L. Fletcher Prouty (1917–2001)

I read this story hoping to get some additional depth and information behind the character portrayed as X (played by the uber-creepy Donald Sutherland) in the movie JFK by Oliver Stone. The author, Col. Fletcher Prouty was the real X, and one of the people who worked with Stone on the movie. Prouty worked in the military during the time Kennedy was assassinated. He was also with the administration before Kennedy became the president.

There is a lot of detailed background on the cold war and show more explanation on what leads up to Kennedy's assassination. If you liked the Stone movie, you will learn a lot more detail on the Vietnam War and Cuba connection as well as what threat Kennedy played to other powerful figures in government at the time. With a few minor exceptions (a chapter on Vietnam) the book is presented more like reading a long Wikipedia article. Those that prefer non-fiction to be more story-like might be bored by this format.

I took one star away because Prouty's narrative is repetitive at times. There is an index and footnotes provided.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and plan to read the other two books used as sources for the JFK movie. It's unusual that I see a movie and want to read the book (usually the other way around) but the JFK assassination--whatever happened November 22, 1963--is both a tragic and fascinating part of American history. show less