for Kennedy's death. He acted as a committed Marxist-Leninist in order to fulfill Marxist-Leninist ends. Those who would argue otherwise are either stupid, ill-informed, or evil (or a combination of the three), and their arguments are a product of their deficiencies.

James Piereson bypasses the conspiracy theorists, musing how fanciful conspiracy theory changed identities after the fifties, becoming a tool of the far left, instead of the far right. This shift was indeed a result of JFK's death, and the change in the appearance of left-liberalism in the aftermath is what Piereson primarily focuses on.

Notwithstanding the Left's control of the news media, the academic theocracy, and the entertainment industry, I'd long wondered how Kennedy's death (largely) at the hands of a committed Communist had somehow merged into a bloody shirt around which the LEFT (not the Right) was able to rally.

Piereson provides as coherent explanation for this development as any. It could have been more concise though. There was no need to fill out his 2006 Commentary article into the size of a small book. By doing so, Piereson allowed his argument to become somewhat repetitious.

Still, his explanation "works" and a lot of it has to do with the loony widow herself, Jacqueline Kennedy. Piereson tries to contrast the cool detachment that the former Mrs. Onassis displayed after the homicide with the mental unraveling displayed by Mrs. Lincoln. But I'd say that both widows were mentally unhinged in their own way -- Mrs. Kennedy maybe a little more so before the fact.

For the pink-pillboxed ditz to decry that her husband didn't even die for "civil rights" but instead died at the hands of "some silly little Communist" shows incredible ignorance of Cold War realities - especially given that her stupid observation was made only a little over a year after that Cold War came close to exploding into a Mega-Hot One. Jackie was a silly little First Lady.

And "Camelot" was entirely a myth created post-mortem by the loony widow, and Piereson shows how that myth helped change the face of liberalism from forward-looking and optimistic to that of dark, brooding, and vengeful after Kennedy's death. After all, the ORIGINAL myth of Camelot, which Piereson goes into an interesting description of here, does suggest that the good times are over with the passing of the kingdom.

But I think that Piereson is exaggerating the change that he describes - liberalism and leftism have always had their dark sides. Maybe Kennedy's death just brought them closer to the surface. But again, his description of the synthesis is well worth reading.

What's needed now are a second and maybe third part to Piereson's narrative. If the Left misappropriated JFK, so did the Right, in general, and the neo-cons, in particular. Piereson doesn't really discuss that misappropriation. But if JFK wasn't really a closeted Cumbaya-singing Sixties peace activist, neither was he a die-hard Reaganaut. He was a consummate Democratic pol who used what means were at his disposal to try to destroy the Right when he was alive.

So why did Reagan and others successfully assume the mantle of JFK and why did they want to, in the first place? More to the point, what can knowledgeable individuals of all stripes who recognize the fraud inherent in the myth of Camelot do to educate the yokels of its dangers and thereby help create a world without Kennedys?

The premise of this work is that while assasinating President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald put American liberalism in its grave. The contortions that liberals had to go through to avoid the idea that their hero had been killed by a communist transformed them, in the end, from the optimistic, future oriented people they were in 1963 to the hateful and hating maniacs that they are today. The irony is that if JFK were to be brought back to life today, he would shortly be drummed out of the modern, Democrat Party.

There are no guarantees when buying books. We often eagerly anticipate a release hoping it will be a classic but soon discover that it belongs on the ash heap of history alongside the collected works of Marx, recordings of the Back Street Boys, and every single movie featuring Madonna. Occasionally however, we unfurl a package and find that its contents widely exceed our expectations. One such work is James Piereson's Camelot and the Cultural Revolution: How the Assassination of John F. Kennedy Shattered American Liberalism.

Whatever the angle or line of rumor, the one thing for certain is that a sizable plurality of Americans agree that Oswald was who he said he was...just a pawn in the game. Piereson's text dispassionately, but skillfully, refutes this thesis. In one of his strongest chapters, "Assassin," he reexamines the facts of Oswald's life. To say that his case history lacks nuance is an understatement. The man who liquidated our 35th President was a diehard Marxist and anything but a shill for the military. Oswald's acceptance of Marxism came in 1953 after he was handed a bill advocating clemency for the Rosenbergs. His allegiance to communism meant, as it does for so many angry radicals, that this alienated and troubled young man would no longer be alone.

The infamous gunman had nothing but contempt for American history and its institutions. He hated the radical right and attempted to kill segregationist, General Edwin A. Walker, six months before he trained his sights on Kennedy. Oswald went to the Soviet Union to savor the worker's paradise but found a bureaucratic nightmare instead. He returned, albeit begrudgingly, to his homeland. The FBI's refusal to take him seriously was a disgrace and a testament to their incompetence; while the media's refusal to consider the possible significance of his visits to the Cuban and Soviet embassies [in Mexico] is a testament to their bias. That he conferred with KGB agent Valeriy Kostikov a few months before taking aim should be of interest to anyone in pursuit of the truth.

Why did Oswald do it? Mr. Piereson's explanation resonates far more than the conspiracies contaminating our public square. His purpose was to get the attention of Fidel Castro and also to preserve the life of the dictator. The Cuban Marxist was the last leader for whom Mr. Oswald had any faith. After he threatened the president in a 1963 interview, the deluded and alienated communist may have interpreted his words in the same manner as King Henry II's deputies. Oswald happily answered the question, "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" by stepping forth to the window of the book depository in Dallas.

By itself, reminding the world of who Oswald actually was is an important achievement, but it is just one of the many rejuvenating and provocative arguments elucidated in Camelot and the Cultural Revolution. His discussion of "punitive liberalism" is potent and completely transferable to the present day. The practitioners of this school deem America--in lieu of its historical crimes--as a land and country in need of punishment. The founding of the new world coincided with slavery, the death of hordes of Indians, and, eventually, the internment of Japanese citizens during the Second World War. The punitive liberal believes that we deserve a comeuppance for what we have done.

Piereson destroys this emotive reasoning with aplomb. Blaming America for the slaughter of the Kennedy brothers is entirely irrational. The punitive liberal hates everything about his homeland, but becomes outraged whenever this is pointed out to him. For some reason, conservatives allow the left to frame the debate on this issue. Many timidly retreat from coming out and saying that left is unpatriotic. This is puzzling because their anti-Americanism is blatantly obvious. When they gaze at Old Glory "jingoism and vengeance and war" come to mind.

Mr. Piereson's concise account is a tour de force and not merely a historical study. It is a theoretical work which increases our understanding of both the past and present. Of a book we can ask for nothing more.

Over the years, I have heard many Left-wing people explain that it was the Kennedy assassination of 1963 that destroyed their faith in the system, and radicalized their politics. In this fascinating book, author and political thinker James Piereson examines the mythology that surrounds the Kennedy administration, how it was created, and the strange, unhinging effect it had on the American Left.

This book came highly recommend to me, and I can see why. The author does an excellent job of showing how we got from the intelligent Left of the immediate post-War era to the loony Left of today. In the 50s, the loonies were on the Right, finding Communists under their beds, and fighting such devious plots as fluoride in the water. And now we have Fahrenheit 911 and Leftists seeing a "vast Republican-wing conspiracy." Want to know how we got here? Then read this book and find out!

I grew up with the movie JFK and like many fell for its conspiracy theories but after reading this book I cannot imagine why anyone would even hesitate to believe Oswald didnt do it by himself. The evidence presented in this meticulously researched and beautifully crafted book is completely compelling. It literally takes many events and breaks them down minute by minute, covering that tragic day and the three days following.
The most shocking part, of course, is the shooting of President Kennedy and I felt like I was there, watching it all happen, so immersed in it that I felt I could stop it somehow. Any book that can involve the reader to that degree deserves the highest praise.

Exceptional masterpiece...couldn't hardly put it down. I am now convinced Lee Oswald acted alone. Thank you Vincent Bugliosi for setting the record straight with the FACTS. I have read all of Vincents books and it's like he is talking to you and you understand everything thanks to his details of the facts. Worth every cent you pay to get the book!
Pat Norris, Medina, OH

This is a brilliantly written and highly readable book. The events of the four days are documented virtually minute-by-minute in an excellent narrative. This work flows so well it I would like to suggest it reads like a thriller - but only in the most complimentary sense. That comment is not intended to demean a work of research and clarity that is worthy of very wide readership.

When Vincent Bugliosi wrote Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, published in May, 2007, the predecessor of the book being reviewed here, it was widely regarded as his magnum opus, a towering masterpiece which took twenty years and 1648 pages to write. In this new edition about the assassination, drawn from Reclaiming History, Bugliosi has now winnowed the original manuscript to approximately 500 pages, concentrating on the facts of the assassination and eliminating nearly all the material used by the conspiracy theorists because he has essentially disproved the conspiracy idea.

Four Days in November reconstructs the assassination, giving dates and times, sometimes second by second, to make these real events come to life, and he includes seventy-nine photographs and drawings. The resulting achievement is stunning, an intensely readable and compelling work of scholarship which should eliminate, once and for all, the idea that there was more than one gunman. Photographs of the shooting, broken down into tiny fractions of a second, anatomical drawings of the wounds of President Kennedy and Governor Connolly, fingerprint evidence in the "sniper's nest" at the Book Depository, extensive photographs of the grassy knoll at the time of the shooting, and accounts from many eye-witnesses provide weighty, seemingly incontrovertible, evidence that Oswald was the lone shooter.

Bugliosi, who prosecuted Charles Manson in the Tate-LaBianca trial and then went on to write Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders about that trial, is an accomplished writer who shares with the reader the kinds of details that he, as a prosecutor, counts as compelling evidence. At the same time, he is a painstaking recreator of scenes and observer of human nature. His intuitive sense of how people behave gives him an understanding of their psychology and, at times, motivations, all of which humanize this account of seemingly inhuman actions. Focusing on Lee Harvey Oswald and his dysfunctional family, the Dallas police and press, Jack Ruby and the underworld which he represents in Dallas, and the Kennedy family as it comes to grips not only with the loss of the President but with the loss of a loved one, Bugliosi provides an intimate and unforgettable look at a national tragedy which, in his hands, is also transformed into a moving series of personal tragedies.

Readers who begin this book will be as compelled to keep reading, as details unfold, as were all of us who lived through these events during that terrible long weekend in November, 1963, when we remained glued to our TV sets around the clock, and the entire country shut down. Bugliosi's total dedication to providing every relevant detail, his ability to convey the atmosphere and the understandable confusion following the shooting, his sensitivity to the feelings of the innocent people and families who were permanently scarred by these events, and his honesty in recreating events without trying to make the facts "fit" an agenda, make this book a milestone of historical research. Certain to be honored with awards in the coming months, Four Days in November endows terrible events with the respect--and finality--they deserve. n Mary Whipple

Oswald's Tale: An American Mystery
The Death of a President November 20-November 25 1963
The Warren Commission Report: Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Given that this book is essentially covered by the reviews of its primary source "Reclaiming History" from which it is extracted, I can only reiterate the majority view here that this book is well worth reading - especially if you have not the time for the 1700 pages plus of the aforementioned RH. That said Four Days in November is still in itself a comprehensive study of the events of the weekend of November 1963 and stands alone as fine and thoroughly researched counter view to the hundreds of pro conspiracy books written on this subject.

What struck me most about this book are the many (some 25 or so) reviews of Reclaiming History in the opening pages. Why is this relevant and important you may ask ? It is probably fair to say that a good many of the reviewers represent established and scholarly if not at least dependable organizations - and that these reviewers were open minded or perhaps even reflected the majority of the American public on this subject - that Kennedy was killed as a result of a conspiracy.

But what do they now say....well words to the effect that Reclaiming History (and therefore Four Days in November) establishes beyond a reasonable doubt and in truth beyond a doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone - that the majority have been duped by pro conspiracy wishful thinking for some 40 plus years. To convince so overwhelmingly is a genuine achievement and one must reflect that if so many people - who's job it is to evaluate subject matter such as this - are convinced by Bugliosi after all this time, then he must be worth reading.

So after all this time Oswald "did it after all". Is that true one may well ask ? There is no reason for the many dozens of reviewers to praise the book and still not disagree with its conclusion, but the fact is they do agree with the conclusion. Why ? Because one, they have actually read the book and two they have thought about what they have read. The fact is, if you do actually read the book you will almost certainly agree with its conclusions. Even the chances that a small conspiracy with the tiniest "c" occurred, is dismissed with ease leaving the thoughtful reader in no doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald alone killed John F. Kennedy.

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.

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.

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???

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.

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.