(Larger Image)
|
The Day Kennedy Was Shot: An Hour-by-Hour Account of What Really Happened on November 22, 1963
by Jim Bishop
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Gramercy (1984-02-01)
ISBN: 0517431009
EAN: 9780517431009
Dewey Decimal #: 973.9220924
Hardcover: 736 pages
Release Date: 1984-02-01
SKU: 20401
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Hardcover. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. All pages clean and free of marks.
|
Editorial Reviews
|
Product Description
By Jim Bishop. Riveting, minute-by-minute chronicle of the day JFK was struck down in Dallas. Filled with gripping eyewitness accounts of the assassination. 756 pages.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Excellent detail of history that reads like a thriller novel
Rating  (5)
Date: 2007-11-25
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
I have no idea why this book is no longer in print. Jim Bishop wrote an earlier book about the day Lincoln was killed ("The Day Lincoln Was Shot") that is still in print (and it's great), but this one has apparently fallen out of favor. Strange.
So why a minute-by-minute examination of a single day, even a day as momentous as this one? That's not necessarily an easy question to answer; it is a kind of subset history genre, the close examination of Kennedy's death, or Lincoln's, or Christ's, or 9/11, etc. On first blush it might seem of value only to the researcher writing from a larger historical perspective, but in fact a work of history with this kind of focus can be far more interesting than any other approach to the subject. In the case of JFK, the incredible tension that builds naturally from a chronicle of the day he was killed makes for a more thrilling story than a novel on the same subject could ever hope to achieve.
The book follows not only Kennedy but all the players, Jackie, Oswald, his mother & his wife, LBJ, RFK, J.D. Tippett, and so on. At times these separate strands converge, but mostly they're followed separately and Bishop does a masterful job of keeping all the threads tight. It's hard to imagine the amount of research and organization that went into telling this story so cleanly, because it is certainly one of the most confusing, contradictory days in world history, but Bishop makes it look easy. He is a brilliant storyteller, and anyone will tell you that is what a great reporter has to be. It's not just the facts, ma'am, it's the narrative drive, and this one moves like a supercharged Hummer.
So why has it fallen out of print? And why has another book on the same topic, William Manchester's "Death of a President," also fallen out of print? I'm not much on conspiracy theories; there's nothing in either book that the "military-industrial complex" would find terribly distressing. Bishop does mention several eyewitnesses who saw or heard shots coming from the famous grassy knoll---as, incidentally, do the live news accounts of November 22---but by far most of the evidence Bishop (and Manchester) collects points squarely at Lee Harvey Oswald. I think this excellent book is out of print now because people just don't care who killed Kennedy anymore, and they certainly aren't interested in a blow-by-blow account of the assassination.
To say this is "too bad" would be an understatement of biblical proportions. Every day, every hour, we are losing our sense of wonder and curiosity about our country, and we are most particularly forgetting the lessons the Sixties taught us: don't trust the official story. They may be right (in this case, I think they actually are: I believe Oswald did act alone and the "coverup" all these years has been the CIA, FBI, Dallas police dept., etc. covering up how incompetent and ineffectual they were protecting Kennedy that day), but you should ALWAYS look into the story for yourself. Books like "The Day Kennedy Was Shot" (and Oliver Stone's masterwork film "JFK") help us do that, by marshalling all the available information into a powerful narrative thrust. If we forget, or more importantly if we simply cease to care, then the ones who want us to sleep our lives away have won before we're even out of the starting gate.
Read this book, not just because it is about one of the most important days in American history, and not just because it is a remarkably well-written thriller, but also because it is important, SO important, that we never forget this man and how he died and the lessons his death taught us.
|
|
What else ???
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-10-27
12 out of 14 customers found this reveiw helpful
John F Kennedy, the 35th. American President, served from January 20, 1961 until he was assassinated in Dallas-Texas on November 22, 1963.
During his short term in office important events took place and some of their effects, after forty-four years, are still living with us up to this day.
For instance, Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, Cuban Missile Crises and his confrontation with Nikita Khrushchev - American U2 Spy Plane.
The establishment of the Berlin Wall and USA subsequent estrangement with USSR.
The Space Race with the Soviets and his solemn promise to America to outpace USSR by pushing research and development of the Space Program.
The beginning of Vietnam crises.
The energetic inauguration of American Civil rights.
The book referred to all the above, but did not touch base with something equally important.
Israel.
The Negev Nuclear Research Centre located about ten kilometres to the south Dimona in Israel.
It has never been a secret that in 1958, the French helped Israel construct the centre.
{{{The year 1958 was filled with open unrest in the Middle East. a) Union between Egypt and Syria. b) Civil disturbances in the Lebanon c) Coup in Iraq - suspected as communists. d) The Marines landed in Lebanon, and e) The height of the Algerian Revolution and its adverse impact on the Franco-Egyptian relations}}}.
Nevertheless, officially the centre was built as nuclear reactor to help produce additional power for `desalination plant' to water the Negev desert.
The world concluded that the purpose of Dimona was not as announced. Israel constructed it to build nuclear weapons. The Arab world, estranged with Israel since day one, suspected the Israelis were applying a policy shrouded in ambiguity and equivocation.
Dimona began active work in the beginning of 1962 and was able to produce plutonium. Arab university professors gathered in Cairo and their forum reached the conclusion that enriched uranium was also produced.
USA intelligence was able to assess the purpose of Dimona since the beginning of 1960 and insisted that Israel should agree to comply with international standards of `inspection' (Israel never signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Pact that began late in 1960).
Indeed, Ben Gurion agreed to international inspection provided 1) Inspectors are USA citizens or under the sole supervision of the USA, and 2) that Israel would receive advance notice of the schedule of inspection.
Some suspected that since Israel was able to receive advance warning of the date of inspection, it was a lot easy to makeover, hide, evade, and cover, ahead of time, sensitive data at the site away from the scrutinizing eyes of the inspectors.
The inspectors informed USA administration of their qualms and complained that their work, in the absence of professional surprise check, would be rendered futile, useless and a waste of time. The inspectors didn't agree to any restrictions put to them by the Israelis concerning the `areas' or `the facilities' they intended to check.
Ben Gurion was adamant "there will be no surprise visits", and Kennedy was determined to `go by the book', `the inspectors should apply the guidelines to the letter and produce their appraisal, independently, as in any other place in the world. Exempting Israel would be taken as precedent'.
As expected, the charismatic young American president won over the old man of Israel. Dimona was put under the Inspectors Microscope.
But for how long??
When Lyndon B Johnson succeeded the assassinated President he did not pursue the same stringent approach as his predecessor.
Dimona was completed to the best of Israel's abilities...............
|
|
ANOTHER CLASSIC BUT FLAWED BOOK
Rating  (4)
Date: 2005-12-19
3 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
As the leading civilian authority on the Secret Service, I recommend this book for its clasic status. That said, there are several errors throughout and, like Manchester before him, Bishop has an obvious lone-nut bias. I know for a fact that Bishop spoke to former Secret Service agents Bill Greer and Jim Rowley...beyond that, it is hard to tell who (if anyone) else.
Vince Palamara-JFK/ Secret Service expert (History Channel, author of two books, in over 30 other author's books, etc.)
Pittsburgh, PA
|
|
"The Day the World Stood Still" Hour by Hour, Gripping, Masterful!!
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-08-05
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
"The Day Kennedy Was Shot" is one of the most well written books I've read so far this year!! At first glance, this book is like looking at a script of the TV series "24", but sadly Jack Bauer wasn't there to help and the tragic events of November 22nd, 1963 were not fictional, but a tragic reality. How an authour, yet alone anyone, can piece together the events of a single day in such mintue detail is beyond me. The scenes he masterully recreates make the reader feel like they are there. This book was gripping and hard to put down! The only thing that this book lacks (while taking nothing away from the theme and I suspect, the intent of the book) is an exploration of possible conspiracy theories. (If you're looking for another "conspiracy" book, this one is NOT for you) But if you're looking for a complete account of that day's events. (The book's chapters are divided into hourly sagments running from 7AM-3AM CST) this is THE ONE! I would recomend this book as an ideal source to use if you're writing a report about that fateful day. I would defy anyone to match its exactness of detail!
|
|
Childish Conjecture
Rating  (1)
Date: 2005-07-20
3 out of 10 customers found this reveiw helpful
From the opening sequence depicting the alleged events in the Kennedy's suite at the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth that morning, complete with the character's imaginary thoughts, one immediately gains the uncomfortable impression that Mr. Bishop is merely making this stuff up. His detailed analysis of those fateful 60 seconds in Dealey Plaza is worse than conjecture, it is utterly IMPOSSIBLE. Not only does he treat us to a detailed description of Oswald's alleged actions and even thoughts as he supposedly sits in that window in the School Book Depository (from which we now know at least some of the shots could not have been fired) with a complete absence of witnesses or testimony, he then goes on to describe how the first bullet missed, hit the street BEHIND the car yet managed to spray the occupants in their FACES with "cement dust", and then somehow ricocheted over, under, or around the car to then hit the curb two streets away and account for Mr. Tague's facial injuries. Not only is this feat of physics utterly impossible, it is not recounted in this manner by one single witness to these events. Even if the reader were predisposed to believe that Mr. Oswald acted alone, which not only is not plausible but is not possible in the face of known evidence, it is ridiculous to imagine that Mr. Bishop would know it to be due to Oswald's wife and mother not treating him sufficiently like a "man". The concept of an impartial analysis of the day's events is an interesting one, but having amassed quite an assassination library myself I would strongly recommend that this early apologist effort be passed over. You can get a better accounting of the details with a great deal less spin in Jim Marrs' "Crossfire".
|
|
|