Who Shot JFK?: A Guide to the Major Conspiracy Theories

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 l

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.

Of the dozens of works I have read on the assassination, this one is better at orienting the reader to the thousands of books, many, many of them useless. If you read only one, this will be it. You won't read only one, after you finish this book.

I sat down and read this book about two years ago and I couldn't have enjoyed a book more. They have articulated all the great theories into words and idea's that the average reader can grasp without having to know too much backround info on all parties involved. I am now getting ready to take a survey history course on the subject so I am looking to get my hands on this book again!! If you can find a copy of this book, don't let it go!!