Product Description

The work that inspired Oliver Stone's spellbinding film J.F.K. describes New Orleans attorney Jim Garrison's pursuit of the truth surrounding the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. 2 cassettes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1097315 in Books
• Published on: 1991-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio Cassette

Customer Reviews

The Search for the Truth
On the Trail of the Assassins is an excellent starting point for those trying to make sense of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States. The author was the District Attorney of New Orleans, Louisiana at the time of the shooting. He felt, rightly it seems, that his jurisdiction contained a hotbed of intrigue against J.F.K. OTA is 2 tales in one: The first marshals the virtual kaleidoscope of sinister information, actual events, recreated events, innuendo, questions, malfeasance, lying, ineptitude, charges and countercharges behind the killing. The second relates the author's frustrating attempts to convict a real life person with plotting the act. The first effort is highly successful. This is true at least to the extent that the attentive reader should be convinced that 1) Lee Harvey Oswald certainly DID NOT assassinate Kennedy on his own and 2) was in every likelihood not DIRECTLY involved with the shooting -period. Furthermore, the author proved, to this reviewer's satisfaction that 3) Oswald also did not shoot Dallas Police Officer J.D.Tipitt that fateful afternoon. Linking Tippit to Oswald is critical in determining guilt. Finally, the author effectively eliminates the Mafia as the culprits in the crime. The foregoing is no small accomplishment. Left unanswered are the mysteries that have plagued virtually anyone who is unsatisfied with the Warren Commission or subsequent House investigation into the affair. A partial list of these issues encompass: the virtual criminal activities surrounding Kennedy's so called autopsy, the presence of a second and even third (!) gunman in Dallas that day, the outright theft of the President's brain from the National Archives and the total and complete failure of the Secret Service to protect J.F.K. in Dallas. The author properly raises the right questions. Like most investigators, he is unable to provide answers. The most tantalizing questions of all concern Oswald: Who was he? If he did not shoot the President, why is he so prominent And what on the fringes of the event? He certainly was on the scene that day. Was he set up to take the fall? Was he a patsy? His own murder two days after that of the President proved that someone wanted him silenced. The second tale surrounds the trial of one Clay Shaw, a local prominent business leader. Shaw was not charged with the murder but in forming a plot to carry out the assassination. No reader should be surprised at his acquittal. Garrison's case was unspecific and not coherently put together for such a serious charge. The jury s decision does not detract from the book one iota. There are so many unanswered questions and unexplained events to the Kennedy assassination it boggles the mind. The overriding burden lies in assigning specificity . At least Garrison tried to bring someone to justice. Conspiracy theorists will have to read further to get more answers to the frustrating questions. One weak point is the inadequacy of the one map of Dealey Plaza, the murder site. A more serious detraction is that so many facts are spread out over the text, many buried in footnotes. Readers will have to work hard! These facts, like the Shaw prosecution, are not always coherently presented, a strange omission from such an experienced lawyer. In fairness to the author, this may reflect poor editing, not poor writing. One cautionary note from this observer: The Kennedy assassination is highly similar to another troubling affair: The missing POWs and MIAs from Indochina. In both instances, our Government failed us. And in both cases, the full truth will never be known. There remains no reason not to continue to seek answers no matter how frustrating. If enough of us try hard enough for long enough, perhaps more of the truth will one day emerge.

Staying on the Trail
As the only elected official to ever bring a criminal prosecution forward on the JFK assassination, this is definitely a must read book. Every newspaper in the country had as their first paragraph the announcement that the FBI and the Dallas police had an air-tight case against a marxist communist named Lee Harvey oswald. It was impossible to believe otherwise. Our government had facts that indicated otherwise. As District Attorney of New Orleans, Garrison had the authority to bring the facts out into the open. This wasn't a reseacher looking for the truth; this was a DA in a courtroom. Too many things didn't fit into the government's story and this is when Garrison approached the JFK case with a police mentality. From the opening cover depicting how the President's motorcade route was changed the morning of the assassination (only then would it be in front of the depository) to the fact that a first-class Mauser rifle was found by Dallas police on the 6th floor of the Book Depository ( not just the cheap mail order Mannlicher-Carcano rifle Oswald was alleged to have used), the facts continue to frustrate us today. The rifle alone leaves a hundred questions. Three empty cartridges from the Mannlicher-Caranolaying almost parrallel next to each other by the sniper's window in the same room as a 7.65 Mauser only complicated the set-up. One is left with the overwhelming feeling after reading this book that the JFK murder should still be classified as an open investigation. Facts that the government are keeping closed for 75 years from the time of this murder should be released. As entertaining as the Oliver Stone movie was; this should leave the reader numb. I don't often see this book as JFK material for the average reader and the fact that it's no longer published makes one wonder why. Maybe we're still not supposed to look at this case like a prosecutor but only as historians. I like the police mentality that Garrison brings to the story.

Unknown American Hero
If you are even remotely interested in the Kennedy assassination then you have to buy this book. I am not ashamed to say that I have read this book at least a dozen times. It is that good. Garrison not only shows us the errors of the Warren Commission but anyone reading it is guranteed not to put it down until they are finished reading it. Not only is it well written but all the evidence Garrison provides to prove that the murder was covered up and even committed by individuals in our governments intelligence community is undenialble. This book truly made me a believer. Although Garrison was humble in response to some of the praise he received there is no doubt in my mind that he is truly an unsung hero of our nation. Unfortunately this work makes one question the greatness of of our government.