JFK and the UNSPEAKABLE

[Peter McGuire]

by James DiEugenio

http://www.ctka.net/reviews/jfk_unspeakable.html

"This book is the first volume of a projected trilogy. Orbis Books has commissioned James W. Douglass to write three books on the assassinations of the 1960's. The second will be on the murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, while the third will be on the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.

This is one of the few books on the Kennedy case that I actually wished was longer. In the purest sense, Jim Douglass is not a natural writer. But it seems to me he has labored meticulously to fashion a well organized, thoroughly documented, and felicitously composed piece of workmanship that is both comprehensible and easy to read. These attributes do not extend from simplicity of design or lack of ambition. This book takes in quite a lot of territory. In some ways it actually extends the frontier. In others it actually opens new paths. To achieve that kind of scope with a relative economy of means, and to make the experience both fast and pleasant, is quite an achievement.

I should inform the reader at the outset: this is not just a book about JFK's assassination. I would estimate that the book is 2/3 about Kennedy's presidency and 1/3 about his assassination. And I didn't mind that at all, because Douglass almost seamlessly knits together descriptions of several of Kennedy's policies with an analysis of how those policies were both monitored and resisted, most significantly in Cuba and Vietnam. This is one of the things that makes the book enlightening and worthy of understanding."

Nor did I mind the emphasis on his presidency. JFK was an effective president, in my opinion, who saved us from Nuclear War - no thanks to his "advisors."

Edited April 2, 2011 by Peter McGuire

[J. Raymond Carroll]

by James DiEugenio

http://www.ctka.net/reviews/jfk_unspeakable.html

On the third day, Daniel was having lunch with Fidel when the phone rang. The news about Kennedy being shot in Dallas had arrived. Stunned, Castro hung up the phone, sat down and then repeated over and over, "This is bad news ... This is bad news ... This is bad news." (p. 89) A few moments later when the radio broadcast the report stating that Kennedy was now dead, Castro stood up and said, "Everything is changed. Everything is going to change." (p. 90)

In one report of these meetings, and I do not remember which book mentioned it, Castro then asked Daniel

WHAT CONTROL DOES JOHNSON HAVE OVER THE CIA?

[Peter McGuire]

Thanks for posting this Peter.

If you can believe it, even though this review is over two years old, it is still one of the highest rated articles at ctka.net

Which probably means that the Douglass book is on its way to being a classic in the sense that it will be read for a very long time.

In fact, in talking to the author, it is selling very well right now and will probably do better in trade paper than it did in hardcover. Which means it will sell about 60,000 copes overall.

Glad to learn about CTKA.NET Great resources there including letters to different people from you and others.

the Unspeakable has helped me understand many aspects of the very complicated plot that just didn't make any sense. For example, why would an intelligent man like Oswald trap himself in a place like a movie theater?

The answer in my mind has always been that he wouldn't.

Then why did he go there? I always suspected it was because he was told to go there.

But now with Robert Vinson's encounter with the Oswald double showing conclusively that there was a double, and witnesses Burroughs and Haire, we now get the picture of what happened in and around the theater.

And in the end, we know that Oswald could have not shot Tippit either because Burroughs knew that Oswald had to come into the theater between 1:00 and 1:07 and Oswald bought his popcorn at the EXACT time Officer Tippit was being shot to death.

Cokes and Popcorn - who would know that they would exonerate a PATSY!

Edited April 2, 2011 by Peter McGuire

[Daniel Meyer]

Very good review of a very good book, IMO. I agree that Douglass' use of some unsupported individual witnesses somewhat mars the book -- in a case with so much garbage and disinformation, I tend to hold any details that come only from a single person's say so at sceptical arm's length. However I think the overall picture given by the book is still mostly accurate and well rendered. For anyone interested in a general overview that plans to read only one book on the assassination, I think "JFK and the Unspeakable" is the best choice.

[Peter McGuire]

Very good review of a very good book, IMO. I agree that Douglass' use of some unsupported individual witnesses somewhat mars the book -- in a case with so much garbage and disinformation, I tend to hold any details that come only from a single person's say so at sceptical arm's length. However I think the overall picture given by the book is still mostly accurate and well rendered. For anyone interested in a general overview that plans to read only one book on the assassination, I think "JFK and the Unspeakable" is the best choice.

It is the best choice in my opinion as well. Douglass understands the most important issue - that the order came from Washington and that the Secret Service was ordered to suspend security and not move when the shots rang out.

[Myra Bronstein]

by James DiEugenio

http://www.ctka.net/reviews/jfk_unspeakable.html

"This book is the first volume of a projected trilogy. Orbis Books has commissioned James W. Douglass to write three books on the assassinations of the 1960's. The second will be on the murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, while the third will be on the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.

...

Douglass said in the panel discussion episode 4 that his entry into the subject of assassinations came through his deep caring about Dr. Martin Luther King and that assassination. He was not initially interested in President Kennedy's assassination, but his interest grew to encompass all of the 60's assassinations.

I wish I could ask him why he then opted to write the JFK book before the MLK book.

Edited April 11, 2011 by Myra Bronstein

[Guest Robert Morrow]

by James DiEugenio

http://www.ctka.net/reviews/jfk_unspeakable.html

"This book is the first volume of a projected trilogy. Orbis Books has commissioned James W. Douglass to write three books on the assassinations of the 1960's. The second will be on the murders of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, while the third will be on the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.

...

Douglass said in the panel discussion episode 4 that his entry into the subject of assassinations came through his deep caring about Dr. Martin Luther King and that assassination. He was not initially interested in President Kennedy's assassination, but his interest grew to encompass all of the 60's assassinations.

I wish I could ask him why he then opted to write the JFK book before the MLK book.

Maybe because he was covering the assassinations in chronological order.