Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Bugliosi, Vincent (author).

In this monumental critique of conspiracy theories about the murder of President John Kennedy, Bugliosi is propelled by indignation about the popular influence of grassy knollers. When most Americans form their opinion about the tragedy from a demonstrable fiction such as Oliver Stone’s movie JFK, is a book going to change their minds? This one has a chance. Bugliosi’s best-selling cachet gainshim the audience; his direct, energetic prose keeps it; and his journey through the evidence might sway it. While combing through the facts inculpating Lee Harvey Oswald—and they are so damning that most conspiracy theorizers concede he fired at the president, just not by his lonesome—Bugliosi summarizes the myriad objections made to the lone-nut conclusion. From magic bullets to the Zapruder film to supposed doctoring of the president’s body, Bugliosi moves from the crime scene into alleged conspirators against JFK: the CIA, FBI, KGB, Castro, organized crime, the military-industrial complex, LBJ, et cetera, et cetera. Well, which is it? asks Bugliosi in effect. And would they recruit somebody as unstable as Oswald, whose eccentric biography courses through the narrative? Destined to be the most significant challenge (save the Warren Report) to conspiracy theories, Bugliosi’s study will provoke controversy and debate.