Which Six Books Would You Recommend to a Newcomer?

[Tom Scully]

Here are two books providing a different slant....

https://www.amazon.com/Kennedy-Ripples-True-Love-Story/dp/0963929801/
Kennedy Ripples: A Priest, a Woman, and the Assassination of J.F.K.
by Marianne Sullivan (Author)

The object of the above author of the above book's affection, Dallas Catholic priest, Walter Machann, who re-emerged in NOLA, post assassination.

Right into the hands of Stephen B Lemann, the man Garrison accused of being CIA paymaster in NOLA, at the same time Lemann and his brother, Thomas,
were each listed as individually, 10 percent or greater owners of the holding company that owned WDSU. The Lemann brothers happened to be step-sons
of the mother-in-law of a man Joan Mellen described to Rex Bradford as a CIA person in NOLA, David Baldwin, Clay Shaw's Trade Mart spokesman.
During the week Garrison indicted Clay Shaw, evidence in the archive of Clay Shaw shows that David Baldwin advised his friend,, Shaw, that David Baldwin
was Godfather and first cousin of Garrison's wife, Leah, and that Garrison was a psych case.

....
Despite my 2016 discovery that Mildred Crumb Lyons Lemann (wife of NOLA attorney Monty Lemann) was step-mother of Garrison accused, "WDSU outside counsel" distributing CIA funds to pay lawyers representing clients obstructing the Garrison investigation, Stephen B. Lemann and his brother, Thomas B. Lemann, father of prominent, chronic Garrison critic Nicholas B. Lemann, and that Mildred C.L. Lemann also happened to have a daughter, also Mildred, married to former CIA covert agent, David G. Baldwin, described by author Joan Mellen,

.....
In the course of attempting to determine if my new fact checked research details were actually original, I found identical details, by author of a biography of Clay Shaw, Donald H Carpenter.



https://books.google.com/books?id=9mQtAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT138&lpg=PT138&dq="joan+mellen"...


...I am hoping the above flaw in the research and writing of DiEugenio, Ms. Pease, and Ms. Mellen is obvious to readers. Garrison had kept secret, even from his own biography editor, Zachary Sklar, co-screenplay writer with Oliver Stone, of "JFK the Movie," that "CIA brothers" David and Edward Baldwin, were sons of Garrison's wife's father's sister, Adele Ziegler Baldwin Raworth, and that Shaw knew this from the week after his arrest. The Lemanns, including Garrison critic, Nicholas, Clay Shaw, the Baldwin brothers, and Garrison were all keeping the same secret.... that the Garrison alleged "conflict" with the CIA likely could have been sorted out over a family dinner on Easter Sunday, 1967.

In the last hour, still smarting from a couple of cheap shots posted by Mr. Smith and Mr. Freeman on the now 54 pages long Tippit shooting thread, I got back to work, intent on presenting this in my recent thread....

The co-author of the following title was a long time, NY Times journalist, Lucy Freeman,

https://www.amazon.com/Lucy-freeman-julie-roy-1977-01-16/dp/B014BH6QXM/
Betrayal (1977-01-16)
by Lucy Freeman and Julie Roy (Author) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Freeman

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_Freeman
Lucy Sylvia Freeman (née Greenbaum ; 13 Dec 1916–29 Dec 2004) [1][2] was an American journalist and author who published 78 books. [3][4] She is best known for her articles on psychiatry and mental health for The New York Times,

A third party version of the same sexual assault by WC witness, Dr. Hartogs,:
The “sensuous psychiatrist”: the case of Julie Roy vs. Renatus Hartogs, MD, PhD: landmark case of sexual abuse by a therapist

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780429298431-11/

VS Dr. Hartogs' testimony against his former adolescent examination subject, LHO, a student in NYC public school, LHO,
https://www.jfk-assassination.net/russ/testimony/hartogs.htm

[Michael T. Griffith]

I would recommend the following six books for a new student of the JFKA:

(1) The first chapter ("Summary and Conclusions") of the Warren Report to get familiar with the basic facts as presented by the Commission. This is a good starting point.

I'd change that to the first seven chapters. The first chapter doesn't even mention the issue of Ruby's Mafia ties. But, yes, chapter 1 is a good starting point to understand the original lone-gunman theory.

(2) Final Report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. Chapters I B ("Scientific acoustical evidence establishes a high probability that two gunmen fired at President John F. Kennedy") and I C ("The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee was unable to identify the other gunmen or the extent of the conspiracy.")

I would include the HSCA's extensive and historic research into Jack Ruby's Mafia ties and how Ruby entered the basement to shoot Oswald. These were two areas where the HSCA showed what a joke the WC's investigation was. 

(3) Sylvia Meagher - Accessories after the Fact to get acquainted with criticism of the Warren Report. For the same reason I would encourage the reading of.

Meagher's book has too many errors for me to recommend it to a newcomer. In some cases, she severely distorts the primary sources that she cites. She does make many valid points, but she also makes quite a few errors.

(4) Harold Weisberg - Whitewash I

A solid choice. As a former Senate investigator, Weisberg was a very careful scholar. He was also honest. He turned on Garrison when he realized that Garrison was incompetent and unethical.

(5) Jim Marrs - Crossfire - The Plot that killed Kennedy. One of the books promoting the existence of a rather large conspiracy. Biographical data about Oswald interesting, in general well written by former journalist Marrs. The complete absence of end notes prevents the reader from fact checking the sometimes bold statements. A good read though.

My two copies of Crossfire both have endnotes. I'm not sure which edition you have. The updated 2013 edition has endnotes, including in the Kindle version.

Most of Marrs' research on the JFK case was credible.

(6) The Zapruder film is not a book, therefore the recommendation of Josiah Thompson's Six Seconds in Dallas for an analyses of the film.

Oh, Thompson's updated version of Six Seconds in Dallas, his 2020 book Last Second in Dallas, is much better. It includes over 100 pages on the historic new research that was done by BBN scientists on the acoustical evidence, including the PCC test by Dr. Richard Mullen that proves the gunshot impulses on the dictabelt were recorded during the assassination. Thompson also makes very good use of the historic ARRB disclosures regarding the autopsy evidence.

[Lance Payette]

Now that I'm rereading it, I cannot believe that no one has mentioned Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why by Gerald McKnight. McKnight was a serious academic, and this book is widely regarded as one of the two or three absolute best CT tomes. McKnight doesn't go off on any wild CT tangents but simply provides a pretty devastating alternative perspective on the WC and the events swirling around it.

[John Corbett]

Now that I'm rereading it, I cannot believe that no one has mentioned Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why by Gerald McKnight. McKnight was a serious academic, and this book is widely regarded as one of the two or three absolute best CT tomes. McKnight doesn't go off on any wild CT tangents but simply provides a pretty devastating alternative perspective on the WC and the events swirling around it.

The fact that a majority of Americans don't believe the WCR is an indictment of them, not the WCR.

[Joffrey van de Wiel]

It's a damn good finishing point as well.
This is where things go off the rails.
This is where the train has completely jumped the tracks.
This is where the train has gone down the embankment and is plowing through a cornfield.

Jim Marrs never met a conspiracy theory he didn't embrace. The guy was a charlatan.
Not the silliest conspiracy book ever written but one of the earliest. Even the title of the book is a faulty premise since the shooting took more than 6 seconds despite popular beliefs to the contrary.

The purpose of providing new students with a reading list should not be the indoctrination of the pupil and pushing any given narrative but to stimulate independent thinking and critical analyses of the subject matter. This is the reason I listed the reports of the two government bodies that investigated the case (and came to somewhat different conclusions), two critical analyses of the Warren Report and two books by conspiracy theorists. I think it is a nice balance of the various points of view on the case.

[Joffrey van de Wiel]

I'd change that to the first seven chapters. The first chapter doesn't even mention the issue of Ruby's Mafia ties. But, yes, chapter 1 is a good starting point to understand the original lone-gunman theory.

I would include the HSCA's extensive and historic research into Jack Ruby's Mafia ties and how Ruby entered the basement to shoot Oswald. These were two areas where the HSCA showed what a joke the WC's investigation was. 

Meagher's book has too many errors for me to recommend it to a newcomer. In some cases, she severely distorts the primary sources that she cites. She does make many valid points, but she also makes quite a few errors.

A solid choice. As a former Senate investigator, Weisberg was a very careful scholar. He was also honest. He turned on Garrison when he realized that Garrison was incompetent and unethical.

My two copies of Crossfire both have endnotes. I'm not sure which edition you have. The updated 2013 edition has endnotes, including in the Kindle version.

Most of Marrs' research on the JFK case was credible.

Oh, Thompson's updated version of Six Seconds in Dallas, his 2020 book Last Second in Dallas, is much better. It includes over 100 pages on the historic new research that was done by BBN scientists on the acoustical evidence, including the PCC test by Dr. Richard Mullen that proves the gunshot impulses on the dictabelt were recorded during the assassination. Thompson also makes very good use of the historic ARRB disclosures regarding the autopsy evidence.

- Michael -

You're quite right, I overlooked the parts regarding Jack Ruby and the fact that the Dallas Police Department allowed their prime suspect to get lynched. It always troubled me that Ruby was allowed to be in the parking garage during the 'aborted transfer' of Oswald, that not a single police official recognized him and told him to leave. It is most unfortunate. A trial could have provided many answers.

The 'joke' of the Warren Commission can be explained, at least in part, by the geopolitical circumstances of the time. Remember LBJ telling Earl Warren about the 40 million American dead within an hour? The Warren Report offers a political solution to the crime. Another handicap was the complete reliance on FBI and other federal agencies and the lack of independent investigators.

The version of Crossfire that I own was made available to me as a free PDF and has no notes whatsoever. Now that I know there is a version that includes end notes I will try and acquire it. Thanks for the heads up.

[Joffrey van de Wiel]

Now that I'm rereading it, I cannot believe that no one has mentioned Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation and Why by Gerald McKnight. McKnight was a serious academic, and this book is widely regarded as one of the two or three absolute best CT tomes. McKnight doesn't go off on any wild CT tangents but simply provides a pretty devastating alternative perspective on the WC and the events swirling around it.

-Lance-

I thought about it (I read it couple of years ago) but think the learning curve is quite steep for a new student of the case. Same goes for dr. John Newman's Oswald and the CIA.

There is a mind-boggling array of books on the assassination. Just to pick six for a newbee is not easy.