Assassination Science: Experts Speak Out on the Death of JFK Review

One of the most controversial events in the 20th century was the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot while riding in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas. His vice- president, Lyndon Johnson, took over as president and quickly formed a commission to investigate the assassination. This commission, named the "Warren Commission", was headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. It determined that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin. But was this really true? Some say it isn't and in this book, Assassination Science: Experts Speak out on the Death of JFK, several experts have put their heads together and determined that Oswald did not act alone. They show how the evidence to support the lone gunman theory is faulty, at best. They also present evidence that points toward a government conspiracy and cover- up.

Book Commentary:

Dr. James Fetzer, professor at the University of Minnesota at Duluth, is the editor of this book. Fetzer, along with Charles Crenshaw, Ron Hepler, Bradley Kizzia, Robert Livingston, David Mantik, Chuck Marler, Mike Pincher, Roy Shaeffer, Jack White, and Ronald White, have all made contributions to the study of this assassination and to the writing of this text.

Most of this book is old news. People are already very critical of the government's handling of the assassination and have been since the event took place. Assassination Science presents some good, detailed criticism, but it's nothing we haven't heard before.

One thing that I didn't like about this book was its failure to make any mention of Jack Ruby's involvement in this assassination. As most of us know, Ruby is the man who shot Oswald a few days after Oswald allegedly shot Kennedy. This makes for a good argument in favor of a conspiracy, but the authors don't even bother touching this issue at all. They concentrate only on Oswald, as if Jack Ruby had no possible connection to a greater conspiracy.

I do like the copies of the letters included in this book because they illustrate how certain people, especially those in government, don't want to touch this issue at all. I also like some of the picture illustrations, which try to prove that there was a cover- up. One such picture is one that many people have seen before. It shows Oswald, standing with a rifle in one hand, and a Communist newspaper in the other. Fetzer shows why he believes this picture is a fraud. Based on Oswald's known height, this photo appears to be altered because the newspaper is disproportionate in size, when compared to the size of Oswald himself. Either the paper he is holding is not really the Communist publication that everyone thinks it is, or the man in the photo is not really Oswald.

Bottom Line Viewpoint:

There are dozens and dozens of books written on the Kennedy assassination. This book is yet another attempt to explain what actually happened on that fateful day in Dallas, Texas. Overall, I give this book a marginal thumbs- up. It does contain some good reading and analysis, but much of it is regurgitated information that we have all heard before. It does contain some interesting bits of information on the assassination and it could make you rethink your views, but there is nothing exceptional that we don't already know.