Assassinations Books

Although this is technically a YA book, the only real "teen" thing about it is Meg's age. She, her siblings, parents and various White House personas are thoroughly fleshed out, as well as the multitude of psychological issues that come along with being the child of a president. White intertwines this with Meg's thoughts -- usually zany, humorous or sarcastic -- which keep it from ever becoming too serious.

This is the best book ever! I love the president's daughter. She is the Best. Always getting out of sticky situations. I don't know how she does it? When her mother, The President,gets shot(a really sticky situation) she is forced to mature like never before. It teaches girls of all ages what can happen any day, even if your the president's daughter! A real life, well almost, look into the life of the first family.

This is the best book ever! I love the president's daughter. She is the Best. Always getting out of sticky situations. I don't know how she does it? When her mother, The President,gets shot(a really sticky situation) she is forced to mature like never before. It teaches girls of all ages what can happen any day, even if your the prresident's daughter! A real life, well almost, look into the life of the first family.

Like its predecessor, I found myself unable to put the book down until I had read the very last page. I stayed up until 5 in the morning to finish it, and it was worth every minute (good thing I didn't have work the next day). Not as light as The President's Daughter, the first book in the trilogy, White House Autumn is bit more depressing and a bit more adult as it tells what happens to Meg and her family when her mother, the President, is shot. It's a serious subject, and the author deals with it in a very mature, realistic and sympathic way. Of course, all of the other great qualities of the first book is still present in this one. The characters are as likable as ever, especially Meg's best friend, Beth, who I'm sure would've been my idol had I read this book when I was younger. The conversation is witty, and the situations and the way the characters deal with them are very true to life. Admittedly not as great as the President's Daughter, but nevertheless a wonderful wonderful read. Try to get your hands on this one.

I have read and reread (and loved, especially the first one) all three Meghan Powers books in their original editions. I am grateful to Hawk Publishing for reprinting these three books (now called the "President's Daughter" series) so that more people can enjoy them, but I do feel that people should know that these reprints are not high quality. They are trade paperbacks with bindings that seem sturdy enough, but the text is not at all crisp -- in fact, it looks like the publisher may have enlarged the pages from the original mass market editions on a Xerox machine and then reprinted these new editions from those copies. I am basing this guess on the fact that the text looks enlarged and somewhat blurry.

The covers of all three of the reprint editions are hideous; the first one shows a girl who looks to be about 8 or 10 years old instead of a teenager, and the "White House Autumn" cover is not much better. The price is also steep at $14.95. I can excuse that on the basis that Hawk is probably a small press, and small presses find it hard to make ends meet.

If you can get past all that, these books are marvelous to read. "White House Autumn" continues to use Meg's unique voice and sense of humor. The book also deals with Meg's feelings of guilt when her mother is the subject of an assassination attempt. Again, I am grateful to Hawk for reprinting these, even if the quality is a little disappointing.

I'm somewhat of an aficionado of the Kennedy assassination. But you don't have to be one to get a real kick -- and an education -- out of this book.

The authors have pulled off a seemingly impossible task. On the one hand, they have put together a pretty accurate thumbnail sketch of the assassination, its aftermath, the Warren Commission, the claims of cover-up, the Garrison trial, and so on. By the end of reading each chapter, you've got a fairly clear idea of the major thrust of each development and the major flaws in every assassination theory or investigation. It's a great overview, even for people who are well informed.

Yet it's also funny as hell. Alongside the descriptions and critiques of the Warren Commission and other investigators, the authors include the bizarre theories of the John Birch Society and various novelists and lunatics, all of whom have a particular take on who dunnit.

Straddling the two worlds of legitimate investigator and wacko conspiracy nut is New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, whose outrageous misuse of the legal system was whitewashed and used as the basis of Oliver Stone's movie, "JFK". The authors spare no punches in in describing Garrison's bizarre/stupid assassination theory, and the rogues' gallery of misfits and unbalanced sickos that Garrison relied on to persecute homosexual businessman Clay Shaw for the alleged participation in JFK's death. Before I read this book, I didn't know that when the police raided Shaw's house, they confiscated seventeen whips, all of which were introduced into evidence to prove that Shaw tried to kill the president. If you're the sort of person who asks what Clay Shaw's sexual fetishes had to do with JFK's assassination, then Garrison would probably have tried to exclude you from the jury.

Alongside the authors' wonderful descriptions of Garrison's self-serving shenanigans is their chapter on the many faces of Lee Harvey Oswald. Who was Oswald? they ask, and proceed to describe the many facets of Oswald's life almost as if they were descriptions of different personalities, which in a sense they are. Funny as the chapter is, it is also an accurate description of a rootless young man who ping-ponged and drifted from the Mafia to the Marines, then to Minsk, Mexico and (sorry, but I've run out of "M" words) FBI splinter organizations, pro-Castroite and anti-Castroite groups, ending in . . . what? Assassin? Patsy? We may never know.

A review of this book has to include a mention of the bizarre, yet appropriate, illustrations. My personal favorite is the picture that accompanies the Clay Shaw trial chapter. It shows Lee Harvey Oswald dressed in a jock strap and a cowboy hat, riding a man bareback and using one of Clay Shaw's whips, while Shaw himself leers at the viewer from the foreground. Other drawings are far less graphic, but you get the idea.

Do I recommend this book? You Bet! It's the perfect gift for the conspiracy nut in your family. My mom liked it, too!

President Kennedy was murdered in 1963. A man named Lee Harvey Oswald pulled the trigger of the rifle that was used to kill the President. There is no physical evidence in the record that supports the idea that any other assassins were shooting at President Kennedy that late November day in Dallas' Dealey Plaza. None at all. No bullets. No guns. Nothing.

Despite the fact that there is no physical evidence whatsoever to back up the notion that a multi-shooter conspiracy was afoot on 11/22/63, tons of conspiracy promoters have filled the landscape with so many different conspiracy theories, it's enough to make your head spin around. And not a one of them holds any water.

But, when the Conspiracy Cupboard is this well-stocked with tripe, it's no wonder that "CTers" love to wallow in the sheer abundance of all this completely-unproven and unsupportable garbage. (After all, by accepting as factual the physical evidence of Lee Oswald's lone guilt, it would surely put a lot of people out of work.)


Fifty-Seven Unproven Conspiracy Theories Surrounding JFK's Assassination (Note -- Not all of these are referred to specifically in this "Who Shot JFK?" book):

1. "Badge Man".
2. "Black Dog Man".
3. "The Umbrella Man".
4. The Sewer Assassin.
5. The Dal-Tex Shooter(s).
6. The West-End TSBD Assassin.
7. Oswald Was A "Patsy".
8. The Single-Bullet Theory Is An LNer's Wet Dream.
9. Puffs Of Smoke On The Knoll Prove Conspiracy.
10. Oswald Didn't Kill Police Officer J.D. Tippit.
11. Ruby Killed Oswald As Part Of A Conspiracy.
12. Conspirators "Allowed" Ruby To Enter The DPD Basement In Order To Kill Oswald On Live TV. (LOL!)
13. The Zapruder Film Is A Fake. (Additional LOL required here.)
14. Vast Numbers Of Dallas Police Officials Were "In" On The Conspiracy.
15. Ruby Planted Bullet CE399 At Parkland.
16. Ruby Knew Oswald.
17. Tippit Knew Oswald.
18. James Files Killed JFK.
19. Secret Service Agent Hickey Killed JFK.
20. Limo Driver Greer Killed JFK.
21. Acoustics Evidence Proves A Conspiracy Existed In Dealey Plaza.
22. Oswald's Rifle Was Planted In The TSBD.
23. The Three Bullet Shells Were Planted In The TSBD.
24. The Empty Paper Bag Was Planted In The TSBD.
25. Tippit Was "Assigned" To "Rub Out" Oswald Before He Could Talk.
26. Marrion Baker Was "Assigned" To "Rub Out" Oswald Before He Could Talk.
27. Michael Paine Was A Conspirator.
28. George DeMohrenschildt Was A Conspirator.
29. Santos Trafficante Was A Conspirator.
30. Carlos Marcello Was A Conspirator.
31. Clay Shaw Was A Conspirator.
32. David Ferrie Was A Conspirator.
33. Guy Bannister Was A Conspirator.
34. John Connally Conveniently "Arranged" For The Motorcade To Pass By The TSBD.
35. All Three Autopsy Doctors Are Liars and "Faked" The Official Autopsy Report.
36. Gerald Ford "Conveniently" Moved JFK's Back Wound.
37. The Warren Commission Was Comprised Of Only Evil People Who Wanted Nothing Better Than To "Cover-Up" Any Signs Of Conspiracy At All Costs.
38. Ruth Paine Was An Evil Conspirator.
39. The Oswald "Imposters".
40. The Backyard Photos Are Fakes.
41. The Autopsy Photos Of JFK Are Fakes.
42. The Autopsy X-Rays Of JFK Are Fakes.
43. All Of The "Oswald Bullet Evidence" In The Limo Was Planted.
44. Oswald's Palmprint Was Lifted Off Him In The Morgue.
45. Howard Brennan Is A Liar.
46. Oswald Worked For The CIA.
47. Oswald Never Went To Mexico City.
48. All The Witnesses At The Tippit Murder Scene Are Wrong Or Liars.
49. The Tippit Bullet Shells Are Fakes/Planted.
50. LBJ Killed Kennedy.
51. The Mob Killed Kennedy.
52. The FBI Killed Kennedy.
53. The Military Industrial Complex Killed Kennedy.
54. The CIA Killed Kennedy.
55. Castro Killed Kennedy.
56. Khrushchev Killed Kennedy.
57. And A Biggie For The Finish ---> JOHN F. KENNEDY'S WOUNDS WERE MYSTERIOUSLY ALTERED SOMEHOW BETWEEN PARKLAND AND BETHESDA.

------------------------

How many of the above theories do you think are true?*

* = Anyone who answers "all of the above" should contact Oliver Stone immediately in order to help write the script for Stone's sequel to his 1991 motion picture. It'll be a 7-hour spectacle entitled "Kennedy's Killing: 20 Shooters Plus The Kitchen Sink". (Rated "G" For "Goofy" .... MPAA Warning: Film may contain scenes actually depicting a modicum of "truth"; viewers who encounter such rare items within said Oliver Stone motion picture are encouraged to contact Ripley's Museum asap.) ~wink~

some drawings may seem cartoonish, but the actual literature of this book is good.
it covers over 20 of the major assassinations theories, not in great detail, but just an overview, like Cliff's Noes.
good book that covers the Warren Commission, Ford, the FBi and CIA, Cuba, Oswald and his life, just an overall good book.
if you want all the details and names, then get the actual JFK book like Crossfire by Jim Marrs.
if you a summary of the theories like Cliff's Notes, then get this book.

For my money, the better history books are those that keep things simple and provide the reader with ample illustration. Callahan and Zingarelli's "WHO SHOT JFK?: A Guide to the Major Conspiracy Theories" is one of those exemplary books.

Author Callahan tackles the stronger elements behind the assassination conspiracies, and presents them concisely, but in a way that leaves the reader satisfied that he/she understands them. (The section dealing with the complex, multi-personalities that Lee Harvey Oswald's legacy has left us is, to me, the strongest chapter.) Mark Zingarelli's illustrations--they are not cartoons--are witty sometimes, but at others, very, very eerie. Haunting might be the better term. Try to get your hands on this book--Amazon can find it for you.

I mildy recommend this 30th anniversary volume as a sort of "starter" book for nubies. That said, "High Treason" (especially the 1998 edition) is far superior.
[...]

Will's War represents the lenghts our govenment will go to, to silence those who don't agree with them (like our current administration), and how they bend the laws to get what they want. History repeats itself. Will the subject of this tome was framed by the government because like most German's of the WWI era they were against consription (the draft), he was also involved in both Farmers and Labor unions, two more reasons why the government went after him.

Ms. Windle opens up her grandfather's struggles and the struggles of the German people who were subjected too the governments Mischarges of Justice. The courtroom drama was outstanding and fans of Perry Mason Mysteries will enjoy it. Although Paul Drake becomes Will's sister who is instrumental in turning the government's case around.

Kudos and Bravo Ms. Windle

Ms. Windle and I share the same surname "Windle" and we are probably related but the relationship link occurs over in Germany in the 1600's. My great, great, great, grandfather (John A Windle) did settle in Texas when it was a Republic in 1837 in Rusk Co. TX, but he was born in Virginia in 1804 and lived in AL and TN before finally settling in Texas long before WWI.

Mrs. Windle has written another fascinating, engrossing work. She seems to write, not only from excellent research, but from diligent research. Her descriptions of the occasions help us relive the history of her story as they keep us in touch with the characters and what they must have felt and the way they likely have behaved in this terrible time of our history.

For those of us who loved "Hill Country" and "True Women", Woods doesn't disappoint. Here is more of the story of her family, and the evolution of life in Texas. The characters, based on her ancestors, are real, and carry us through what was a very difficult time - a time of persecution of those who had the courage to risk life and limb to find a home in our promised land - and who, for the most part, were loyal, patriotic citizens. Again, we are aware of the resiliency and courage of those pioneer spirits who created the Texas of today. This is a great read, particulaly if you are interested in the human side of Texas history - warts and all.

If you think you've read the quintessential courtroom novel, or learned more than you can possibly learn bout contemporary history, think again. this book has it all. Janice Woods /windle has an uncanny knack for making real people come to life on a page and they soon feel like old friends or family members. Here's a book that tells you things about Texas you never knew, gives you an entirely different slant on how this country handled the era around WWI, and shows you with almost painful clarity how people's passions and prejudices shape history and lives.

From the first page where you meet Will Bergfeld until the conclusion of an emotional trial, this is a book you can't put down. As much as this book resembles True Women and Hill Country in creating a mood and drawing the history of Texas, it is again totally different, and could just as easily have taken place today. For those who think racial profiling is a new facet of our lives, think again. Pick up this book and you won;t be able to put it down until you've read the last word.

I learned so much by reading this third book of Janice Woods Windle. I was amazed at the intolerance and fear that Americans, Texans in particular, had of their fellow citizens who were of German extract during WWI. What a phenomena fear is! And war brings out the worst of fears, even today. To read of Will, Janice's ancestor and his trial related to supposed treason against the U. S. is an amazing read, as it is based on the truth of the trial of Woods Windle's kin.

I was also fascinated by Will's involvement with the labor movement in Colorado and the Wobblies, and how that branded his reputation, threatened his livelihood as a mailman and upright citizen who saw a need for change and put his life on the line.

I am a devout fan of Janice Woods Windle's three books. Actually "True Women" convinced me that she was a writer to watch. "Hill Country" was okay, but "Will's War" is right up there with "True Women." This is a must read in historical fiction of Texas, circa WWI and its surrounding years.

Highly recommend!

It was a great story or rather, several stories expertly woven together by a masterful storyteller. I truly enjoyed it. I find it hard to believe this is a first effort. I look forward to the next book with anticipation.

I was hoodwinked into buying this book by the few reviews posted here, so I'm hoping to offer a little guidance to others who might actually be interested in political-thriller type novels.

This is a truly amateur, sophomoric effort at fiction writing. And whoever the publishing company is, they've apparently cut out the middleman by foregoing an editor. In a 20-page stretch near the beginning of the book I found a half-dozen anachronisms (using facial tissues in 1915, but not invented until 1930; a female Columbia Law grad in 1917, but no woman at Columbia Law until 1927) and malapropisms (Nez Perce glasses instead of pince-nez, a voice quivering instead of quavering).

The characters are cardboard and events follow the most cliched patterns: in the climactic gunfight in the year 2016 the hero and villain each shoot each other in the right shoulder; then as the villain claws across the floor after his gun, Rush Limbaugh dives onto the floor (at age 65!) to grab the gun and to squeeze off a kill shot. Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy.

This is truly bottom-of-the-barrel stuff. Be forewarned.

I absolutely loved this book I could not put it down. I can see it as a movie and I hope it gets there. I also hope Rush is bright enough to read this. It's a great read.

I loved this book and could not put it down...I found myself up at 3:00 in the morning rushing to the next page. The intelligence and compasion the author put into the book was admirable and fantastic at best! I also could see this book as a movie....Sal....James Gandolfini? Isn't it about time for another great Hollywood Goodfellas movie? Great Book!!

The Assassination of Rush Limbaugh is the story of two immigrant families in search of the American dream. The family from France takes up law, politics, and police work, while the Sicilian family descends into a life of crime. For the better part of a century, the families' courses fatefully intersect and intertwine until, in the climax, the youngest descendant of the French family finds herself in a losing race to prevent the hit man of the organized crime family from shooting America's number one talk radio personality.

Along the way, readers go to artillery training and World War I combat with Harry Truman. They experience Truman's angst for the Presidential decision to use atomic bombs on Japan and they go ashore with American troops invading Sicily in World War II. Readers sit in the courtrooms where three historical trials change the legal face of America. They experience the life of an American Mafiosi from birth through his membership in a violent Brooklyn street gang to his rise to the inner sanctum of a New York crime family.

Readers tune in to the development of talk radio, and the fear it instills in politicians, from its first broadcast at the 1915 San Francisco Worlds Fair to today's round-the-clock diatribes. They sit in on closed-door meetings where that fear gradually leads powerful politicians to plot the murders of the two most popular talk show hosts.

Readers feel the icy fear and terror in the minds of two victims of exotic and deliberate murder by a hit man whose very name means nightmare in Italian.

And finally, readers get to know Jodie Farmer, as she goes from adolescent to college pal of a mafia captain's son to heroic FBI Special Agent. They feel her take a terrorist's bullet while foiling a nearly successful plot to kill tens of thousands in America's northwest. And they're by her side in the climactic gun battle inside Rush Limbaugh's Florida mansion.

I love the book and highly recommend it.

I am not a particular fan of Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Alleyn, but I liked this novel better than the previous ones I had read. Perhaps, because Alleyn is not present for a good portion of the story.

The plot of "Black As He's Painted" revolves around an attempt to assassinate the controversial president (i.e. dictator) of an emerging African nation. Much of the story is from the viewpoint of Samuel Whipplestone, a recently retired foreign service officer. He is the one who unites all the various elements of the plot and while he does not do the "deducing", he is the one who gathers the vital information for Inspector Alleyn to do his magic.

The plot is good although overly reliant on coincidences. Characters are excellent. Humor is used sparingly, but effectively.

Read and enjoy. Hail Britannia!

Ngaio Marsh has been one of my favorite authors ever since I first read "Artists in Crime" thirty-five years ago. This is one of the best of them.

This book is a little different for a Roderick Alleyn book. For one thing, it's more a diplomatic mystery than a murder mystery, but there are murders in the book, but these come as almost secondary to the main plot which is the protection of a Black President from the country of Ng'ombwanan. Alleyn is conscripted by Special Branch to help with the security measures to protect a political target that doesn't think he's a target because Alleyn actually went to school with this man. The book has it's usual eccentric characters, and the plot is fast-moving and exciting. Ms. Marsh wrote this book quite later on in her life, and it appears that she still had what it took to be a first-class mystery writer.

An unusually intriguing story concerning an African politician threatened with assasination and remarkably created characters mix to create my personal favorite of all Marsh novels, one which even surpasses the authors own exceptionally high standards. Every character is a jewel of the writer's art, and the complex story allows for a richer mystery than sometimes found in Marsh's work. Completely satisfying in every possible way.

First published in 1974, Black As He's Painted with Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is back in print.

The mystery starts out with a bored Mr. Samuel Whipplestone, who is retired from Her Majesty's Foreign Service, venturing out on a stroll. The walk leads him to Capricorn Place, a couple of memorable experiences and a change in his newly retired life. Later in the mystery, he meets up with Superintendent Alleyn at a reception where an assassination has occurred. The superintendent has his hands full trying to keep his old school buddy, now president of Ng'ombwana in Africa, safe from his many enemies. Knowing Mr. Whipplestone's past job description, the Superintendent requests his aid - Mr. Whipplestone obliges.

I enjoyed reading Ngaio Marsh's mystery. It has the flavor of an old fashion British mystery, with an added flare of espionage. The author's ability to plant suspicion and lead her readers into the twists and turns are well done. Although I know Black As He's Painted is a Superintendent Alleyn mystery, I feel Mr. Whipplestone and the adorable recently procured addition to his household steals the show and adds charm to the mystery. If you haven't read a Ngaio Marsh Mystery here's your chance to experience a writer said to be in the same league as Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.

Aynesworth tells us what it was like to be a young reporter covering the biggest story of his life. There are more comprehensive books on the JFK assassination, but Breaking the News is a great read and provides a crucial birds eye view of the events of Novemeber 1963. It is also an interesting look at how reporters did their work in the "old days" when typewriters and shoe leather were the reigning technologies.

This book is an emotional experience. You cannot read it without finding yourself back there in 1963 hearing about the shooting, re-living the cascade of events that followed. Hugh Aynesworth's and Stephen Michaud's direct reportorial style creates immediacy. Reading their pages, I was instantly back in the library at Duke law school, forcing myself through a civil procedure case book, when a ripple swept across the big reading room. The library practically emptied over the next few minutes as everyone sought a TV. As things went from bad to worse over the next 72 hours, I remember having a hunger for hard, specific details--as though to understand exactly what was happening might stop it, reverse it, erase it. The appetite for reliable details about the tragedy, oddly, has never gone away, and this excellently substantive book answers to it. It is a worthy addition to the national canon. It will help our kids understand why Kennedy's killing still moves and grieves us all so many years later.

This is not just another JFK book. The author doesn't offer any conspiracy theories or apologies for investigations less than perfect. But what IS here is the most comprehensive book ever written about the people involved...from the Oswalds to the Rubys, the Warren Commission members, the cops, the Dallas kooks and the charlatans who have made a living out of fooling a saddened world.
This book is an amazing product of a journalist who has been in the front lines for 40 years -- covering every aspect of the case. It's the most human story every told about those 40 years and an honest search for the truth.
And though I thought there could be nothing new about the JFK case, I was surprised at how much really IS told for the first time here.

Good to start with but i found towards the end it became conspiracy bashing.After all that has been found out about certain people in high places you would expect a newspaperman to err on the side of caution

Hugh Aynesworth has done more first-hand investigative reporting on the JFK assassination than any reporter I know. He is also the only reporter who was in Dealey Plaza during the assassination, at the Texas Theater during the capture of Oswald, and in the police basement with us when Ruby shot Oswald. JFK: Breaking the News is a must-read for those who want to know the facts.

...and yet apparently others have done their best to keep these books out of circulation. Perhaps best known for his book on JFK, this is probably an equally important book and it is information to which people should have access.

[...]

We live in a fascinating time when so many deeply buried secrets are being exposed. Like the late Prouty's friend Mark Phillips says, "Truth lives a wretched life but it outlives a lie every time." We have people like Fletcher Prouty to thank for that.

Colonel Prouty's book on the Secret Team should be required reading for all concerned Americans. Herein, the author, a retired Air Force Colonel and CIA insider, reveals for all to see the machinations of the Secret Team and their impact on US history in the post World War II era. This is terribly important information.

I was particularly impressed with Prouty's depiction of Eisenhower's peace initiative and how it was sabatoged by the Secret Team. Ike was preparing for his peace summit with Kruschev when Gary Powers was sent off on his fool's errand on April 30th, 1960, a date with significant occult emblematics. The capture of Powers by the Soviets effectively scuttled the Eisenhower peace plan, which would have ruined the plans of the Secret Team, for continued Cold War tension, and treasure for the merchants of venom.

The essential truths in this important book are still relevant today. Of course, the ineffectual George Walker Bush is not entirely in charge of American foreign policy in this critical time. He is certainly still being manipulated by the sucessors of the Secret Team depicted in this excellent and well written book. Any serious student of American foreign policy in the post World War II era ought to read this important book.

As in the case of the brilliant Jules Archer volume, The Plot To Seize The White House, it is terrific to have this masterful study of the inner workings of the early CIA back in print after so many years of unavailability.

Skyhorse Publishing is to be commended in seeing to it that both of these crucial works are again available to the attentive reading public who want to know the truth concerning our dark hidden history that the government has so actively strived to keep buried.

The late Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty served as chief of special operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff where he was in charge of the global system designed to provide military support for covert activities of the Central Intelligence Agency.

In Oliver Stone's highly acclaimed film on the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, JFK, the mysterious character "X" portrayed by Donald Sutherland was in fact Colonel Prouty, who assisted director Stone in the production and scripting of this historical epic. Prouty had relayed the shocking information detailed in the movie to the actual New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, played by Kevin Cosner, in a series of communiques.

The Secret Team was first published in 1973 during the Watergate scandal, when many Americans were first learning about the dark side of covert government, an outlaw executive branch headed by a renegade chief of state. Richard Nixon would not be the last of this foul breed.

This was years before Frank Church's Senate Committee's damning revelations of CIA misdeeds and assassination plots against foreign leaders rocked the nation.

In each chapter in his book, Prouty speaks frankly with an insiders knowledge of what he describes as the inner workings of "the Secret Team."

This prudential judgment and keen assessment of the National Security Establishment was gained from years as a behind-the-scenes seasoned professional in military intelligence working intimately with those of the highest rank in policy making and implimentation.

The important story Prouty boldly tells should be read by every reflective American.

I've been a devout student of Fletcher Prouty for fifteen years. Fletcher Prouty is a hero almost beyond measure in clandestine American history. 'The Secret Team' is and always will be one of the most important books of all time. However, this version is actually a slight rewrite from the original Prentice-Hall/ICHS version; and the incidental changes that have been added to this flawless American classic, I'm sorry to say, make it weaker, not stronger. I'm not saying people shouldn't read Fletcher Prouty; just understand that if you want the original book -- the real Coke rather than the new Coke -- you want to avoid this printing, even though it's available, and even though it's cheap. Some classics are better left alone, and this is one of them.

In the 16 years and five weeks
history (but who's counting?)of
the greatest Patriot Radio Talk
Show ever, Tom Valentine's Radio
Free America (on shortwave), Mr.
Lawrence Fletcher Prouty (Rt. Col.)
appeared 17 times, more than anybody
else, other than myself (once as
guest and 200 other times calling in).
Col. Prouty certainly made his point
about the Oligarcs that try to control
every aspect of our lives. And yes,
those include the folkes at the C.I.A.
I AM not an Oliver Stone fan, per se,
however the reason 'JFK', based on
Prouty's book is so good, is not be-
cause of Stone! It was Prouty who
was played as Man X in the movie
by Donald Sutherland, who was the
top among many Technical Advisors
there who helped Stone develop his
thesis furthest. There is a great
website devoted to Fletch Prouty
run by Len Osanic, of British Co-
lumbia, Canada. While it is still
up, folkes, we need to mine it for
everything it's worth. Get in touch
with Len and get the interactive
CD-Rom/DVD! It's worth it.

That book is Shadow Play: The Murder of Robert F. Kennedy. Unlike the ALSO UNBELIEVEABLY GOOD BOOK BY TURNER AND CHRISTIAN that was reissued last year (anyone who has not read this book has missed not-only a non-fiction very well documented Crying of Lot 49, but also a book replete with hundreds of footnotes connected to 1960s rightwing groups and also related to the the JFK assasssination.)
The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Lots of stuff on California Birchers for Frawley fans!

Oh, wrong book-edict.

Melanson and Klaber's book is different but also outstanding. It largely confines itself to the trial and the spiral staircase of jusrisprudence within the LAPD. A lot of the background research of Turner and Christian's, that focussed on the right wing mix that had surrounded Sirhan is not covered in the Melanson book. Instead it is a very scrupulous deconstruction of the offical proceedings. It is no less incredible, no less a remaining-jaw-dropper, in that in exposes gaping caverns in the offical pillars of justice as practiced by the Los Angeles DA and the LAPD.

Mr. Klaber's book is well-written, engrossing, and thought-provoking. At its core, however, it is less about what the common reader thinks of as the "case" of the RFK murder than it is centered strongly on the legal proceedings themselves. He brings out tantalizing bits of evidence, but does not follow any of them to their end points. In the end, while being more fully aware of the possibility of Sirhan's innocence, the reader has little to go on in terms of discovering the real perpetrator(s) or the second gunman.

Klaber stands alone in his remarkable attention to detail and his insightful intuition as he dissects Sirhan, the assassination and all the people and events surrounding it. Investigative journalism at its finest; with no sides taken, no leaf unturned/unflipped/unanalyzed and certainly no minds unchallenged.

Klaber's wired-in work makes all the others' works putter off into nattering nabobs of nonsensical noise as he delicately delves into this June 4, 1968 seminal tragedy. Klaber kooks the krime and katers to only the most diskriminating kats.

What's Klaber writing about now?

This book was extremely enlightening and engrossing. It reveals many startling details about an assassination that in the public's mind is an open and shut case. This book will make you re-examine what you think you know about the murder of Robert F. Kennedy. It is a fascinating and disturbing look into the mishandling of the investigation as well as the trial of Sirhan Sirhan.

I literally tore through this book. I couldn't put it down. Fascinating and frustrating with regards to the failure of the justice system.

This is a good, but not great sequel. In fact, it seems like the first and second books were written as one. As a stand-alone, without having read the first book, the story isn't captivating. Nevertheless, I continue to admire the original voice of Nelscott's Smokey Dalton. He's a fish-out-of-water in this book, which takes place in Chicago rather than Memphis. Smokey and twelve-year-old Jimmy have been on the run, since Jimmy witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King. Finally settling on Chicago to take refuge, they stay with one of Smokey's good friends until they learn that someone has been following them. Unknown to them, they have gone from one volatile situation to another: the 1968 Democratic Convention. With the swarm of protesters, the Federal agents and police have increased their presence and undercover cops now patrol black neighborhoods looking for signs of trouble. As a precaution, Smokey has Jimmy stay with his white, rich friend, Laura Hathaway. Then Smokey discovers the dead body of a twelve-year-old black boy outside their apartment complex. To Smokey, it can only mean one thing: "We've found you!"

This book picks up where "A Dangerous Road" left off, and continues the excellence! Nelscott brings unique perspectives of the Black experience during the turbulent 60's. She does it while weaving a tale of mystery, intrigue and double dealing. This is the start of, I hope, a series of Smokey Dalton novels. Maybe Nelscott could have Smokey meet Tamara Hayle in Newark, N.J.

I inadvertently reviewed "A Dangerous Road" in this space earlier. But now I've read "Smoke Filled Rooms." I had braced myself for the possibility of a let-down because, after all, I felt that "Road" was a hard act to follow. Not to worry: Nelscott has done it again, and in spades. Nelscott's Smokey Dalton character has all the layers of an onion:there's always another layer for Nelscott to peel away and surprise the reader with more of Smokey's past, more mysteries within mysteries, more bad stuff from more bad guys, more pain for Smokey who just, really, wants to find a quiet place to live and be left alone, preferably back in Memphis although that seems increasingly unlikely. Then, Nelscott has me wondering if there ever will be such a place for Smokey.

Arriving in Chicago, Smokey is having a tough time adjusting but thinks that he and Jimmy are, at least, safe. And now he's learning just how wrong he is as trouble prowls after him in the forms of Northern-style racism, gangs, undercover police, yippies and hippies, an old love and an old enemy, a serial killer, missing children, the fears and worries and events from Memphis that remain alive and well and real and bring more danger than ever, and the riots of the 1968 Democratic Convention. "Smoke Filled Rooms" continues where "A Dangerous Road" left off but can stand alone, although I would encourage reading them in sequence because, after all, this is a series.

Nelscott successfully imbues her second Dalton novel with the same suspense, surprising plot twists, sense of dread, real horrors, historical realism, character development, and the all pervasive, weary sadness of a reluctant hero who rejects the idea of heroism that made the first novel such a joy to read. And I am not ashamed to say that, like "Road", there are passages in this book that require me to force back tears while reading it during my train commute back and forth to work. Sometimes it seems that Nelscott spends an entire chapter setting the reader up to have the button of emotion punched with a single, simple, devastating sentence. There are scenes of such mundane horror that I am tempted to close the book and put it away for awhile, but I can't because I have to know what is going to happen next. And she presents me with a dilemma: I can hardly wait to get to the end of the story to learn the answers that Nelscott makes available but I know that I will regret it very much when the story is done. Book two in this series confirms to me Dalton's role as a tragic figure even as I am permitted to learn that Dalton, through training, experience, and his own intelligence, is, once again, the right man in the wrong place at the right time. And again I find myself cheering Smokey on, hoping that he will find a happy ending that his entire life mitigates against or, at least, win a defining battle that will allow him a respite from the nightmares he has lived. But, as Nelscott reminds the reader, that's not really the way life is. Is it? At least, not Smokey's so far.

Nelscott doesn't have any minor characters in these books. Each one carries a significance that pushes the plot or the mood forward. I really admire that ability to breathe life into each character, whether they appear only to speak one sentence or appear in every chapter as a vital element of the story. Look at Mrs. Richardson's disbelieving grief, the unnamed doorman at Laura's apartment building, Duffy, Detective Johnson, David LaVelle, Laura Hathaway's brief but pivotal appearances, Marvella, Jack Sinkovich's wife who never says a word, both Franklin and Althea Grimshaw, the patrolman who realizes who Mrs. Richardson is, Grace Kirkland and each of her two boys, and, of course, Jimmy. These are all, each and every one, recognizable people who, for whatever amount of time they do appear, walk strongly off the page into the reader's mind and make an impression that does not fade easily or soon.

I have only one criticism which may have nothing to do with Nelscott: I was distracted by the presence of annoying spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors in this edition of "Smoke Filled Rooms." That having been said, I eagerly look forward to the future installments in the Dalton series. Maybe Nelscott will give Smokey a break soon. Or not.

While waiting for the return of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins and the ultimate fate of Mouse, I've been looking for some stand ins and found more than I was looking for with Kris Nelscott's "A Dangerous Road" and the introduction of Smokey Dalton, a getting-along private detective in Memphis in 1968 who describes his profession as "doing odd jobs", and the jobs are, indeed, odd.

This book is more than the sum of its parts: Nelscott's writing takes the book far beyond the typical detective mystery;the plots turn in upon themselves and, even when the mystery of Laura Hathaway is solved, the subplots draw the reader on in pursuit of other mysteries and to surprises that could not have been imagined earlier;and the characters are drawn so finely that they are all familiar,sympathetic or dispicable but known from personal experience. Each character, no matter how minor, has a well-defined human face that is recognizable. This is a book that entertains, educates, reminisces, and touches the heart in ways that one will only understand at the last page. Nelscott's Dalton is a childhood friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but Nelscott manages to treat that relationship as, remarkably, incidental to Dalton's own tragedy filled life and the mysteries he is trying to unravel about his client, himself, and the child alter ego he is trying to protect, thereby avoiding what might have been a predictable plot of a detective trying to change history.

The pain of waiting for Easy has been eased considerably by Nelscott in her first book. Bring on "Smoke Filled Rooms", Dalton's second outing. I can hardly wait for Smokey's return even though I suspect that his heart will, again, be more broken than healed at the end. And Dalton is a character one can only hope the best for while knowing the best is unlikely to happen to him. Perhaps the best Dalton can hope for is survival. I gave this debut novel five stars. I wish I could give it more.

Smokey Dalton has fled Memphis with Jimmy, 10-year-old witness of the Martin Luther King assassination. The man Jimmy saw kill King was not the man the police arrested and Smokey knows that Jimmy's life is in danger. Unfortunately for both, Smokey chooses Chicago as his hiding place. The 1968 Democratic National Convenction in Chicago makes that city a dangerous place for a man on the run. If someone has spotted Smokey and Jimmy, they are in danger and Smokey knows he must get to the bottom of it. Yet what can he do against the forces of the FBI and Chicago police? Author Kris Nelscott does a fine job with Smokey's complex character, the feeling of a city careening toward its date with destiny, and the complex relationships between white and black. Smokey's ambivalent feelings toward Laura, an anglo woman whom he must ask for help, stand in microcosm for the entire world he lives in. Nelscott has written a novel that uses the big historical events (and conspiracy theories) of a critical period of U.S. history, but this story is intensely personal. Smokey and Jimmy are what matter, not some amorphous ideal. Perhaps this is why this novel works. Highly Recommended. BooksForABuck.com I appreciate your 'helpful' vote.

Tague was a salesman whose car got caught up in the massive traffic james enveloping the Dallas downtown area on the morning of November 22, 1963. Reading his account of that strange, fateful day, we begin to see for the first time how the darkness that surrounds us is due to a combination of factors which collided with a crash. Tague is a likeable narrator and gives you the feeling that he is a reliable witness, though in the back of your head you are always thinking, well he was the top car salesman ion the South, how honest could he really be ha ha? He befriended Harold Weisberg, one of the guys who came to Texas steeped in conspiuracy theory, and Tague's recollections of his late friend are somehow touching and direct in their simplicity. It is plain that Tague cared for his friend and that his 2002 death left him with a hole in his affections. So it wasn't just a collaboration between Kennedy aficionados, it was an abiding friendship.

Tague was injured during the assassination! Not severely, but enough to cause quite a commotion. A bullet came out of the grass and shot into the curb he was standing on, leaning all his weight on the stone that exploded into his face. Good thing he wasn't wearing short pants!

The strange thing is, the Warren Commission was keen to discredit Tague, even though he was one of the more upstanding witnesses to the Kennedy assassination. There's no arguing with people whose minds are made up ahead of time.

NOT THAT Tague is sure about what happened that day. There was no smking gun left at the crime. Oh wait, yes there was! in TRUTH WITHHELD, one of the last people to still be alive to tell his tale finally does so, complete with several interesting photographs which which challenge your eyesight and your "received wisdom." What happened? Who did it? When did suspicion harden into the cold wax of reality's seal? Tague knows the answers to some of these questions, and for the rest, he's refreshingly honest and refuses to pull empty answers out of his ass. I saw Oliver Srone's JFK and thought he went wway too far, impugning the good name of some and glancing right over the obcious points he might have made. Tague takes a middle balance, and his shot through the ambuscades just may be the most accurate of all.

As other reviewers note, there is something creepy about this book, with its hidden menace, as though Lovecraft were present that day in Dealey Plaza.

Finally, someone who DOESN'T claim to know who killed President John F. Kennedy, although he was there. He was even hit! James Tague is one of the last surviving witnesses to the horrible events of November 22, 1963, and his book "Truth Withheld: A Survivors Story - Why We Will Never Know the Truth About the JFK Assassination" explains with conviction why the murder will undoubtedly recede into history unsolved.

James Tague's day began innocently enough, until traffic and his curiosity made him park his car beneath the triple underpass in Dealey Plaza to watch Kennedy's motorcade. As JFK's limo approached him, the shots rang out, and Mr. Tague's cheek was hit. From that moment on, Tague's life--and America--changed forever. Mr. Tague describes in vivid detail his interrogations--by the FBI and the Warren Commission, among others. And Mr. Tague conveys his sense that something wasn't right. It's difficult to dismiss his story.

The book leaves one with an eerie feeling, like some insiduous creature lurking in the darkness behind your back. This must have been very difficult for Mr. Tague to relive and recount, and we should be grateful that he did.

James Tague, the Author of "Truth Withheld" is far more important to history than most realize.
You see, BEFORE they learned about James Tague, the Warren Commission were going to tell us that President Kennedy and Governor Connally were hit by seperate bullets, which of course proved conspiracy in the case, although the Commission were going to try and work around that whole "conspiracy" talk, since they were created to find a lone gunman, regardless of the evidence, in order to protect us from nuclear missiles 90 miles off the coast of Florida in a country called Cuba. However, in a way, it would have "sold" the Commission's lone gunman theory better if they had never learned about Tague, because Tague posed a serious problem to the Commission....one that would force the Commission to theorize something so nonsensical that it essentially proved conspiracy by it's mere absurdity. It was only AFTER they learned about Tague, that the Warren Commission were forced to put "square pegs in a round hole", and lamely tried to explain how one bullet could have went through the bodies of BOTH Kennedy and Connally..........how a bullet could have gone through the bodies of two grown men, turn in mid-air multiple times, break a rib and a radius (wrist) bone, and then come out in nearly pristine condition with NO RESIDUE OF BLOOD, BONE or SKIN, thus one of the most ridiculous theories in the history of U.S. Politics was born...... the theory that ONE "magic bullet" caused 7 wounds to Kennedy and Connally.
We know by the Commission's own timing of the gunshots in the assassination, based on the film shot by Abraham Zapruder, that a piece of junk mannlicher carcano rifle could not have fired fast enough to account for BOTH Kennedy and Connally's wounds, and their actions after being wounded. The importance of this cannot be overstated: IF ONE GUNMAN DIDNT HIT BOTH KENNEDY AND CONNALLY WITH ONE BULLET, THEN THAT MEANS THAT THERE WERE TWO GUNMEN FIRING FROM BEHIND THE MOTORCADE, BECAUSE ANY GUNMAN USING THE MANNLICHER CARCANO COULD NOT HAVE FIRED TWO BULLETS IN THE SHORT TIME SPAN BETWEEN WHEN KENNEDY WAS HIT AND WHEN CONNALLY WAS HIT.
ADD TO THIS, ATLEAST ONE GUNMAN IN FRONT OF THE MOTORCADE, ON THE GRASSY KNOLL, AND WE NOW HAVE AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM OF THREE GUNMEN!!

Since they were created to find a lone gunman, the Commission had to "get" one bullet to do what no other bullet in history has ever done. And the great magic bullet myth was born.

All because James Tague was hit by a piece of deflected concrete, near the Triple Underpass in Dealey Plaza, that hit been struck by a bullet that MISSED the motorcade completely. Although James Tague would obviously have liked to have been standing someplace else that day, he unwittingly made one of the most important contributions to American history: If it wasnt for Tague's story, the Commission would have had a bit more flexibility in their "lone gunman" theory, and more Americans probably would have believed them at first. And while the true evidence in the case would have probably come out eventually, because of James Tague, the Commission was forced into a corner, and had to announce a theory so foolish, that to disbelieve the theory, meant conspiracy, by definition (I.E. atleast TWO gunmen involved in the assassination .......not taking into account gunman #3 behind the picket fence on the grassy knoll.)
*As a sidenote, Tague was among the majority of witnesses who heard atleast one shot fired from the grassy knoll.*

To be able to read a book by a man who is the only one, besides Kennedy and Connally, to be injured due to bullets being fired in Dealey Plaza on that infamous day, is a rare opportunity. He is truly a survivor.......because he felt the wrath of assassins' bullets that day......thus Tague felt the wrath of the men who killed Kennedy. And by choosing to stand where he did, to watch the motorcade, Tague unknowingly was one of the biggest reasons why those assassins werent able to hide their complicity in the Kennedy killing. Because, they could only hide their complicity in the assassination if the government let them do so, and Tague made that impossible for the Warren Commission to do.

Because of James Tague, Americans were made aware of the fact that, until they were forced to do so, EVEN THE WARREN COMMISSION THEMSELVES DIDNT BELIEVE THAT ONE BULLET HIT KENNEDY AND CONNALLY. Thus even the Warren Commission themselves believed that Kennedy and Connally were hit by seperate bullets, which meant that the Commission believed that a conspiracy took the life of America's 35th President. Whether they understood the implications of the seperate bullets striking Kennedy and Connally before James Tague became known to the Commission, only they know. The Warren Commission were formed "to close doors, not open them", so they had to try and pin it on a man who was eating lunch at the time that Kennedy was killed. But that's another story and I dont have room to discuss it here.

As stated before, James Tague unknowingly threw a large wrench in the Commission's machinery. The rest is.......... "history". As we know, "History, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, so certainly be careful what your eyes behold".

This book finally helped me to finally understand what really happened within Warren Commission and the FBI to create a 40 year controversy. A well documented book with many FBI documents.

Good, but ULTIMATE SACRIFICE the best book ever
While I thought this book was worthwhile in many respects, ULTIMATE SACRIFICE is simply the best book ever on the JFK assassination.Still, worth your time.

Vince Palamara-JFK/ Secret Service expert (History Channel, author of two books, in over 30 other author's books, etc.)
Pittsburgh, PA