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Loading... The JFK Assassination Debates (2006)| 35 | 1 | 703,695 | 
(3.8) | None | Who killed JFK? Ever since that fateful day in Dallas, theories about President Kennedy's murder have proliferated, running the gamut from the official "lone gunman" verdict to both serious and utterly screwball conspiracy theories. Michael Kurtz, a distinguished historian who has plumbed every crevice of this controversial case for more than thirty years, now sums up and critiques four decades of debate, while also offering provocative new perspectives. Kurtz presents an objective accounting of what we actually know and don't know about the assassination, underlining both the logic and the limitations of the major theories about the case. He then offers unique interpretations of the physical and forensic evidence and of existing areas of controversy, leading him to new conclusions that readers will find hard to dismiss. Kurtz shows how the official investigation's egregious mishandling of the crime-scene evidence--related to virtually every aspect of the case--is largely responsible for the lone gunman/conspiracy schism that confronts us today. Those responsible for that investigation (including the Dallas police, the FBI, and the Warren Commission) failed so miserably in their efforts that they would have been laughed off the air if they had been portrayed on any of TV's popular CSI series. One of the few experts writing on the subject who actually met Oswald, Kurtz also provides new information about the accused assassin's activities around the time of the assassination and about his double life, analyzing Oswald's ties to the intelligence community, to organized crime, and to both anti- and pro-Castro Cuban activists. Mustering extraordinary documentation-including exclusive interviews with key figures and extensive materials declassified by the Assassination Records Review Board-he both confirms and alters much previous speculation about Oswald and other aspects of the case. Who really killed JFK? Forty years later, most Americans still feel they don't know the truth and that their own government isn't telling them the whole story. This book offers a corrective to even the most recent "final verdicts" and establishes a sound baseline for future research.… (more) |
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▾References References to this work on external resources.  Wikipedia in English (1)
▾Book descriptions Who killed JFK? Ever since that fateful day in Dallas, theories about President Kennedy's murder have proliferated, running the gamut from the official "lone gunman" verdict to both serious and utterly screwball conspiracy theories. Michael Kurtz, a distinguished historian who has plumbed every crevice of this controversial case for more than thirty years, now sums up and critiques four decades of debate, while also offering provocative new perspectives. Kurtz presents an objective accounting of what we actually know and don't know about the assassination, underlining both the logic and the limitations of the major theories about the case. He then offers unique interpretations of the physical and forensic evidence and of existing areas of controversy, leading him to new conclusions that readers will find hard to dismiss. Kurtz shows how the official investigation's egregious mishandling of the crime-scene evidence--related to virtually every aspect of the case--is largely responsible for the lone gunman/conspiracy schism that confronts us today. Those responsible for that investigation (including the Dallas police, the FBI, and the Warren Commission) failed so miserably in their efforts that they would have been laughed off the air if they had been portrayed on any of TV's popular CSI series. One of the few experts writing on the subject who actually met Oswald, Kurtz also provides new information about the accused assassin's activities around the time of the assassination and about his double life, analyzing Oswald's ties to the intelligence community, to organized crime, and to both anti- and pro-Castro Cuban activists. Mustering extraordinary documentation-including exclusive interviews with key figures and extensive materials declassified by the Assassination Records Review Board-he both confirms and alters much previous speculation about Oswald and other aspects of the case. Who really killed JFK? Forty years later, most Americans still feel they don't know the truth and that their own government isn't telling them the whole story. This book offers a corrective to even the most recent "final verdicts" and establishes a sound baseline for future research. ▾Library descriptions No library descriptions found. ▾LibraryThing members' description
| Book description |
Who killed JFK? Ever since that fateful day in Dallas, theories about President Kennedy's murder have proliferated, running the gamut from the official "lone gunman" verdict to both serious and utterly screwball conspiracy theories. Michael Kurtz, a distinguished historian who has plumbed every crevice of this controversial case for more than thirty years, now sums up and critiques four decades of debate, while also offering provocative new perspectives.
Kurtz presents an objective accounting of what we actually know and don't know about the assassination, underlining both the logic and the limitations of the major theories about the case. He then offers unique interpretations of the physical and forensic evidence and of existing areas of controversy, leading him to new conclusions that readers will find hard to dismiss.
Kurtz shows how the official investigation's egregious mishandling of the crime-scene evidence—related to virtually every aspect of the case—is largely responsible for the lone gunman/conspiracy schism that confronts us today. Those responsible for that investigation (including the Dallas police, the FBI, and the Warren Commission) failed so miserably in their efforts that they would have been laughed off the air if they had been portrayed on any of TV's popular CSI series.
One of the few experts writing on the subject who actually met Oswald, Kurtz also provides new information about the accused assassin's activities around the time of the assassination and about his double life, analyzing Oswald's ties to the intelligence community, to organized crime, and to both anti- and pro-Castro Cuban activists. Mustering extraordinary documentation-including exclusive interviews with key figures and extensive materials declassified by the Assassination Records Review Board-he both confirms and alters much previous speculation about Oswald and other aspects of the case.
Who really killed JFK? Forty years later, most Americans still feel they don't know the truth and that their own government isn't telling them the whole story. This book offers a corrective to even the most recent "final verdicts" and establishes a sound baseline for future research.  | |
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Kurtz has been my favorite of these authors, speaking on a subject to which he's been close since the 60s from an academic view. He's not afraid to change his opinion as new evidence is discovered - and it's being discovered every day. (Why didn't we hear more about Bill Clinton's Assassination Records Review Board in 1992?) Kurtz' writing is sober, concise, and decidedly non-partisan, though he certainly displays his personal opinion carefully throughout. This particular book marks one of those "reset" moments when what we know about the assassination is reassessed and analyzed. The results, as expected, are indisputable, though they will continue to be disputed.
In using the term "indisputable", I'm aware that prominent authors (Bugliosi, Posner) will continue to support the lone-gunman theory, without regard to the physics of possibility, and that the mainstream of the public will continue to turn a blind eye to the likelihood of such a thing, as these disruptions become incompatible with the comfort level of the American lifestyle. Also without further regard to these things, both the FBI investigation immediately after the assassination and the AARB have concluded without question that there was some collusion and a subsequent government cover-up directly impacting public knowledge of the operation. Kurtz explains how and in what manner, though does not conclude who actually pulled the trigger.
Rather, the thesis of the book is the debate itself. Kurtz devotes chapters to evidence supporting both the lone-gunman and conspiracy theories, the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, and the intelligence and mafia connections. He lays out all the ideas and then walks away from it, adding in postulations that he would not have done just a few years ago. My biggest surprise comes only in the last chapter - something that I never before considered to be a possibility, and one which Kurtz actually leans toward in a bizarre use of tone - that of the unshakable possibility that Fidel Castro employed the Havana and Florida mafia to carry out the assassination in retribution for literally dozens of CIA-funded murder attempts on the Cuban dictator's life. While I'd heard the theory before, Kurtz never acceded or explored it to this extent. And after weighing the evidence presented within, even my own opinion is changing. It's what is possible and probable, considering all of the different likelihoods and layers of misinformation. There are not and will never be any definites until a confession or confessions are made, however.
In all, The JFK Assassination Debates fulfills its role as the new standard in being both a primer and a detailed analysis of our current knowledge of the subject, and I recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in one day revealing what actually happened to one of our most beloved - though by no means sinless – presidents. What is abundantly clear is that it wasn't one man, and it sure as hell wasn't Oswald. But you'll have to make your own assessment of the evidence... (