Counterplot of the Assassins Watching the Detectives an Armchair Guide
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books honest investigation, voices his up call to anyone who believes the theory about how yawn — the Commission conducted a serious Watching the Detectives Mob killed Kennedy. investigation. Walt Brown, The People V. Lee Edward J. Epstein, Counterplot An Armchair Guide to the Crime of the Century by David Reitzes Harvey Oswald (Carroll & Graf, (Viking Press, 1969): A scathing 1992): Could Oswald have been look at the Jim Garrison investi- I n 1979, there were an estimated dent Kennedy, Report and Hearings and suppressed evidence in all as- convicted of the assassination? gation which later became the ba- 600 books written on the sub- (1979): In the mid-`70s, Sen. Ri- pects of the case — was again ig- Brown's fictional trial is defini- sis for Oliver Stone's JFK. ject of John F. Kennedy's assassi- chard Schweiker and others began nored, and the "acoustics evi- tively researched, and the writing Edward J. Epstein, Legend: The nation, 34 years ago this Nov. 22. pushing for a Congressional probe dence" mars practically every is witty and insightful. Secret World of Lee Harvey Oswald The number has probably doubled into the assassination. Schweiker book written on the case since Don DeLillo, Libra: A Novel (Reader's Digest Press, 1978): Ul- since then, making it even more said, "I think the Warren Commis- 1979. (See Livingstone, Killing the (Viking, 1988): A fictional sce- timately more revealing about dis- difficult to winnow the wheat from sion has collapsed like a house of Truth, for the whole story.) nario postulating Oswald as one sension within the CIA than about the chaff. What follows is a selec- cards. And I believe the Warren Jim Bishop, The Day Kennedy gunman in a relatively small-scale Oswald, who is depicted in typi- tive listing of the most important Commission was set up at the Was Shot (Bantam, 1969): A no- conspiracy. DeLillo's done his cally myopic fashion. The Assassi- and useful texts, plus a number of time to feed pabulum to the toriously inaccurate account of homework, but he makes the nation Chronicles (Carroll & Graf, commonly available duds. American 1992) collects the three Epstein The President's Commission on people for books with new forewords and the Assassination of President reasons not afterwords. Kennedy, Report, a.k.a. The Report yet known, Gaeton Fonzi, The Last Inves- of the Warren Commission (1964): and that one tigation (Thunder's Mouth Press, The world-famous lone assassin of the big- 1993): An HSCA investigator ex- theory, in which a warehouse em- gest cover- plains why the Committee failed. ployee with a shady past makes ups in the Recommended. marksmanship history with a de- history of Jim Garrison, On the Trail of fective junk rifle. Commission our country the Assassins (Sheridan Square members Richard Russell and occurred at. Press, 1988): The basis for much Hale Boggs privately disavowed that time." of Oliver Stone's JFK. Whoever the single-bullet theory, without The HSCA said hindsight is 20/20 never read which the case for one gunman Report,... this assemblage of warped ratio- evaporates. while largely nalizations and unproved allega- The President's Commission on supporting tions. Pass. the Assassination of President the Warren Robert Groden, The Killing of a Kennedy, Hearings (1964): These Report, con- President (Viking, 1993): A collec- 26 volumes of appendices, con- cludes — partially due to fraudu- the assassination based largely common mistake of taking the tion of assassination-related pho- taining selected hearings and ex- lent analysis of a police audio re- upon the Warren Report. Avoid. evidence against Oswald at face tos. The flaws and omissions are hibits before the Commission, cording which allegedly proves at Robert Blakey and Richard value. Avoid. legion, and Groden's opinions have a strange tendency to contra- least two gunmen — that Kennedy Billings, The Plot to Kill the Presi- Edward J. Epstein, Inquest (vi- should be taken with a grain of salt. dict the Report's conclusions. was "probably" the victim of a dent (Times Books, 1981): The king Press, 1966): A seminal book Henry Hurt, Reasonable Doubt The House Select Committee to conspiracy. The real issue — the Chief Counsel to the HSCA, who about the inner workings of the (Holt, Rinehart &Winston, 1985): Study the Assassination of Presi- overwhelming pattern of forged helped scuttle any hope for an Warren Commission and a wake- A decent refutation of the lone-as- • • • books sassin theory based primarily on case. Drawing upon extensive in- Jim Marrs, Crossfire (Carroll & his methodology. There's a cred- raged responses. the government evidence. terviews with key medical eyewit- Graf, 1989): A comprehensive ibility problem. When he is con- Anthony Summers, Conspiracy Mark Lane, Rush to Judgment nesses, Livingstone clears up compendium of assassination-re- fronted with a situation antitheti- (McGraw Hill, 1980; Paragon (Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1966; much of the confusion surround- lated facts and lore, with useful and cal to the view he's taking, he ig- House, 1989): An excellent book Thunder's Mouth, 1992): A de- ing the physical evidence, and pre- concise background information nores or distorts it." based upon the HSCA evidence as fense brief for Oswald (useful, but sents dramatic new evidence of on the relevant parties and events, -L. Fletcher Prouty, J.F.K. (Birch well as Summers' own fieldwork weak in comparison to Weisberg's the cover-up. but also an unfortunate amount of Lane, 1993): Prouty, a former Pen- — a solid summary of the case as and Meagher's books) and Lane Harrison Livingstone, Killing misinformation and speculation. tagon liaison to the CIA and the it appeared 20 years ago. The pa- occasionally misrepresents the the Truth (Carroll & Graf, 1993): Proceed with caution. basis for Donald Sutherland's "X" perback has some material added. evidence in his "client's" favor. The truth about the acoustics evi- Sylvia Meagher, Accessories Af- character in Oliver Stone's JFK, A.J. Weberman and Michael Mark Lane, Plausible Denial dence, further important revela- ter the Fact (Bobbs-Merrill, 1967; has a great deal of firsthand Canfield, Coup d'Etat in America (Thunder's Mouth, 1991): A lame tions concerning the physical evi- Vintage, 1976): A landmark — the knowledge of U.S. covert opera- (Third Press, 1975, 1992): Endless attempt to implicate Watergate dence, some provocative - most devastating, meticulously tions, and many of his allegations speculation about the famous conspirator E. Howard Hunt in though as yet unsubstantiated - documented refutation of the War- deserve serious investigation. "three tramps" photographed in the assassination. Lane's star wit- testimony regarding the origins of ren Report ever compiled. Out of Peter Dale Scott, Deep Politics Dealey Plaza. Avoid. ness is former Castro mistress the assassination plot, and a whole print, but well worth looking for. and the Death of JFK (University Harold Weisberg, Whitewash I- Marita Lorenz (see Fonzi, The Last lot more. Highly recommended. Bonar Menninger with Howard of California Press, 1993): An IV, Post Mortem, and others Investigation, for a firsthand dem- Harrison Livingstone, Killing Donahue, Mortal Error (St. enormously important work, one (mostly self-published — for in- onstration of her credibility). Kennedy, and the Hoax of the Cen- Martin's Press, 1992): Donahue's of the most insightful and schol- formation, write to Route 12, Old David Lifton, Best Evidence tury (Carroll & Graf, 1995): More theory: A Secret Service agent ac- arly examinations yet of why Receiver Rd., Frederick, MD (Macmillan, 1980; Carroll & Graf, major findings concerning sup- cidentally fired the fatal shot from Kennedy was killed, why it was 21701): Whitewash was the first 1988): The dreaded body alter- pressed evidence (and worse), a the car behind Kennedy. Preposter- covered up, and why Americans book to expose the pattern of fal- ation theory, the notion that detailed refutation of Posner's ous, but no more or less so than are still afraid to face up to it. sification in the Warren Report. Kennedy's corpse was somehow Case Closed, and a new look at the the Warren Report. Theodore Sorensen, Kennedy Since then, Weisberg has been re- "altered" to fool the coroners. home movie of the century. Editors of The New York Times, (Harper & Row, 1965): Why sponsible for prying literally There are easier ways to explain a Norman Mailer, Oswald's Tale The Warren Commission: The Wit- should the death of a president thousands of documents from botched autopsy (see Livingstone, (Random House, 1993): What a nesses (1965): The good little sol- over three decades ago matter any- government archives under Free- High Treason 2, for a thorough bore. Mailer tries in vain to bol- diers at the Times selectively ed- way? Recommended to anyone dom of Information Act lawsuits. demolition of Lifton's theory - ster the lone assassin theory with ited this testimony from the Hear- who's forgotten — or is too young Whitewash II-IV report on some and some real answers). a flimsily selective and misleading ings volumes, with troublesome to know first-hand — why JFK of his more important findings re- Harrison Livingstone and Rob- representation of the evidence - evidence (i.e. anything that throws mattered, and why he still does. garding evidence of the cover-up. ert Groden, High Treason (Conser- strange considering the glowing doubt on the Report) omitted or Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar, Post Mortem is a microanalysis of vatory Press, 1989; Berkley, 1990): endorsements he's given to such censored. A disgrace. notes by Jane Rusconi, JFK: The the autopsy evidence. Intended as a follow-up of sorts conspiracy-oriented books as Gerald Posner, Case Closed Book of the Film (Applause, 1992): Craig Zirbel, The Texas Con- to Summers' Conspiracy, this is a Meagher's and Summers'.