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Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Gerald Posner (Author), Scott Aiello (Narrator), Audible Studios (Publisher)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 1,069 ratings
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The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, continues to inspire interest ranging from well-meaning speculation to bizarre conspiracy theories and controversial filmmaking. But in this landmark audiobook, reissued with a new afterword for the 40th anniversary of the assassination, Gerald Posner examines all of the available evidence and reaches the only possible conclusion: Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

There was no second gunman on the grassy knoll. The CIA was not involved. And although more than four million pages of documents have been released since Posner first made his case, they have served only to corroborate his findings. Case Closed remains the classic account against which all books about JFK's death must be measured.

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  1. Listening Length
    20 hours and 29 minutes
  2. Author
    Gerald Posner
  3. Narrator
    Scott Aiello
  4. Audible release date
    March 18, 2015
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    Audible Studios
  7. ASIN
    B00V0Q35S2
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 20 hours and 29 minutes
Author Gerald Posner
Narrator Scott Aiello
Audible.com Release Date March 18, 2015
Publisher Audible Studios
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B00V0Q35S2
Best Sellers Rank #33,880 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#16 in Political Leadership
#52 in Media Studies (Audible Books & Originals)
#196 in Communication & Media Studies

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
1,069 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book thorough and well-researched. They describe it as an interesting and worthwhile read for history buffs. The pacing is described as concise and the narrative is told accurately. Readers appreciate the author's ability to close the case once and for all. However, opinions differ on whether the book provides compelling evidence or unsubstantiated speculation.

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DepthReadabilityPacingCase closureAccuracySkepticism
100 customers mention "Depth"96 positive4 negative

Customers appreciate the book's depth. They find it well-researched and thorough, providing plenty of facts and corroboration. The book covers virtually all conspiracy theories and shows clearly why Oswald acted alone. Readers appreciate the clear presentation of the overwhelming physical evidence and details they had never heard.

"...Posner’s book proved to be logical, informative, and very readable...." Read more

"...All evidence is corroborated, mostly by multiple eyewitness accounts, a continuous and cross-referenced timeline of events, and developing..." Read more

"Does an excellent job of reviewing the historical record to debunk the conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s death." Read more

"...for all serious students of the assassination due to thoroughness of Posner's research and the book's excellent presentation of the findings...." Read more

60 customers mention "Readability"54 positive6 negative

Customers find the book engaging and informative. They say it's a worthwhile read for history enthusiasts. The author does a good job of providing all the information.

"...Overall, this book is outstanding – it didn’t win a Pulitzer prize but was one of the finalists in the year’s competition – and should be..." Read more

"Finley a great book that sets the record straight with in depth and honest look at the truth. A must read for anyone that wants to learn the truth." Read more

"...That difference alone should be enough to tell you this is a worthwhile read...." Read more

"...Sad, very sad. This is a great book, and people who read it with an open mind and an understanding of human nature will benefit from..." Read more

28 customers mention "Pacing"23 positive5 negative

Customers appreciate the book's pacing. They find it concise and well-researched, with no loose ends left untied. The narrative is logical and informative, with believable explanations of events. Readers praise the flow of the biographical sketches.

"...Posner’s book proved to be logical, informative, and very readable...." Read more

"...book and engrossed me in its retelling is Posner's ability to tell a narrative concisely without straying from the facts...." Read more

"...To make his case, the author left no stone unturned, and I suppose he needed to do that. But be forewarned, it's a tedious tale because of it...." Read more

"...The author Gerald Posner left no stone (no pun intended) unturned in writing this book...." Read more

5 customers mention "Case closure"5 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's closure. They say the author effectively closes the case once and for all.

"The main title of this book is apt: the author effectively closes the case once and for all...." Read more

"...It is a great work, and most definitely closes the case...." Read more

"Case Closed is an outstanding, well-researched book that offers overwhelming proof that the assassination of JFK was the work of one violent,..." Read more

"The Case is Closed emphatically...." Read more

4 customers mention "Accuracy"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book accurate and thorough. It sets the record straight with an honest look at the topic.

"Finley a great book that sets the record straight with in depth and honest look at the truth. A must read for anyone that wants to learn the truth." Read more

"...argued account of the assassination that feels objective and accurate...." Read more

"...Professionally researched and written. Extremely accurate. Down to the last detail. Mr. Posner got it right." Read more

"This was an amazing read: clear, precise, authoritative, well-written...." Read more

28 customers mention "Skepticism"18 positive10 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the book. Some find it a compelling investigation of the JFK assassination that covers the facts and takes apart conspiracies. Others feel the author provides unsubstantiated speculation, discrepancies, and obscure oddities that are hard to follow.

"...Case Closed on the Kennedy assassination." Read more

"...He includes information about the Tippit murder, what happened at the theater where Oswald was arrested, details of the goings on at the Dallas jail..." Read more

"...The problems were never factual; they were more stylistic. Somewhere in there Posner wrote, "The evidence was evident"...." Read more

"...goes through virtually all the conspiracy theories, and shows clearly why Oswald acted alone...." Read more

Erases the Conspiracy with Evidence
5 out of 5 stars
Erases the Conspiracy with Evidence
How do you write a conspiracy theory? Find a few dots to connect that correspond to your preexisting views and embellish the rest. How do you dispel conspiracy? You extensively research the intricate details of the case, as Posner has in this excellent book, and allow the evidence to replace imagination and speculation with real information. The conspiracy disappears. The reader can see the daily details of Oswald's life, and can appreciate how this lonely loser became a murderer of the president. Ironically, reading this book I am impressed how Oswald was the opposite of a conspiracy in that Oswald sincerely sought to be part of a sinister plot, but was refused by both the Soviets and Cubans. Left alone, he took action isolated from everyone except his own delusions of grandeur and a rifle. It is the attention to details that make this book stand out, and the convenient leaving out of those details, through design or through ignorance, is what characterizes the scores of conspiracy books out there. Posner dismantles them like a surgeon, yielding not rhetoric or ideology, but well-documented facts and reason. Save time and money--if you can only read one book on the subject--dive into this one.
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Top reviews from the United States

  • William Whipple III
    5.0 out of 5 stars Not Quite
    Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Never having done any serious reading about the JFK assassination, I chanced to view a two-hour video about reporter, syndicated columnist and TV personality (panelist on "What's My Line") Dorothy Kilgallen’s 1963-65 investigation of certain aspects of the case. Kilgallen was supposedly in hot pursuit of a “big story" re the JFK and Lee Harvey Oswald assassinations when she unexpectedly wound up dead at the age of 52.

    Suggested conclusions: (1) the “Oswald alone theory” didn’t make sense, i.e., this 24-year-old misfit must have received help or guidance from someone to go after the nation’s president; (2) Ruby’s appearance at a Dallas police station just in time to shoot Oswald was a little too convenient for whoever could have been behind the assassination, and (3) Kilgallen didn’t commit suicide or die of an accidental drug overdose as investigators concluded at the time, she was murdered to ensure her silence.

    Intrigued, I decided to purchase one of Mark Shaw’s books (Denial of Justice) about the Kilgallen theory, and also an acclaimed summation of the generally accepted version of events: Posner’s book.

    Posner’s book proved to be logical, informative, and very readable. He obviously researched the subject thoroughly before it was initially published (circa 1993), and has kept up with many of the theories and evidence that have surfaced since then (the Kindle edition includes a closing note written in 2013).

    Oswald’s family background and upbringing – Marine Corps service – political leanings – sojourn in Russia, which didn’t turn out in accordance with his expectations – unhappy marriage – social relationships – acquisition of firearms – previous assassination attempt (General Edwin Walker of the John Birch Society) – chain of events that led up to his presence on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository, prepared to shoot the president, when the JFK motorcade rounded the corner and drove by – the fatal shots, meticulously supported by a review of the forensic evidence – and Oswald’s subsequent movements, which ended with his arrest at a movie theater, interrogation, and death two days later.

    A similar review is provided for Jack Ruby, whose timeline eventually intersected with Oswald’s at the police station on November 24, 1963. The Ruby back story seemed to cover most of the obvious questions, although it would have been helpful to know whether he usually carried a gun and had ever used it. Ruby was tried for the murder of Oswald, without taking the stand, and subsequently questioned by the Warren Commission in its investigation of the JFK assassination.

    The lead defense attorney (Melvin Beli, “the king of torts”) in the criminal case put on an unsuccessful insanity defense. Ruby was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to death. A new trial was granted on appeal, but Ruby was still incarcerated when he died of cancer in early 1967. From Posner’s account, there was no suggestion that Ruby had done anything other than of his own volition, e.g., by killing Oswald to prevent facts from coming out that might have embarrassed some mob boss or public official.

    Almost every chapter of the book includes voluminous notes (in smaller type) re various points and conjectures that have been raised by other researchers. I skimmed some of the notes, which were interesting but typically provided more detail than I wanted to get into.

    Overall, this book is outstanding – it didn’t win a Pulitzer prize but was one of the finalists in the year’s competition – and should be particularly helpful for anyone planning to research the JFK assassination.

    Despite its title, Case Closed doesn’t resolve all possible questions about the subject – as Posner himself has said, one can never be 100% certain of the explanations for historical events. The book does make clear, however, that Oswald was a resourceful and determined person, he was in position to fire the fatal shots, a second shooter wasn’t needed to explain the results of the shots fired, and there wasn’t any obvious evidence of a powerful figure behind the scenes who was orchestrating the action.

    Suitably armed, I look forward to reading Mark Shaw’s book to see what he may have come up with.
    55 people found this helpful
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  • Dr Richard Sjoquist
    5.0 out of 5 stars Meticulous Reporting from a Seasoned Investigative Journalist
    Reviewed in the United States on July 17, 2022
    Verified Purchase
    The main title of this book is apt: the author effectively closes the case once and for all. In his Afterword, he mentions that a German journalist asked him ten years after its first publication what he would entitle his book in view of new information and he replied "Case Still Closed." After reading this book, I see no reason for him to change it. Posner also indicted that the trove of declassified documents to be released at a future date (within the past few years) would not shed any more light on the case other than some minutia. That also turned out to be true. Further, he noted that none of the major conspiracy theory authors, who have made the tragedy of the assassination into a cottage industry, has made any substantive rebuttal to his book.

    This is not a book of cogent arguments, much less idle speculation or wild conjecture. As any credible career investigative journalist would be expected to do, he sets out to methodically recount the people and events leading up to the assassination and afterward. In short, he allows the evidence to speak for itself. While he does address some of the major points made by the conspiracy crowd in a few chapters toward the end of the book, he concentrates his efforts on developing a detailed character sketch of Oswald and Ruby, with some focus later on Garrison as well. All evidence is corroborated, mostly by multiple eyewitness accounts, a continuous and cross-referenced timeline of events, and developing technologies unavailable to the Warren Commission in the mid-1960s or even the House Hearings in the late 1970s. Most importantly from a research standpoint, the crucial evidence is triangulated.

    But what also impressed me about this book and engrossed me in its retelling is Posner's ability to tell a narrative concisely without straying from the facts. It helps, at least for this reader, that his tone is evenhanded rather than scornful or mocking. Indeed, he seems to be conscious of the need to present all the information he has marshalled as neutrally as he can to retain his credibility. And that is really what I take away from his approach, his unwavering concern for the credibility of what he is reporting. Posner is clearly an old school reporter of whom we have far too few in this age of infotainment.

    The book's initial publication was very timely, coming as it did on the heels of Oliver Stone's fantastical theatrical account, JFK, and a spate of bestselling conspiratorial tracts. Posner must have been keenly aware of that propitious moment but, again, in keeping with his modest presentation, he does not even mention it.

    What I found most dramatic in the sense of a Shakespearian tragedy is how two otherwise unnoticed individuals, Oswald and Ruby, were so much alike in personality and demeanor. Both suffered from illusions of grandeur, were grossly insecure, and possessed persecution complexes. Both were prone to violence to those in their lives, both came from broken families, and led rather bleak existences. To his credit, however, Posner does not try to hammer this point home. Rather, he allows the profiles he depicts to speak for themselves. Even the most cynical or self-serving conspiratorially minded reader should be impressed by the flow of these biographical sketches. In an odd way, both are deserving of a measure of pity and would be all the more if they were not also sociopathic and had ruined the lives of so many people who did not deserve it.

    Obviously, I cannot recommend this book enough. I only wish I had read it before I went to the premiere of JFK and left feeling utterly betrayed by my government. But I was much younger then. As an aside, I put off reading this book for decades for no particular reason. The passage of time (and I'd like to think more perspective and a bit of prudence, if not wisdom) has allowed me to see how the other great tragedy of November 22, 1963 was the effect it had on the majority of Americans--how we lost faith in the very government officials (minus many in the CIA and some in the FBI) who serve us, thus unwittingly generating the very outcome that they falsely suspect the assassination plot was intended to demonstrate. Occam's Razor applies; sometimes the truth of historical events is a lot simpler than we make it out to be. But yet again, the author leaves such judgments to the reader.
    75 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Gonghater
    5.0 out of 5 stars Conspiracy theorists will hate it
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 6, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    It's so rational and thoroughly researched - no dodgy supporting evidence desperately shoe horned into place to support the wildest claims. Oswald did it and was sociopathic enough to do it. He was also just the right side of adequately trained and disciplined to be the perpetrator.
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  • tipp-ex
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great investigative work
    Reviewed in Germany on April 15, 2023
    Verified Purchase
    I am really impressed by the author's detailed work.
    The key question "why" Oswald dit it never will be completed answered but the first third of the book delivers with its comprehensive biography of Oswald a clear indication - based on his shaken character.
    Another part I appreciated very much is about Ruby's days in Dallas around the assassination.
    For me, the main/only "mystery" of the case about refers to Oswald's trip to Mexico a few weeks before and his contacts with Russian, Cuban and local left-wing representatives. I don't believe that he received any concrete support but maybe he was at least "motivated" to carry on with his plan.
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  • JackieK_
    5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and convincing
    Reviewed in Australia on October 20, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    Comprehensive and convincing.
    Also a very good read. I found it unputdownable. It explains the motivations and demons driving Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby, and is a sobering review of how conspiracy theories grow from nothing and distort history.
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  • Jerry A. Dykman
    5.0 out of 5 stars Case Closed by Gerald Posner A Review by Jerry Dykman
    Reviewed in Canada on March 2, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I read this book in hardcover soon after its first edition in 1993.
    Being in Grade 11 in Winnipeg and in the same time zone as Dallas, Texas,
    I was at my locker at 1:10 PM on Friday, November 22,1963 when I heard the news of
    President Kennedy's assassination. First from a fellow student, and later by
    the announcement over the school PA in French class, shortly after 2:00 PM.
    I then learned of the killing of Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby that
    following Sunday afternooon, again by word of mouth from a friend.
    Gerald Posner clarifies the events and debunks all the conspiracy theories.
    I purchased the book so I could lend it to my brother, who was eight years old at
    the time. He became a true believer in the Hollywood glorification of Jim Garrison
    in Oliver Stone's film JFK. Between 1993 and the second edition of this book in 2003,
    computer analysis has confirmed the single bullet theory. The President and
    Governor Conally were seated at an angle to each other, not in a straight line,
    and Conally's wrist was raised to remove his Stetson and turn around to better
    view the direction of the first shot which he heard fired from behind.
    Posner focuses on Oswald's life and demostrates that he was an ultra-leftist
    megalomaniac, melancholiac, psychopath, pathological liar, cheapskate, wife beater
    and a sullen loner and egotist without a driver's licence, anxious to prove himself to the
    Communist Party in America and Cuba. It becomes more and more evident and beyond
    plausible that Oswald acted alone. All supposed ties to the CIA, FBI, Castro, the
    Soviet Union and Mafia are dealt with in depth as remote possibilities, but shown to be
    dead ends and red herrings.
    The book is methodical, rational, and a triumph of investigative journalism.
    To all the conspiracy buffs and authors, Posner's details are painstaking and overwhelming
    in setting the record straight. There were three assassins, Lee, Harvey, and Oswald.
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  • dufourdufour
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pure merveille
    Reviewed in France on November 19, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Les réponses aux qq questions inexpliqués laissées par le chef d'œuvre de William Manchester, Death of a President.
    Case Closed jamais traduit en français. Grrrrr
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