Reclaiming History

March 5, 2007
Bugliosi, best known as Charles Manson's prosecutor, spent more than 20 years writing this defense of the Warren Commission's conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the slaying of President Kennedy, but his obsession has produced a massive tome that's likely to overwhelm most readers. At times, the author seems determined to present every detail his researches revealed, even if it doesn't add to the overall picture (like a footnote on Elvis sightings). Further, while Bugliosi says even serious conspiracy theorists don't claim the FBI or Secret Service were involved, he devotes chapters to each. The book's structure—it's organized by subject, such as theories about the role of the FBI, the KGB or anti-Castro Cubans—leads to needless repetition, and, for an author who excoriates conspiracy theorists, charging them with carelessness and making wild accusations, Bugliosi is not always temperate in his language; for example, twice he makes the nonsensical claim that some Warren Commission critics "were screaming the word conspiracy before the fatal bullet had come to rest." His decision to devote twice as many pages to critiquing Oliver Stone's movie JFK
as to his chapter on organized crime (identified by the chief counsel of the House Select Committee on Assassination as the likely conspirators) is a curious one, as is the choice to open the book with a dramatic re-creation of events surrounding the assassination rather than a straightforward chronology of the relevant facts. Moreover, Bugliosi does not always probe whether individuals who are the sole source for certain facts (for example, Oswald's widow, Marina) had any motive to lie. Bugliosi's voluminous endnotes are on an accompanying CD. Gerald Posner's 1993 Case Closed
made most of the same points in a much more concise way. 32 pages of illus.

Starred review from April 1, 2007
In this massive, compulsively readable legal study of JFK's assassination, Bugliosi (former L.A. county deputy district attorney; "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders") claims that Oswald killed Kennedy and that the Warren Commission was right when it concluded that Oswald acted alone. There is a book-length section on Oswald, as well as hundreds of pages in which Bugliosi debunks both reasonable and outlandish conspiracy theories involving the CIA, the FBI, organized crime, Fidel Castro, Oliver Stone's film "JFK", and even some extraterrestrials. No doubt, credible scholars of such significant contrary works as Max Holland ("The Kennedy Assassination Tapes") and Gerald McKnight ("Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why") will have much to say in response. Using his impressive skills as an attorney, Bugliosi concludes that although he cannot prove beyond all doubt that there was no conspiracy, he has demonstrated Oswald's guilt beyond all reasonable doubt. Still, a legally sound verdict is not a historical verdict: the final historical conclusion may never be reached. However, this is an essential buy for all large public librariesand for the price of two copies of "Harry Potter", all other public libraries should buy as demand warrants. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 1/07.]Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA

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