Thinking Critically About The Kennedy Assassination

Thinking Critically About the Kennedy Assassination uses the tools of critical thinking, historical research, and philosophical inquiry to debunk the many myths and conspiracy theories surrounding JFK’s shocking and untimely death. As we approach the 60th anniversary of the violent public assassination of President John F. Kennedy, over half of all Americans surveyed continue to believe that he was killed by a conspiracy involving multiple assassins. Through its reasoned and detailed analysis of the content and evolution of JFK conspiracy narratives, this book also serves as a comprehensive case study of paranoid reasoning and modern mythmaking. The book’s opening chapters lay out the "official" academic consensus concerning the Kennedy assassination (better known as the "Lone Gunman Theory") and discuss the origins of popular interpretations of Kennedy’s life and death, such as the nostalgic myth of "Camelot," the unsympathetic "Irish Mafia" narrative, and the many conspiracy theories critical of both. Subsequent sections scrutinize the alleged motives of leading conspiracy suspects, the ballistic, forensic, and medical evidence related to JFK’s murder, and the most popular "proofs" of an enduring government cover- up. The book concludes that no clear evidence exists to suggest that JFK was the victim of a conspiracy and ends with a discussion of the causes and consequences of paranoid thinking in contemporary public discourse. This volume will appeal to students of history, politics, psychology, and cultural and media studies, and to a broader audience interested in American history, critical thinking, and conspiracy thinking.

A groundbreaking, explosive account of the Kennedy assassination that will rewrite the history of the 20th century's most controversial murder investigation The questions have haunted our nation for half a century: Was the President killed by a single gunman? Was Lee Harvey Oswald part of a conspiracy? Did the Warren Commission discover the whole truth of what happened on November 22, 1963? Philip Shenon, a veteran investigative journalist who spent most of his career at The New York Times, finally provides many of the answers. Though A Cruel and Shocking Act began as Shenon's attempt to write the first insider's history of the Warren Commission, it quickly became something much larger and more important when he discovered startling information that was withheld from the Warren Commission by the CIA, FBI and others in power in Washington. Shenon shows how the commission's ten-month investigation was doomed to fail because the man leading it – Chief Justice Earl Warren – was more committed to protecting the Kennedy family than getting to the full truth about what happened on that tragic day. A taut, page-turning narrative, Shenon's book features some of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century—Bobby Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Chief Justice Warren, CIA spymasters Allen Dulles and Richard Helms, as well as the CIA's treacherous "molehunter," James Jesus Angleton. Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to the surviving commission staffers and many other key players, Philip Shenon's authoritative, scrupulously researched book will forever change the way we think about the Kennedy assassination and about the deeply flawed investigation that followed. A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2013

Bugliosi, brilliant prosecutor and bestselling author, is perhaps the only man in America capable of "prosecuting" Lee Harvey Oswald for the murder of John F. Kennedy. His book is a narrative compendium of fact, ballistic evidence, and, above all, common sense.

A chronicle of one man's investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy and his conclusion.

William Manchester's epic and definitive account of President John F. Kennedy's assassination--now restored to print in a new paperback edition. As the world still reeled from the tragic and historic events of November 22, 1963, William Manchester set out, at the request of the Kennedy family, to create a detailed, authoritative record of the days immediately preceding and following President John F. Kennedy's death. Through hundreds of interviews, abundant travel and firsthand observation, and with unique access to the proceedings of the Warren Commission, Manchester conducted an exhaustive historical investigation, accumulating forty-five volumes of documents, exhibits, and transcribed tapes. His ultimate objective -- to set down as a whole the national and personal tragedy that was JFK's assassination -- is brilliantly achieved in this galvanizing narrative, a book universally acclaimed as a landmark work of modern history.

Pulitzer Prize Finalist: “By far the most lucid and compelling account . . . of what probably did happen in Dallas—and what almost certainly did not.” —The New York Times Book Review The Kennedy assassination has reverberated for five decades, with tales of secret plots, multiple killers, and government cabals often overshadowing the event itself. As Gerald Posner writes, “Fifty years after the assassination, the biggest casualty has been the truth.” In this first-ever digital edition of his classic work, updated with a special comment for the fiftieth anniversary, Posner lays to rest all of the convoluted conspiracy theories—concerning the mafia, a second shooter, and the CIA—that have obscured over the decades what really happened in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Drawing from official sources and dozens of interviews, and filled with powerful historical detail, Case Closed is a vivid and straightforward account that stands as one of the most authoritative books on the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

This book traces the events of Kennedy’s assassination and Lyndon B. Johnson’s subsequent ascension to the presidency. Covering both the political shifts of the time and the cultural fallout of the national tragedy, this book introduces both an iconic event and the context in which that event was heralded as iconic. Drawing on newspaper articles, political speeches, letters, and diaries, the author critically re-examines the event of JFK’s death and its persistent political and cultural legacy.

An overview of the many American perspectives in the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination