Thank you to the publisher and for NetGalley, which provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
Mr. Book just finished JFK Assassination: Conspiracies and Coverups, by M.J. Trow. Mr. Book will admit that, early on, he was very tempted to stop reading. The book did not get off to a good start, as he began with a big chapter disparaging conspiracy believers and made it clear that he included the JFK assassination in that critique. Then, came chapter 2, entitled “Camelot?” The question mark at the end of the chapter name was to indicate that he was questioning the myth of Camelot. Now, Mr. Book is an admirer of President Kennedy, but even he’ll admit there was a big element of myth in Camelot idea. However, the purpose of this chapter seemed to be to just attack the Kennedy family—not so much the president as much as his father. By the end of that chapter, Mr. Book thought this author is nothing more than an apologist for the Warren Commission, even though the author did say early on that he didn’t believe their story either. His denial of being an apologist did not hold any credibility in my mind on that point.
Then, Mr. Book got to chapter 3, which made him glad that he hadn’t just given up on this one. Chapter 3 was when the discussion of November 22, 1963 began. Early on, the author pointed out that one of the wounds clearly came from hitting the president from the front. I immediately thought—what, doesn’t he understand that would prove a conspiracy. No lone gunman could shoot from behind and hit from the front. That’s too out there for even Elmer Fudd to pull off in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. It didn’t take long for me to realize that, even though the author goes to lengths to deny that he’s a conspiracy theorist, he definitely is one. I don’t know why he doesn’t see it, but any reader can easily pick up on it.,
The book initially made a couple of references to the idea that Lyndon Johnson could have been a co-conspirator, but seemed to only do so to make light of the idea. So when it came time for the chapter in which suspects were looked at, I expected the author to again clear Johnson. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he didn’t, although his discussion of LBJ’s culpability was not as good as I was hoping for. For those who are interested in this topic, LBJ: The Mastermind of JFK’s Assassination, by Philip Nelson, remains the best book on the topic. So I would like to point out to other readers that the case against Johnson is much stronger than what you see in Trow’s book.
This book was a good discussion of the Kennedy assassination and some of the reasons to disbelieve the Warren Commission. But, this one just didn’t advance the field of study of the assassination in any way. Mr. Book doesn’t necessarily hold that against it. There are plenty of books that he’s read on the Kennedy assassination that didn’t really advance the field, but were so enjoyable to read and so informative that he still gave an A or even an A+.
When it comes to a grade, Mr. Book had to give this one a B. It would serve as a good introduction to the case for those who haven’t read anything on the conspiracy to kill President Kennedy. But, for those who are more familiar with the case, there are better and more enjoyable books available. Goodreads and NetGalley require grades on a 1-5 star system. In his personal conversion system, a B equates to 3 stars. (A or A+: 5 stars, B+: 4 stars, B: 3 stars, C: 2 stars, D or F: 1 star).
Mr. Book originally read this on May 15, 2024.