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Last Word: My Indictment Of The CIA In The Murder Of JFK (2011)

by Mark Lane(Favorite Author)

3.86 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1616084286 (ISBN13: 9781616084288)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Skyhorse Publishing

review 1: This is Mark Lane's summing up of his 50 years of research into the JFK assassination. His first book, Rush to Judgment, critiqued the Warren Report and led many Americans to question the official answer that Oswald acted alone. He has also written several other books and two documentary films. By now, Gallup and other polls consistently show that 81% of Americans believe there was a conspiracy behind the murders of JFK and Oswald. There are few surprises for anyone who has been following the case for conspiracy, most of which cover crimes by the CIA that haven't been widely publicized before. Lane spends too much time refuting many lies told about him by the press, especially the NY Times, Anthony Lewis, and Vincent Bugliosi. He reports credibly that the CIA had then, and... more has now, prominent assets in the print and broadcast media that will make sure their brand of the truth is reported. He also comments only in passing on usual suspects besides the CIA: LBJ, J. Edgar Hoover, and organized crime. He does question how Hoover could state positively only a few hours later, before any investigation, that Oswald was the sole person guilty of killing JFK and Officer Tippit. He says that Ruby was an FBI asset; my understanding is that he was acting for the Mafia. It's understandable that he would have feared for his life if he failed to carry out an assignment for the Mafia, less so if he was acting for the FBI. Other books claim credibly that Ruby had longstanding ties to organized crime. Lane also never mentions Oswald's lover, Judy Vary Baker, who claims prior knowledge of the events and Oswald's innocence. Lane does explore in detail the apparent lapses by the Secret Service. Nine senior members applied for and were granted vacation time that took them off duty at the time of the assassination. Secret Service credentials were then produced by the CIA. The driver of JFK's car stopped or nearly stopped the car after the first shot, when training should have led him to accelerate immediately. The Secret Service agent in the passenger seat should have covered Kennedy's body with his own (LBJ's agent did) but never moved from his seat. A Dallas Police officer stopped a man who had just come from behind the fence at the grassy knoll. The man showed Secret Service credentials, and was released without questioning or even a description reported, but the Secret Service said all of their agents were in the motorcade. The Warren Commission interviewed few, if any, of the hundreds of eye- and ear-witnesses who reported that the shots came from the grassy knoll and/or the 5th (not 6th) floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Lane interviewed several and includes a number of quotations from them.It's less than two weeks before the 50th anniversary of the assassination. Many books mark it. This is one that deserves critical attention.
review 2: I stopped believing in the Warren Commission and the "lone gunman" and the "magic bullet" years and years and years ago. And he's done prodigious and indefatigable work on his investigations. But this book is so disappointin as his "last word" that I'm not even star-rating it. It's so poorly written and so repetitious. And for a subject so important, it does no good whatsoever to be snarky and sarcastic, as is far too often the case here. less

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