The Kennedy Assassination Tapes

July 12, 2004
Holland, a contributing editor to the Nation,
provides an overly exhaustive compendium of LBJ's White House conversations in the immediate aftermath of JFK's murder, the rationale and mechanics of forming the Warren Commission, and virtually every presidential conversation (however trivial) touching on the assassination thereafter. Much of Holland's book is redundant with Michael Beschloss's recent and better executed Taking Charge
. Furthermore, much of the balance deals with relatively trivial matters, such as Johnson's reactions to his unflattering portrait in William Manchester's Death of a President
and Johnson's monitoring (via Ramsey Clark) of the investigation of JFK's murder conducted by New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. The bulk of the tapes in question were released in 1993 and have, for the most part, already been thoroughly digested, parsed and summarized by not only Beschloss but other historians (most notably Robert Dallek in Flawed Giant
). Thus Holland's volume struggles to find a raison d'être by claiming other scholars have "misrepresented or misunderstood" the tapes. For junkies who can never get too much in the way of assassination gossip, this book will prove pleasurable. Most others, however, will hesitate to wade through Holland's blizzard of frequently irrelevant detail. Agent, Elaine Markson.
First serial to
Atlantic Monthly.

May 1, 2004
From a former research fellow with the Presidential Recordings Project at Miller Center for Public Affairs, University of Virginia.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2004
This is not a book about the assassination itself, although both supporters and opponents of the Warren Commission conclusions will probably find tidbits here to support their personal beliefs. Rather, Holland, a journalist who worked as a research fellow with the Presidential Recording Project at the University of Virginia, has compiled a record of how Johnson and the men around him reacted to the momentous events in Dallas. The recordings and Holland's commentary begin as " Air Force One " makes its way back from Dallas to Washington, and they conclude in 1967. The core of this book concerns Johnson's decision to appoint the Warren Commission and his efforts to deal with its conclusions. There are no shocking revelations here. Still, there is a great deal for historians to chew on; the work is a valuable addition to the written and spoken record concerning the events in Dallas that still haunt our national psyche. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)