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Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy Audible Audiobook – Abridged

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 537 ratings
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2008 Audie Award Finalist for Achievement in Abridgement

Edgar Award Winner, Best Fact Crime, 2008

Polls reveal that 85 percent of Americans believe there was a conspiracy behind Lee Harvey Oswald. Some even believe Oswald was entirely innocent. In this encyclopedic, absorbing audiobook, Vincent Bugliosi shows how the public has come to believe such lies about the day that changed the course of history.

Bugliosi has devoted almost 20 years of his life to this project, and is determined to show that, despite the overwhelming popular perception, Oswald killed Kennedy and acted alone.

The brilliant prosecutor of Charles Manson and the man who forged an ironclad case of circumstantial guilt around O. J. Simpson in his best-selling Outrage, Bugliosi is perhaps the only man in America capable of "prosecuting" Oswald for the murder of President Kennedy. Reclaiming History is a narrative compendium of fact, ballistic evidence, reexamination of key witnesses, and common sense. Every detail and nuance is accounted for, every conspiracy theory revealed as a fraud upon the American public.

Bugliosi's irresistible logic, relentless pursuit of the truth, and command of the evidence shed fresh light on this American nightmare, providing a new understanding of what did and did not happen in Dallas on November 22, 1963. At last we know what really happened. At last it all makes sense.

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  1. Listening Length
    18 hours and 6 minutes
  2. Author
    Vincent Bugliosi
  3. Narrator
    Edward Herrmann
  4. Audible release date
    May 18, 2007
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Simon & Schuster Audio
  7. ASIN
    B000R51QZ6
  8. Version
    Abridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 18 hours and 6 minutes
Author Vincent Bugliosi
Narrator Edward Herrmann
Audible.com Release Date May 18, 2007
Publisher Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Abridged
Language English
ASIN B000R51QZ6
Best Sellers Rank #32,639 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#119 in 20th Century History
#125 in Biographies of Presidents & Heads of State (Audible Books & Originals)
#308 in US Presidents

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
537 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book's research thorough and honest. They describe it as interesting and easy to read, with a well-written narrative. Readers consider it the definitive account of the facts and a must-read for anyone interested in the assassination. Many consider it worth the price, with color photos and a section on Oswald that stands out. The writing style is described as comprehensible and skillful. Overall, customers find the book entertaining and realistic, making it an essential read on the subject.

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Research qualityReadabilityWriting styleAssassination historyValue for moneyWitBook lengthFootnotes
95 customers mention "Research quality"91 positive4 negative

Customers find the book thorough and informative. They appreciate its research and scholarship, finding it a good analysis of what happened 43 years ago. The author dismantles myths about the JFK assassination and explains convincingly that a conspiracy would have been impossible.

"...He acted alone. Get over it. For as detailed and comprehensive as this book is, it's the obvious things that Vincent Bugliosi points out..." Read more

"...His thorough rehash of the evidence, 90% of which the Warren Commission had and thoroughly hashed in 1964, and his employment of extremely hard..." Read more

"...The conspiracy section covers the major theories, addressing the claims that JFK's assassination was carried out by the CIA, the FBI, the KGB, the..." Read more

"...topics he has already covered, but introduces new ideas and information to the study: for example, Lee Harvey Oswald's applications for other jobs..." Read more

80 customers mention "Readability"80 positive0 negative

Customers find the book engaging and easy to read despite its length. They enjoy the narrative and learn a lot about the Kennedy assassination. The book is described as an essential work that holds their interest.

"...It is also well written. It is interesting and engaging enough to keep you going through all of its many long pages...." Read more

"This massive tome is worth reading in its entirety from start to finish, because it really does effectively close the case on this murder...." Read more

"...a book so massive (and sometimes technical) has been able to hold my interest as well as RH does is a tribute to Vincent Bugliosi's overall gifts as..." Read more

"...of the way through the damn'd fat book, and I have finished the magnificent chapter in which Bugliosi reconstructs the moseyings, travel and..." Read more

45 customers mention "Writing style"33 positive12 negative

Customers find the book well-written and easy to read. They appreciate the narration by actor Edward Herrmann, who reads the book in a way that is comprehensible. The writing style is engaging and the author does a good job of walking the reader through complex events.

"...It is also well written. It is interesting and engaging enough to keep you going through all of its many long pages...." Read more

"...Don't let this book's length put you off. Bugliosi's writing style is compelling...." Read more

"...I read the one volume and found it to be surprisingly easy to understand, unbiased, and thorough...." Read more

"It is the best of books; it is the worst of books...." Read more

27 customers mention "Assassination history"27 positive0 negative

Customers find the book a must-read for anyone interested in the assassination. They say it covers every aspect of the assassinations, including the conspiracies and evidence. The narrative is well-written and informative.

"...and true conspiracy theorist, has written one of the best books about the JFK assassination (Crossfire) but also, as part of the genre he works in,..." Read more

"...Every aspect of the assassination is covered, more importantly every aspect of all the conspiracies are explained away...." Read more

"...I think this could have been the best book written on the assassination but for a couple of faults:..." Read more

"...can be no other way of looking at the most documented and researched murder in history...." Read more

11 customers mention "Value for money"11 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's value for money. They find it has many color photos and Oswald's section worth the price. The book is large enough to use as a doorstop.

"...Read this book and decide for yourself. It's worth the effort. Definitive. Highly recommended...." Read more

"...Many color photos. 100% worth the price." Read more

"...A fair price for a surplus rifle. It is also not impossible to fire three rounds in the time Oswald did...." Read more

"...The book is well worth it just to preserve how well Mr. Bugliosi's mind works, as he explains what is important, what is not; why it's important,..." Read more

5 customers mention "Wit"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's wit and find it entertaining. They describe it as realistic and a beacon of light in a field of murky works.

"...written, well-documented, and surprisingly entertaining because of Bugliosi’s wit...." Read more

"...the JFK assassination, and I have read many of them, this one stands out as the best. It is a huge book, very heavy, but it is very comprehensive...." Read more

"...It stands as a beacon of piercing light in a field of murky and meretricious works." Read more

"This is a very sober and realistic look at the events of the JFK assassination...." Read more

52 customers mention "Book length"27 positive25 negative

Customers have different views on the book's length. Some find it long and comprehensive, with over 1500 pages. Others feel it's too long and overly detailed.

"...Commission had and thoroughly hashed in 1964, and his employment of extremely hard work and plain old common sense reaffirm, beyond a shadow of a..." Read more

"...Because it's all bound into one book, it seems like a lot, yet how many of us who have read anything about the Kennedy assassination have read only..." Read more

"...That a book so massive (and sometimes technical) has been able to hold my interest as well as RH does is a tribute to Vincent Bugliosi's overall..." Read more

"...The problem seems, so far, in this damnably fat book, that Bugliosi has forgotten how to not pander to an audience who thinks Mario Puzo's The..." Read more

6 customers mention "Footnotes"3 positive3 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the footnotes in the book. Some find them extensive, requiring a separate CD-ROM included with the book. Others say the footnotes don't come with the book and are not read.

"...better part of a year to read this 1600+ page small-fonted and heavily footnoted tome...." Read more

"...It is a bit more condensed than the book (and footnotes are not read, which would be expected)...." Read more

"...The footnotes are so extensive as to require a separate CD-ROM included with the book; printed in its entirety, the book would have comprised..." Read more

"...The only problem is that the extensive footnotes, which come in a CD-ROM, are not present in the kindle version. The book is marvellous...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • R. F. Mojica
    5.0 out of 5 stars Kennedy Conspiracies: The Ink-Blot Test of the Baby Boom Generation
    Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2007
    Verified Purchase
    It's all how you approach a book like this. When I saw it in the store, I about passed it over because it seemed too long and I said , "I don't wanna read that whole thing." Yet I would pick up a book like the Baseball Encyclopedia, which is even bigger and longer, and buy it without hesitating, if I was interested enough in the subject. I was interested enough in the subject of this book, so I gave in and bought it and read it.

    You have to take this as an encyclopedia of the Kennedy assassination and all its conspiracy theories. The first part of the book alone, the chronology of events, is about 300 pages--a book in itself. then every chapter that follows is also like a stand-alone volume. Because it's all bound into one book, it seems like a lot, yet how many of us who have read anything about the Kennedy assassination have read only one book? Take this as two or three different books and it doesn't seem so daunting.

    It so happens I don't believe in any conspiracy. I think Oswald did it and acted alone. As a matter of fact when I meet someone new and talk to them, one of my ways of judging them and their intellect and thought processes is by raising this whole Kennedy thing, and if it turns out they are a conspiracy believer, I usually put them down as a wishful and superficial thinker. It's sort of an ink blot test in my mind. The conspiracy believer is usually a repeater of the ideas of others, is usually delusional, usually infused with personal fantasies and paranoid tendencies, and usually tries to make up for a lack of intelligence by trying to come off as cynical and questioning. (Of course the cynicism they express towards the Warren Commission report and the generally accepted evidence doesn't extend to the fairy tales published by the conspiracy industry, but again we're dealing with very superficial, and very inconsistent, intelligences here). This isn't to say that there aren't legitimate and unsolved issues to raise in connection with Kennedy's assassination, but most conspiracy buffs I meet fit the profile i've given above.

    I don't remember the Kennedy assassination, being a little over a year old when it happened, so I don't have the emotional feelings about it that many baby boomers have. Of course I think it was a sad event, but I think I can look at it with greater detachment than those with conscious memory of it. I was raised in a family of rabid Kennedy supporters, so when coming into awareness of things around me, I always heard what a great man Kennedy was, and how terrible it was that "they" killed him. This predisposed me to believe in a conspiracy, and at one time I did believe in such a thing, just because this was the prevailing belief around me.

    However when I started reading into the thing on my own, I quickly gave up the whole conspiracy thing. The conspiracy books were so ridiculous, their ideas so far fetched, that no really serious, intelligent person could buy into them without intentionally suspending that intelligence and then founding a belief in conspiracies as an act of willful blind faith. They believe because they want to. it's a form of religion, and no logic or evidence will ever disabuse them of these beliefs.

    However, I think this book will even make conspiracy theorists happy. The author goes into all of the conspiracies in detail, and gives a nice summary of each. So, if you're disposed to believe in conspiracies, here is a nice supermarket of them. Just read the parts of the conspiracy chapters where the conspiracies are explained and skip over the parts where the author uses logic to destroy them. You can pick and chose your favorites, or even combine them in infinite varieties 'til you have a brand new conspiracy theory of your own that no one has ever thought of before and that you can show to your friends at your next outdoor barbecue. This will make you the envy of the neighborhood. People will think of you as a model of perception and synthesis.

    The book itself is, of course, well researched, whether you like the sources or not. It is also well written. It is interesting and engaging enough to keep you going through all of its many long pages. The profile of Oswald, which is always the most important part of any book on this subject, is well done. I think an attitude towards Kennedy conspiracies always comes from how one views Oswald--since he is the assassin. If you think he was a stooge or a patsy, you believe in conspiracies. If you think he did it alone, you don't. The evidence that he was at least one of the shooters is so overwhelming that only a refusal to face reality will lead one to doubt that evidence. What it comes down to is did he do it alone? When one comes to an understanding of Oswald, it becomes impossible to conceive of him acting in any kind of conspiracy.

    Kennedy was shot over 40 years ago. The truth about it is out there for anyone who wants to face it. If you don't have the guts to, retreat to the comfort of your fancies and fantasies where you can be more comfortable piling up CIA's and FBIs and Texas Oil Men and Anti-Castro Cubans and Pro-Castro Cubans and Jimmy Hoffa and the Mafia and J. Edgar Hoover and Howard Hughes and G. Gordon Liddy and Clay Shaw and Mort Sahl, etc. etc. etc., like dominoes, in any combination that fits your particular world view. You can do it if you're a political lefty, a political righty or a political moderate. The whole thing will eventually fade as the baby boomers die out. It is typical of the generational ego of the baby boomers that they believe this thing, which is so important to them, will still be a disputed issue 100 years from now. One day the Kennedy thing will be no more charged than the Garfield assassination is today.

    My own conspiracy theory is that the Kennedy conspiracies are part of a leftish media plot (not a formal plot, of course, but a drifting tendency) to obscure the fact that Kennedy was killed by a communist (Oswald) and not a right wing kook, as was first assumed. Every conspiracy that followed comes from the basic fact that the left can't face up to the fact that it was one of their own who killed someone in whom they had placed such hope. It would take an adult to accept something so uncomfortable, and we all know that the baby boom generation has never advanced beyond the stage of peevish moral adolescence. Heck, even I would like to believe in a conspiracy. It would please me greatly to think that two of the most harmful Americans of the late 20th century, President Johnson and Chief Justice Warren, were involved in this diabolical conspiracy, as they certainly must have been if you listen to the critics of the Warren Report. However sometimes you have to believe in what is (or what was) than in what you want to believe. It's all part of growing up.
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  • Mark E. Stenroos
    5.0 out of 5 stars That's It. Case Closed.
    Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    This massive tome is worth reading in its entirety from start to finish, because it really does effectively close the case on this murder.

    Oswald did it. He acted alone. Get over it.

    For as detailed and comprehensive as this book is, it's the obvious things that Vincent Bugliosi points out that hit home the hardest.

    For instance, most conspiracy theories on the JFK killing start off with a HUGE mistake, believing the "single bullet theory" to be so laughable that they call it the "magic bullet theory." They do this based on an erroneous idea of how JFK and Gov Connally were seated in the limo when the shots were fired. Many conspiracy books and Oliver Stone's movie JFK get this all wrong, showing Gov Connally seated directly in front of JFK and at the same level as JFK. Indeed, if the men were seated that way, a bullet shot from the TSBD into JFK could NOT have hit Connally.

    But that is NOT how they were actually seated. The photographic, video and physical evidence in the case all shows that Gov. Connally was seated on a jump seat that was 3 inches LOWER than the rear seat where JFK was seated, as well as being about 6 inches INBOARD from the door of the limo. Put Connally in the CORRECT position, and the second bullet fired that hit JFK in the upper back could not avoid hitting Connally as well.

    Besides the mistaken belief that the "magic bullet" turned mid air to strike Connally, the other thing CTists always bring up is that this bullet - which was found on the stretcher at Parkland Hospital and was labeled Warren Commission Exhibit CE399 - was "pristine," with no damage to it at all. The idea being that it couldn't possibly have passed through two human beings and sustained so little damage. But as the Warren Commission Report pointed out - and as Bugliosi relates here again - the bullet was hardly pristine. It was misshapen, and lead was extruding from its bottom. More important, it was the bottom of the bullet that struck Gov Connally's wrist as the bullet was already yawing (tumbling) when it entered Connally's back. The bullet fragments removed from Connally's wrist were matched to the back end of CE399.

    Couple this with that fact that over the decades since the shooting, many, many tightly controlled and well-documented tests have been run that duplicate the conditions that existed when the shooting occurred, and those tests have many times produced spent rounds that end up in just as "pristine" condition as did CE399. This was even true of the tests run by the Warren Commission. But the CTists aren't interested in the truth. They're interested in their lame-brained theories, with the wildest theories of all gaining the most traction within their self-aggrandizing claque.

    As one makes their way through Bugliosi's book, one is struck again and again by the sorry realization that the vast majority of the books written about the JFK assassination that promote a conspiracy in the case can't even get the basic facts in the case correct. Bugliosi has no trouble dismantling many of the CTs by simply pointing out that the entire CT is based on a lack of knowledge of the evidence in the case. More troubling is the realization that many of the facts in the case are turned on their head in the various CTs and falsified to say the opposite of what they actually say as evidence.

    It's also stunning to realize how much the details in the case really do matter, where a few inches meant the difference between life and death. Conspiracy theorists have no qualms painting in huge brush strokes, even accusing the driver of JFK's limo of killing him. They do so without a shred of evidence to support their lunacies. Yet they will quibble over the smallest detail, believing that their quibbling over a small detail has the effect of negating every bit of the mountain of forensic evidence presented in the WCR that proves Oswald's guilt - and his role as a lone gunman - beyond any reasonable doubt. It doesn't, of course, but why admit the truth when you're on a CT roll? Bugliosi does an effective job exposing and destroying the irrational thinking and the - frankly - willful ignorance of the evidence that lies behind 99.999% of the CTs out there. He even spends the time to drill down into each of these CTs to expose how they become even more ridiculous once the theory has been challenged, a skill he no doubt honed through numerous debates with CTists who are well-practiced in the kind of whack-a-mole evasions people use to avoid having to admit they were wrong once their lies and fantasies have been exposed. It really is impressive, to say the least.

    In the book, Bugliosi relates talking to a group of lawyers. He asks how many believe there was a conspiracy to kill JFK. Almost all hands go up. He then asks how many have ever read the Warren Report. Almost NO hands go up. This simple exercise is telling, and it reflects another sorry truth: that most people - including lawyers, who should know better - have gotten their "facts" about the shooting from sensationalized TV shows, out-to-make-a-buck-from-the-gullible CT books and Oliver Stone's highly entertaining movie, a movie which Stone himself termed "a fiction."

    Once you've read this book you'll realize how laughable the CTs are, especially if you're like me, ie: a person who was skeptical about the Warren Report for decades because - in all honesty - I had never read the thing, just like that group of lawyers that Vincent Bugliosi talked to about the shooting who had never read the WCR.

    Don't let this book's length put you off. Bugliosi's writing style is compelling. But do yourself a favor and feel free to earmark pages in this book that will come as a revelation to you. Because sooner or later, you're going to get into a debate with someone who is going to regurgitate some falsehood about the shooting, and you'll want to be able to cite chapter and verse that disabuses that person of their erroneous talking point, whether it's the old "Oswald was a bad shot (false: he earned the rank of Sharpshooter in the USMC)," to "even an expert shot couldn't have made the shots Oswald supposedly made (false: the USMC testified to the Warren Commission that the shots were easy for "an exceptional shot like Oswald," not to mention that the experts who took the tests shots for the Warren Commission actually bettered Oswald's time in getting 3 shots off with accuracy), and on and on it goes.

    Buy this. Read it. Digest it. 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of JFK's death. If you care about the memory of this man, you'll honor that memory by getting the FACTS in the case clear in your own mind. The most-ardent conspiracy theorists refuse to even read this book, preferring to cite this or that review they read, or this or that website or author whose ox has been gored by Buglosi. In the words of that Jack Nicholson character, they can't handle the truth.

    Ignore them, and read this book. Don't let their cravenness influence YOUR search for the truth behind this historic tragedy, a tragedy that at its core is - in the words of Vincent Bugliosi - "a simple murder case." Read this book and decide for yourself. It's worth the effort.

    Definitive.

    Highly recommended.

    PS: as you go through the reviews of this book at Amazon, you'll notice a strange phenomenon: most of the highly complementary reviews have the "Amazon Verified Purchase" label next to them. Few if any of the negative reviews of this book have that label, a label that lets you know the person at least bought the book. In fact, out of seven pages of One-Star reviews, only 5 of the reviews show purchase of the book verified through Amazon.

    I'm not saying that people couldn't have bought the book elsewhere, or borrowed it from the library to read, but who are we kidding? Most of the people writing the negative reviews of this book haven't read Page 1.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Darren Bonaparte
    5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading on this tragic event.
    Reviewed in Canada on October 17, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    This book is THE BRICK on the Kennedy assassination.
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  • Justinian
    5.0 out of 5 stars The truth is stranger than fiction
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2009
    Verified Purchase
    "The truth," it is said, "is often stranger than fiction."

    What is the truth about who shot JFK? Who committed what Mr Bugliosi rightly calls "the crime of the century?" Who destroyed that heroic American dream? It is not proved beyond reasonable doubt that it was organised crime, nor that it was any home or foreign agency, or that it was any indigenous or foreign conspiracy, or that it was any person other than Oswald. But, Mr Bugliosi goes as far as any prosecutor can after the event to put the facts beyond reasonable doubt.

    His case makes compelling reading. This book is like no other. It is confined to the key facts, not supposition or theory. It avoids the confused conspiracy theorists who pay little regard to causation and factual analysis or the application of the rules of evidence and common sense.

    What has been lacking and is an indictment of historians is a proper study of the crime. It has been left very often to amateur detectives who saw phantom conspirators and imagined all sorts of unlikely scenarios. Mr Bugliosi is the best and most qualified writer so far to tackle this case.

    The alleged assassin was from Texas, but was never tried for his crime in a Texas State Court. This denial of justice has caused understandable bewilderment and frustration ever since. This was more shocking because the suspect's murder was seen on television by millions of people all over the world. The assassination represented a terrible security lapse and many questioned the effectiveness of presidential security as well as the criminal justice system of the United States which seemed to have gone into suspended animation.

    Politically, it killed the "New Frontier" and that brave new world that Jack Kennedy was creating.

    Thus,it is no wonder that even after all these years people still cannot accept that a solitary miscreant killed the most promising statesman of our times. If Mr Bugliosi is right, and he may well be, then because the suspect had an argument with his wife about whether they would live in a flat in Dallas or not, and she would not go with him, he took his rifle and killed the President. If the author is wrong it was a good cover story for the "patsy" who was intended to be caught.

    It is therefore no wonder that the crime will always be a matter of great controversy if one of the best trial lawyers in the United States reached that conclusion. For many Americans, and for many people in my country, the memory of JFK and RFK held out the greatest promise for the world. However, as lawyers know from their experience of crime and criminology the simple truth is sometimes very hard for the man in the street to accept. This is especially true in this case where the victim was a "hope for all mankind," the champion of the Free World, and the youngest most inspiring leader of the world's most powerful nation. It is very hard to accept that such a great man was laid low by such a miscreant and that it happened in such an apparently simple way, without any conspiracy or intricate planning, but a spur of the moment decision by a book depository worker after he had an argument with his wife one night. Explaining this requires a serious analysis and this is why Mr Bugliosi's account is compelling because he combines his great skill as an advocate with a comprehensive logical forensic analysis of the key facts. He focuses, unlike many conspiracy proponents, on what could have been proved, in his opinion, beyond reasonable doubt at the time of the crime.

    I found reading Mr Bugliosi's description of the suspects interrogation in the police station compelling. Not for what the suspect said, but for what he did not, or would not say. What he told the police is also indicative of guilt: his obvious lying to the police on the crucial question about the ordering of the weapons he allegedly used and his fake identity card. The account does not portray the Dallas police as in any way overbearing; they were not aggressive, they did not browbeat him, they did not mistreat him and gave him every opportunity to obtain counsel's advice. It was the suspect who was unashamedly obstructive, arrogant and highly offensive. If he had been innocent he would have done his best to help the police-any ordinary American would have done so, any decent person would have done so, but not him. Why was he so unhelpful? Why was he evasive to the police, his brother and his wife? What was he hiding? And why did he lie about the weapons? Why did he lie and obfuscate matters directly related to his actions at 12.30 EST 22 November 1963? Why was he the only depository worker unaccounted for after the crime had been committed? The reader can draw his or her own conclusion. The suspect was truly suspect.

    The author has succeeded where possibly the Warren Commission did not. He has clearly and cogently analysed the best evidence of the murder in Dealey Plaza on 22 November 1963. Unlike the Warren Report and its 27 volumes of evidence, Bugliosi is easier to read, albeit over a thousand pages.

    In my view Mr Bugliosi achieves his two objectives: he has given the reader a comprehensive education on the case and has debunked some spurious conspiracy theorists. What I found in his book, but lacking in the conspiracy books I have read is a clear analysis of the facts dealing with motive, causation and the linkage between the assassin, the crime and the victim. The evidence Mr Bugliosi presents is clearer to my mind and more persuasive than many other commentaries. His focus is tightly based on fact, not on theory, speculation, rumour, third-hand hearsay, secondary evidence or opinion, save those of scientifically qualified men. It is the presentation of the weight of the direct evidence of fact that one has to rely on.

    However what Mr Bugliosi relies upon is the Warren Commission evidence. Whilst the enquiry was conducted by the most resourceful and expert investigation department in the world it was not conducted judicially. Witnesses were not properly examined and cross-examined and evidence of some direct witnesses of fact disgarded when it did not conform to the fact pattern of the report. Not all the evidence available was properly considered because the enquiry was not properly managed. Had the Justice Department been fully engaged in this witnesses might have been properly treated. On the other hand as someone said if all the conspirators alleged to have been involved in the case were in Dealey Palza that day there would not have been enought standing room.

    Reading Mr Bugliosi's account it seems to me that it is the expert medical evidence that is confusing and contradictory at times. Nothing unusual in my experience, but important when laymen try and understand its intricacies and theories. This case is bedevilled by numerous adjuncts of scientific analysis from trajectory analysis, photographic analysis, spectrography, and sound analysis of a police motorcyclist's microphone which might indicate a fourth shot. This is apart from the scores of witnesses who testified as to the source of the shots whose evidence in part is contradictory and conflicting. This is again not unusual in such cases, but a sensible balance has to be struck in analysing this kaleidoscope of information contained in the volumes of the Warren Commission Report, the House Report and the evidence in the U.S. National Archives.

    One of the most difficult issues in this case has always been the conundrum about the "magic bullet," especially its weight after apparently traversing the President and the Governor. To military and medical men this may not be mystifying, but laymen find it difficult to understand and clearly this explanation has not been understood by all those who do not accept the Warren Commission findings. If you get the pitch of the trajectory right from the sixth floor window of the TSBD, and the exact positioning of the victims in the car at the time of the shot right, then it should be conclusive. Another highly complex medical issue is the head shot wounds and the direction of the shots in the neck and head. That evidence is shockingly gruesome and nothing prepares the laymen for this. Here the controversy has always been very high. Had the experts all been brought together to discuss their findings from the beginning matters might have been more capable of consensus. The Parkland doctors were outstanding in their efforts to treat the President. One speculates that had the autopsy been carried out by those highly experienced doctors in Parkland there may well have been less controversy. Parkland Hospital rightly deserves its great reputation today for the courage and dedication of those who were the only people in America who that day tried to save the President's life.

    What Mr Bugliosi presents is not a work of fiction, but a book of facts. Facts he has presented and argued before juries in America and in Britain. In both mock trials the jury believed him. He is counsel for the prosecution that never was. As a lawyer he presents a compelling case, but in the final analysis the verdict is yours.

    Without prejudice to this excellent book which is a must for anyone interested in the case as a reader I just ask myself two simple questions: One, how is it possible for Governor Connally to have been so injured by the "magic bullet" if the bullet exhibited in the Commission Report cannot accommodate the fragments found in the Governor? Two,if the President was shot in the back of the head and brain matter was sprayed out from the front and rear of his head, and there was clearly a critical time lapse between the two physical effects, enough for Mrs Kennedy to look up and lean out to pick up brain tissue from the car boot; is that not consistent with two head shots? And if Professor Blakey is right and his former colleagues of the Department of Justice are right (including possibly their boss the former Attorney General)there is more to this case after all. Such suppositions do not exclude Mr Bugliosi's central hypothesis, nor those of counsel Arlen Specter.
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  • Patrick Moffatt
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
    Reviewed in Canada on July 1, 2022
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    For those who find the movie JFK a crock (which I always have) this book is for you
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  • Patrick Collins
    5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, authoritative and delivers a huge blow to the "jfk assassination industry"
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2007
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    This book has taken some 20 years to write and it takes quite some time to read ! In a nutshell the author Vincent Bugliosi all but wraps the case up - finally. I say all but, because as we know, this case will never be wrapped up. What is "out there" in the public domain is now a blur of fact and fiction and our perception of the event is based on both good and poor information and our own ability to determine from the evidence what is indeed fact and what is fiction. And perhaps more to the point, how to interpret the information we have in a reasonable and accurate fashion - and in this case that is a tall order as the subject matter requires a good deal of expertise - or expert input - and sadly this is lacking in much of the published work on this case. This book however is authoritative and even if you disagree with the conclusion - you will no doubt appreciate it as a serious work and one that should not be taken lightly.

    Despite the assassination being now some 43 years in the past, this subject still causes debate - some furious and the debate will no doubt rage on for many years to come and continue to entice us - for almost every key aspect of this case is shrouded in mystery - or is it ? The truth actually is this - if you accept that the information available to you regarding the medical, physical, ballistics and eye witness evidence is accurate and you study it exhaustively and you remain impartial, you would probably convict Lee Harvey Oswald of being the sole assassin. However this is no ordinary case and for that reason there will always be doubt. What is astonishing is that so many people think that there was a conspiracy in this case - some 70 % approx of the American public - why ? Because they have poor information.

    Much of the material in this book is not new to me personally - or new per se. What is interesting here is the angle from which the subject is tackled - Bugliosi simply puts his prosecutor's hat on and in his own inimitable style presents a compelling case against Lee Harvey Oswald. His approach is such that the reader understands that even though at first it may well seem that a conspiracy existed, in fact there is little if no evidence to suggest there was. Yes, he is slightly selective at times and there are arguments for the pro conspiracy lobby that perhaps he does not tackle in full. What I admire most about the author though is his tenacity and ability to nail down witnesses and statements and show that much of the pro conspiracy testimony is mis leading or was made many years after the event and therefore could lack credibility.

    I have read over 300 books on the Kennedy assassination many of them several times over - I only mention this because I do honestly believe that one cannot get a reasoned and balanced view on the subject from a small handful of books - and by small I mean less than a few dozen. And I think it is important for readers to know that. Most people, with all due respect base their view on the more sensationalist literature - and most of the published material is pro conspiracy, poorly written junk proposing fanciful theories around both the assassination and its perpetrators. Then add movies like Oliver Stones JFK to the mix and fact and fiction become a blur in what has become a multi million dollar industry. And let us not forget that - millions of dollars are generated annually from this case and many have achieved considerable wealth from it. Vincent Bugliosi has spent some 20 years on this book - I doubt he will profit hugely from it - so one could fairly and reasonably conclude that he is passionate about his subject and believes he is right in his convictions. I doubt the same can be said for many authors in this case - who I believe know perfectly well that much of what they are writing is pure fiction - but of course it may make them rich.

    If you can find the time to read this book - it is approx 1700 pages long, you will see that the problem with the JFK assassination debate is that the public is largely mis informed. This subject does not often therefore provide a level headed debate based on common sense and reason. I know this from personal experience. Had I had this book 20 years ago when I started researching seriously into the subject I would have taken a very different view to the one I formed then and would not have spent the last 20 years searching for a second smoking gun that frankly probably never existed in the first place. I was convinced of a conspiracy - but no longer. In recent years far better and more scholarly publications have appeared and I can only conclude now there was no conspiracy. Of that I am now certain. This book will tell you why you should come to that same conclusion. It is a fine contribution to modern history and probably the finest on its subject to date. Many people formed opinions on this case in the 60s and 70s based on poor information and sensationalism. The published works that came forth at that time formed the basis of the JFK assassination industry and created the myth surrounding it. Indeed the belief that a conspiracy was behind the assassination is so well entrenched now, in all likely hood it will stay that way for ever - despite the fact that the evidence against Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone assassin is overwhelming.

    This book is to be commended for highlighting some huge red herrings in this case - - namely the Grassy Knoll gunman and the Single Bullet Theory viability. John F. Kennedy was not shot from the Grassy Knoll and the Single Bullet Theory - however unlikely is feasible - that is a fact. As Mr. Holmes himself said "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." The fact is that many people have a problem with this in the JFK case - that is another debate, but one Mr Bugliosi does cover to some extent.

    If you wish to gain an insight into the pro conspiracy side of the fence read Anthony Summers book "Conspiracy" or "Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why" by Gerald McKnight. Or if you want to find out what Bugliosi is saying in one twentieth of the time, read Mel Ayton. Larry Sturdivan's book "JFK Myths" is also a fine work on the medical & ballistics evidence in this case. But back to Mr. Bugliosi - of course no one will ever put this subject to rest now - there is too much out there, but this book comes as close to achieving closure as possible and Bugliosi is to be applauded for that. But a word of caution as Vince himself says, this subject is a "bottomless pit".
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  • sebquest
    5.0 out of 5 stars Tour-de-Force
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 29, 2015
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    An in-depth treatment of the events of November 1963 where the actual events are examined in great detail and every crackpot conspiracy theory thoroughly routed. Other than reading the Warren Report for one's self it's impossible to obtain the truth surrounding one of the most infamous crimes of the 20th century, fortunately the minutiae are displayed here with Vincent Bugliosi's consummate skill. I still enjoy movies, such as Oliver Stone's, as pure entertainment in the same way I enjoy old 'Universal' films about mummies & werewolves but I don't believe in mummies & werewolves and neither will you if you trust this author.

    This audio version is brilliantly performed by Edward Hermann - the only thing missing is the photographic evidence. For that you'll have to read the book itself.
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