Book Description

Dexter Scott King's disarmingly candid memoir of growing up in the shadow of his father is now in trade paperback.Seven-year-old Dexter Scott King was in his family's den watching television when a special news bulletin announced that his father, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot in Memphis. While the nation and the world mourned the death of one of the most important and powerful figures in history, the young son began what would be a lifelong personal journey of not only learning to cope with the loss of his loving father, but of exploring how best to make sure that his message and spirit lived on. Remarkably honest and emotionally intimate, this book offers a rare and touching look into what it is like to grow up as the son of a world renowned hero. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Very Insightful Read
This was a very insightful read for me. No, this is not a story about Martin Luther King, Jr .. it's about living the life as Martin Luther King, Jr's child. It reveals the ups and downs of being born to a public figure such as the late GREAT Martin Luther King, Jr. Dexter does a pretty good job of showing us the hurdles he and his family have had to cross. I think it's good for people to read, because you get to see what the family members are faced with (a sort of behind the scenes glance at being in the shadow of one's famous father). Dexter also gives you insight on The King Center. I recommend this read to all people. Teachers and professors should also have this book on their list of student required reads.

Tonya Howard
http://www.sisterdivas.org

Routine autobiography, nothing new to add to the King aura
This is NOT a story about Martin Luther King, Jr...But then again, it is! With such an imposing aura and legendary persona that Martin possesses even in death, it would be extremely hard for anyone trying to extract meaningful context without him playing a prominent role to analyze anything for or against it. GROWING UP KING is Dexter Scott King's story. He being the youngest of Martin's four children, sets out to give revelations for the first time what it was like growing up within the huge monolithic shadow of greatness, and how his fathers' maxims continue to inspire and inform his own ideas on race matters. I would imagine amid the aura of being a member of such a prominent family it would behoove one to set a sustained agenda to carve a preferred path. With this book, you'd think that definitions would be finally told in the first person. I wanted to be rational as I read this book and try not to compare the Martin of yesteryear to what his offspring needed to bring forth. But to do this, I knew I had to do so with an open mind. Thus, I read it with mixed emotion, and tried to be objective in attaining a reasonable view to support the author's intent, and more importantly, to see if certain truths would come forth to quell rumor, and set the record straight on a multitude of issues. Most notably the controversy surrounding The King Center for Non-Violent Social Change.

I came away with a feeling of loss, as if something truly was missing that wasn't said that should have been. I kept looking for reasons to give standing ovations to a member of this family who had the courage to give insight to all questions the public wanted answered. For those looking for insight that hasn't been before public domain, there may be something that Dexter espouses that may warrant merit. File this one on the shelf with the rest of the books written about the King family legacy. I rate this book above average, but still worthy of a read if nothing more than to give chance to this scion who endeavor to be his own man.

MOVING BEYOND THE SHADOW
The progeny of great men and women are usually compared to their venerable parent. Such is the case in the Martin Luther King, Jr. family. Since his death a microscope has been placed over his children comparing them to him. Dexter, the second son and third child of King attempts to break out of the shadow of his father and reveals to us his hopes, dreams and aspirations for himself and his family. Dexter's text is a good try but fails in its efforts.

Growing Up Kings gives the reader the perspective of a child raised in the Martin Luther King, Jr. family. Dexter reveals the challenges that he faced in living under the shadow of a famous father. We as readers are shown the stresses and pressures put upon the family as they faced tragedy after tragedy but continued on with the dream as articulated by King. Dexter does a fair job in sharing with us some of his family's personal matters but is very restrained in critiquing the actions of his mother and other civil rights icons.

As you walk through the narrative, you will find Dexter repeating himself and giving the reader a history of the civil rights movement. He shares his foibles but was again there is a restraint in his revelations. Just how much is Dexter telling us that is true? Our author seems to never be able to stand on his own two feet without invoking the shadow of the King family over his life.

The best part of the book is his explanation regarding the safeguarding of M.L.K Jr.'s speeches and intellectual property that is not in the public domain. You will learn that there is another side to the story and Dexter tells it well. You also receive a bit of insight regarding the functionairies of the King Center and how Dexter chose to resign his position as president rather than become a puppet.

Like many people I was attracted to this book due to the nature of its contents. Who wouldn't want to know what it is like growing up under Martin Luther King, Jr.? Dexter's story was interesting but lacked a greater depth in terms of his own vision for the future beyond his family. He appeared to be trapped in the King mystique although he tried to become his own man. The book neglected any full scale treatment of his relationships with his mother and siblings. Yes, he throws tidbits concerning his failed love relationships but those appear to be mere diversions to keep up your interest. In general we are given a decent perspective of the King family.Hopefully a more definitive portrait of the family will come from the rest of his siblings.

Finally their side of the story
I read this book by Dexter King, but I have also read Growing Up X. There were some similarities between both books, but there were some differences also. I had heard some of the rumors and speculation about the King family trying to milk Dr. King's legacy in the monetary sense. However, Dexter does a good job of clearing things up about how much time and money is spent protecting his father's legacy due to the fact that some individuals and corporations believe and/or assume that Dr. Kings' speeches and papers are public property and can use them for monetary profit. I agree whole heartly with the King family in protecting their father's legacy including all of his speeches and writings. The thing that stood out the most to me pertaining to this issue was that we as blacks in America discount great black thinkers, intellectuals and people who take a stance in the black community. We have a belief that our black intellects work such Dr King, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers is not as valuable as compared to that of their white counter parts such as Nixon, Kennedy or Bush.

Dexter King also gives us some insight into how he grew up near housing projects in Vine City, attended a exclusive private school then public high school, and life at Morehouse. I had no ideal that Dexter's mother currently lives in Vine City, because gossips have always said she was living in a huge mansion in Buckhead. Next Dexter talks about his love life, but never gives any names but calls one serious girlfriend "Mon Ami." I would recommend this book to anyone trying to find out more about the King family.

This is a terrific book.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Growing Up King." This is a
terrific book. Not only is this book required reading for
any student of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., it also brings
insights how the King Center in Atlanta is run while main-
taining its mission to spread the teachings of Dr King. There
are lessons here for any well-intentioned organization.

This book is clearly written by subject and most of the subjects
overlap chronologically.

Thank you, Dexter King! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

This good book needs to be re-issued.
Shortly after the assassination of President John Kennedy, Priscilla McMillan contacted Oswald's widow, Marina, and spent considerable time with her. McMillan had interviewed Lee Oswald when he defected to Russia and had the added advantage of knowledge of Russia and Russians. She used this to persuade Marina to give an account of her life with Oswald. To this day, 2000, nobody has given a better account of Marina's view of their relationship. It is very worthwhile reading. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Lightweight hero worship
As Manchester is wont to do, he waxes poetic about historical figures he has put up on pedastals. If you are assembling a library devoted to the Camelot myth, this book will be essential to your collection. However, if you are looking for a useful historical examination of JFK, this book will prove to be largely useless. Richard Reeves' "Profile in Power," in print for almost 10 years now, shows that one can avoid hero worship while also avoiding character assissination, and is infinitely more useful to the reader than this fluff. Robert Dallek's far more recent "An Unfinished Life" is also to be recommended far above this.

As Manchester now sheds the mortal coil, one can see that his books on Churchill, MacArthur & Kennedy say a lot more about Manchester than they ever did about their respective subjects. This is a man who seemed to need to have heroes to worship, and he worshipped them most uncritically. He also made a lot of money stoking the fires of hero-worship along the way. However, in the long term it does not make for good history, and as a historian Manchester is rather lacking. I suspect that in another generation, he will virtually forgotten by serious students of history.

A great writer turns JFK into a modern King Arthur...
Make no mistake, William Manchester (1922-), who knew John F. Kennedy personally, can be a great writer at times. His two-volume biography of Winston Churchill (sadly, never to be completed now that Manchester is aging and ill) is superb, and so is "The Glory and the Dream", his history of the World War Two "G.I." generation from 1932-1972. However, when it comes to the Kennedys, Manchester's tendency to hero-worship simply overwhelms him, and has led to plenty of criticism and controversy over the years. In my opinion, "One Brief Shining Moment" is easily one of the most biased pro-Kennedy books that has ever been written, and is an embarrassment to Manchester's otherwise brilliant career. Manchester doesn't just praise John F. Kennedy is this book, he almost fawns over him, and it's obvious that he sees JFK as a modern King Arthur presiding over a (White House) Camelot. His chapter titles for this book tell it all - "There Thou Layest" is his final chapter in which he specifically links JFK to the Arthurian legends, and indulges in plenty of purple prose. As in his other Kennedy books, Manchester loathes Lyndon Johnson, and in this work he more clearly links LBJ with Mordred - Arthur's (JFK's) great enemy and the villain of the Camelot (Kennedy) legend - than in his previous books. In Manchester's prose Lyndon Johnson is little more than a redneck boor, a country hick whose crude habits, such as deer hunting, "horrified" the urbane, elegant, and intellectual JFK. In Manchester's view Lyndon Johnson was the "anti-Kennedy" - this despite the view held by many modern (and far more objective) historians that it was LBJ, and not JFK, who was the critical force behind the great Civil Rights and anti-poverty legislation passed in the mid-sixties. This book repeats virtually every legend and myth about JFK as fact - the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961 wasn't really JFK's fault, but the CIA's, President Eisenhower's, etc. Kennedy's womanizing wasn't anything that his predecessors (and successors) haven't done, so what's the big deal? And, of course, if Kennedy had only lived then none of the major problems and headaches of the mid-to-late sixties would ever have happened. According to Manchester, JFK would "definitely" have pulled out of South Vietnam - hence no Vietnam War, no dead American troops, no antiwar riots on college campuses, etc. If Kennedy had only lived the terrible race riots of the sixties would never have occurred, because blacks somehow "trusted" Kennedy more than they did Johnson, and would therefore have listened to JFK's urgings not to riot in the streets. Young adults would never have created a generation gap ("don't trust anyone over thirty"), because JFK was a young, "hip" guy like they were, and so they wouldn't have created a counterculture or become hippies. Of course, Manchester offers virtually no evidence to back up these claims - he simply presents them as "facts" that are accepted by everyone. In Manchester's rosy view, Kennedy was virtually perfect, with almost no flaws or weaknesses (and those few that exist only "prove his humanity"). If you still believe in the Camelot legends of JFK's Presidency and still have a romantic view of the man and his era, then you'll LOVE this book, as it takes the JFK legend and runs wild with it. But, if you're looking for a more balanced and objective work about JFK, then this is probably one of the last books you'd want to read. "One Brief Shining Moment" is simply the most biased "pro-Kennedy" book I've ever read. If you do choose to read this book, then I would recommend that you also read several other, more balanced Kennedy books. Among the best are Richard Reeve's "President Kennedy: Profile of Power", Herbert Parmet's "Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy", and Robert Dallek's "An Unfinished Life". ... Read more

Book Description

William Pepper was a young journalist, just back from Vietnam, when he first met Martin Luther King Jr. His photographs and first-hand accounts of the war prompted King's unflinching commitment to oppose it. On April 15, 1967, Pepper proposed an alternative to the re-election of Lyndon Johnson to a cheering New York crowd. Dr. Benjamin Spock was to be King's running mate highlighting an anti-poverty and antiwar agenda. A year later Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. The movement for social and economic change in the US has never been substantially, successfully revived.

Doubts raised from an initial ten- year investigation and hours of interrogations of James Earl Ray prompted Pepper to take up his case. The King family, persuaded by the growing evidence, joined his struggle in 1996. At the 1999 trial seventy witnesses under oath set out the details of the conspiracy and the jury took an hour to find for the King family. It was ruled that a wide-running conspiracy existed and that government agents were involved. The story was effectively buried.

An Act of State lays out, in hair-raising detail, the facts of the case as it evolved. These tell a tragic story of King's powerful and significant radicalism, government plans for his execution that involved the military and the FBI, media cover-ups, and the corporate forces that were already claiming their hold on the nation's polity. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

News fit to print, but...
This is the account of King lawyer William Pepper's pursuit of the facts in the King assassination, and his denouement of the evidence, centering on the successful civil suit of Lloyd Jowers, a local resident with a business across the street from the motel murder site and with a connection to the murder, which led to the unraveling. The credentials of the ringleaders and perpetrates are very impressive indeed and include J. Edgar ('the' J. Edgar),the CIA, FBI, Memphis Police Department and assorted sordid Mob hoodlums. That's quite a team. But then the motive appears to have centered on the decision by Martin Luther King to bring the focus of his movement on poverty and the Vietnam War. It took the jury one hour to decide that:
1. Yes--Lloyd Jowers participated in a conspiracy to do harm to Martin Luther King

2. Yes--Others including governmental agencies were parties to this conspiracy as alleged by the defendant.
This should have been headline news, but the story never survived, and it wasn't news to me until I stumbled on the book in the library, and I read a lot of books.
I hope you find out too.

A Clouded Light
I'm new to the details of the King assassination, and though I lived through that period the details, as I recall, were never made clear unlike the previous JFK murder. It was pretty clear, however, that the killing was a coordinated effort by shadowy background forces, and not even the government pressed its usual lone assassin case very hard. The result was a lot of loose ends awaiting real investigation. This is Pepper's second book on the topic. I wish I had read the first one before picking up this one, because An Act of State does not serve well as an introduction. Instead of summarizing the official story and introducing the principals, the opening chapters plunge us into subsequent developments, which for newcomers like myself risks confusion from the outset. Moreover the work as a whole is neither well organized nor cogently edited creating additional obstacles for the uninitiated. Nonetheless, there are so many fascinating factual aspects brought to light by Pepper, that the book stands as a must read for those interested in America's hidden history. So for those with a skimpy background such as myself, either prep with a better intoduction or be prepared to sort through as best you can. The results speak volumes.

Chilling Indictment
An Act Of State--The Execution Of Martin Luther King--is a chilling indictment of the deadly madness that was rampant through American Society in the 1960s. The book systematically overturns the Government's ... case against James Earl Ray as Martin Luther King's assassin. Instead, it paints a series of powerful vignettes that appear to implicate various agencies of the Federal Government, elements of of the Memphis Police Department, other of the City's Municipal units, and pieces of the Carlos Marcello Mob in New Orleans, in planning and covering up Dr. King's tragic murder. This crime robbed the nation of its greatest leader for social justice in the twentieth century--a loss we as a nation may never recoup. Dr. Pepper relentlessly assembles a body of evidence: circumstantial, eye witness, and admissible hearsay that would prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt before an impartial court of public opinion. And perhaps this is the most haunting aspect of the tragic murder of an American icon:How free are we as a people and a culture when the truth cannot be told? How free are we when evidence and news is managed and withheld? How far our separation from the Body Of Laws we celebrate in our flag, anthems, hymns, and pledges?Dare I whisper: far. Bob Lupo, author, A Buffalo's Revenge, and Extremities-4.

If a tree falls in the forest...
I found this book to be incredibly enlightening. Unless you still believe in the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and Oswald's Magic Bullet, you will most likely be impressed by the evidence that William Pepper has uncovered and laid out in exhaustive detail in this book.
If nothing else, "An Act of State" sheds more light on the Martin Luther King who had so much to offer after the "I Have a Dream" speech, and why he was considered so dangerous by so many people.
William Pepper's own words about democracy and the destiny of the U.S.A. are also quite thought-provoking, as well as being appropriate to the material he presents.
Read this book!!

Essential reading
In December of 1999, the Circuit Court in Memphis, Tennessee determined that the U.S. government, at the federal, state and local levels participated in the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Why? What was King's vision and strategy in 1967 and 1968? Why are these years of King always obscured by the media? Who's interests did they threaten?

Read this book and find out.

"There are millions of poor people in this country who have very little, or even nothing, to lose. If they can be helped to take action together, they will do so with a freedom and a power that will be a new and unsettling force in our complacent national life." -Martin Luther King ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Dreaded Assignment becomes Starvation for More
I was given this book to read as an assignment in my Sociology class at college. I dreaded reading the book and put the assignment off as long as I could. However,once I started reading I could not put it down. Huie does a great job, through his interviews and quest for the truth, at putting you as close to the people and events of this historical time as one possibly could. It displays the most extreme and openly admitted amount of prejudice toward the African Americans held by the citizens of the state of Mississippi during the 1960's.

Buy it!
What makes this book interesting is that it was written between the murders and the trial. Huie knew who the murderers were, how they did it, and never expected a guilty verdict.

The book introduces you in detail to Michael (Mickey) Schwerener and all the details leading up to his murder. This detail will help you understand exactly why and how these murders took place.

This latest edition includes updates by the author to compare his early speculation against the results of the trial. ... Read more

Book Description

The Lift and Death of Martin Luther King, Jr.

On April 4, 1968, a shot rang out in Memphis, Tennessee, killing the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The leader of the civil rights movement was dead, felled by an assassin's bullet. Who was Martin Luther King, and why do we remember him? Award-winning author James Haskins chronicles Dr. King's life and the circumstances surrounding his death. With an afterword.

Reviews (2)

Great Book!
This book was about the life of a hero, Martin Luther King, Jr. It tells us how he served his community. There were interesting pictures. Our fifth grade class learned a lot about African-American history through this book.

I very much enjoyed this factual book
I feel that this book was written very thoroughly. It included indepth facts that really let the reader know what happened. This book was obviously researched heavily, and I congradulate the author on writing such a magnificent book. Although it was not really my choice in reading this book, I am glad that I had, for it has greatly enhanced my knowledge of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I, being a fifteen year old sophomore student of Penn High School, find this a great book to use in researching Dr. King's past events, assassination, murder(s), and conspiracy theories. It was well written, and could be easily understood by young readers. I would highly recommend this book to readers of all ages. -Thank You ... Read more

Book Description

An unprecedented, behind-the-scenes portrait of JFK and the Camelot years--published on the thirtieth anniversary of the assassination. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

brilliant
The text are complete, and there are a lot of rare and cute photos. The book tells about Jack, Jackie and bobby so it's great. I suggest it too all Kennedy fans. I enjoyed it.

WONDERFUL
A beautiful book on the former first family. The perfect book to share with family and friends. Highly recommended!!!!!! FOR QUESTIONS OR DISCUSSIONS ON JACKIE ONASSIS, PLEAE E-MAIL ME AT MellissaLD@aol.com. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

The President
I'm an italian student in Economy and I'm a great fan of Jfk. Probably I think this is one of the best book I have ever read. The photos are very nice and the text of Schlesinger is very interesting. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (26)

Mrs. Paine.....
Very good book taking information from the account of the landlord for Marina Oswald at the time of the shooting....I read the whole thing....Interesting addtl info re: Dallas happening.

VERY Creative Nonfiction
This book is an example of creative nonfiction as it is written like a novel. The operative word here is "creative". This book is written as the title suggests from Ruth Paine's point of view. Both the author and interview subject have placed much more importance on her relationship with the Oswalds than was really there. Ruth seems to think that she was an integral part of what happened as if she could have stopped Lee. The truth is she had only met them at a party in early 1963 and even though Marina was living with her; Ruth barely knew the couple.

Mallon makes a lot of assumptions in this book like stating that Oswald went back to the boarding house to pick up the pistol "he used minutes later to kill the patrolman, J. D. Tippet who stopped him near the corner of Tenth and Patton." The gun Oswald had on him at the time of his arrest at the Texas Theater had a defective firing pin so he couldn't have shot anyone with it. Witnesses were goaded into identifying Oswald during the police line-up. I might remind readers that it has never been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lee killed Kennedy or Officer Tippet.

I must admit that Ruth's obsession with Marina before and after the assassination was VERY INTERESTING and the only part of the book that seemed based on reality.

If you like historical comedy, this is the book for you!

A Small Book, Not a Slight One
Thomas Mallon has written about Ruth Paine, the woman who found she had harboured one of the most infamous criminals of all time- Lee Harvey Oswald. Whatever you believe about the Kennedy assassination, you'll appreciate Mallon's glimpse at what it was like to be standing right next to one of the most important, disruptive, and tragic events of the twentieth century. Ruth Paine is revealed to be a woman with a very sure sense of who she is and what she stands for, a woman who- almost alone among survivors truly close to the assassination- refuses to be defined by her proximity to what happened that day in Dealey Plaza.

Mallon's skill at conveying a sense of what the world was like in 1963 is remarkable, and very welcome. In several paragraphs, he details just how un-sophisticated a planet we lived on then; it was a day of hand-typed copies instead of Xeroxes and the 8-cent stamp instead of e-mail. As someone who was around at that time, I've often wished that more authors dealing with this topic would take more care to remind readers that the world was a very different place then. Forgetting that has led many assassination researchers and theorists down many a specious and unproductive pathway. One example (which is not to be found in Mallon's work) is Michael Paine's ownership of a Minox camera. Today's researchers have made the most prodigious hay out of that, never suspecting the truth- the Minox was heavily promoted and sold in the early Sixties as a toy for the well-off (which Mr. Paine was, despite his unassuming lifestyle), advertised in 'National Geographic'. The camera- in the context of its time- was no more meaningful than possession of a laptop is today. Yes, both COULD be used for nefarious purposes, but most owners use their laptops for peaceful, private purposes, and so did most Minox buffs. Mallon's work is always scrupulous in remembering the difference between Now and Then, and it is most refreshing.

Ruth Paine seems to have given much of herself to Mallon, and therefore to us. She is revealed to have been very pained at several questions and revelations that came up both before and during the interviews for the book, but she seems never to have cut off the author's lines of inquiry, nor even to have directed them, answering frankly. Touchingly, Mallon's research revealed things to Ruth Paine even she had not known about the central event of her life, and her reactions to them are interesting indeed.

Mallon has not produced a perfect book- there does not seem to have been much direct questioning of Mrs. Paine on some of the topics that assassination researchers raise the most questions about (that Minox, for one), and so the book will give a great deal of unnecessary ammunition to those who feel that Mrs. Paine has something to hide, rather than clearing matters once and for all. And there are a few places where Mallon does not make clear that he's quoting from previously published material, giving rise to the impression that he interviewed people he did not. While a reader familiar with the subject will be able to discern immediately that, say, Robert Oswald did not grant Mallon an interview, the author waits a bit to let the average reader in on that.

Still, it's a remarkable look at a remarkable witness to history, a woman who has had staggering events roll over her, and like the slender reed she resembles, has sprung back, ready for new life, ready to bend in new directions, respecting the force of the storm, but quietly, serenely confident in her ability to survive it.

PAINE-FUL RECOLLECTIONS OF JFK MURDER
Thomas Mallon's most recent foray into "non-fiction," is not only a disappointment. It's a disgrace. The book's a bust not so much for what it is but for what it fails to be.
Mallon's subjects, Ruth and her ex-husband, Michael Paine, were the young couple who befriended Lee and Marina Oswald
in early 1963. When President John F. Kennedy's long-awaited visit to Dallas rolled around on Nov. 22, 1963, Marina was living at Ruth's house in Irving, Texas. Lee Oswald, who would eventually be charged with the president's gunshot slaying, spent the night before the assassination there at Ruth's home. When Dallas police appeared at the Irving address on that fateful Friday afternoon, Marina told them Lee's rifle was in the garage. When they searched, the gun was missing.

Mallon could've delved deeply into the Paines' background, revealing their family's relationship, for instance, to former CIA Director Allen Dulles, who became one of the primary investigators into the Kennedy assassination. When the Paines each testified before the Warren Commission in 1964, Dulles oversaw their questioning. For many years, Michael's New England-based mother and stepfather, Ruth and Arthur Young, had been close friends of Mary Bancroft, Dulles' mistress dating back to his days as an undercover operative in Switzerland during World War II. If the public had known in 1964 about the Paine family's ties to Dulles, the Warren Commission may have been exposed for the sham that it was, a tool of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Hoover and Johnson both desperately wanted the JFK hit to dissolve swiftly into history, attributed to a "lone nut," Oswald, who in turn was assassinated by another "lone nut," Big D nightclub operator Jack Ruby. Mallon is apparently among the shrinking number of Americans who swallow that unlikely scenario, the double-lone nut theory.
Instead of exploring the Paines' unholy alliance with Dulles in this book, Mallon wallows in Ruth's Quakerism and her worries over her lost friendship with Marina. Instead of examining Michael's classified work at Bell Helicopter or his father's interest in the assassination of Leon Trotsky, he describes the husband's fascination with cabinetry and contradancing. In doing so, Mallon effectively trivializes the JFK murder and expressly taunts conspiracy theorists who insist that the Paines deserve more serious probing. Mallon actually mocks longtime assassination researchers by comparing them to "Trekkies," the cult-like followers of a long-ago canceled TV science fiction show. Having endeared himself to Ruth, courting her carefully over years via mail and telephone in order secure her permission to interview her at length about the murder of the president, Mallon literally sold out. The Westport, Conn. writer boasts a lengthy and impressive resume, having cranked out well-received novels such as "Dewey Defeats Truman." His years of experience fail him here, however, as he relies on his literary talents to dance around issues he should have more fully embraced.
Specifically, he simply labels such facts as the Dulles connection as mere "coincidence." In making this point, Mallon quotes two people: Ruth's mother, who blames "fate" for her daughter's unusual notoriety, and Norman Mailer, author of "Oswald's Ghost," a mid-90s biography of the alleged assassin. In "Oswald's Ghost," Mallon neglects to inform readers of "Mrs. Paine's Garage," Mailer actually asserted that -- given the unlikelihood of the Warren Report's single-bullet theory -- a second gunman may well have stood, completely by chance, firing at JFK from behind the stockade fence on the grassy knoll in front of the presidential limousine while Oswald fired from behind, totally oblivious to the other shooter! After reading illogical deductions such as that, you can see why writers such as Mailer and Mallon remain more highly admired for their fiction than for their non-fiction.
To illustrate his insistence that coincidence ruled the Paines' fate, Mallon concludes his book by relating a story about Mr. and Mrs., Raymond Entenmann, former Paine pals who happened to help stock JFK's Fort Worth Hotel room with artwork on the night of Nov. 21-22, 1963. The Entenmanns have nothing to do with the killing of the president, of course, but Mallon seems to be saying that since the Paines knew the Entenmanns, it's also logical that they may have known Dulles as well or Dallas FBI agent James Hosty, or that we shouldn't be surprised that Ruth's father worked for a CIA-related development agency in South America or that Michael's father-in-law was an inventor for Bell Helicopter and his father, Lyman Paine, had been a prominent follower of Soviet expatriate Leon Trotsky.
Although they both gave lengthy testimony before the Warren Commission in 1964, neither of the Paines were called before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979 nor before the Assassination Records Review Board in the mid-1990s.
Now THERE's a coincidence that bears explaining, because both Ruth and Michael, now in their early-70s, still have plenty to answer for. They sure didn't tell Mallon anything other than what they WANT people to hear, and he was oh-so-agreeable to participate in that subtle subterfuge.

Captivating Inquiry into Good and Evil
This excellent inquiry into good and evil in an historical context could not be more timely in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. I just finished reading this absorbing book in a single sitting--it is both well-written and captivating enough that I hardly noticed the time passing.

As an idealist, a humanitarian, and a Quaker, Ruth Paine was in a truly unique position to relate to Marina and Lee Harvey Oswald and their children in 1963. Driven by both a desire to avail herself of an opportunity to learn Russian and an empathy for Marina's plight as an emigre with an abusive husband, Ruth Paine welcomed this troubled couple into the bosom of her family, including her two young children. To say that her trust was betrayed by both Marina and Lee is an understatement. Marina knew about Lee's attempt to murder another public official before JFK and of his possession of a powerful rifle while living in the Paine household, but never revealed either to Paine. Paine went so far as to even find a job for Oswald--with fatal implications, in the Texas School Book Depository.

Mallon presents the facts of what happened in the Paine home but also asks critical questions about what the rather naive but charitable Paines knew or should have known up to November 22, when Oswald left their home in the morning with an apparent plan to murder the President. Ruth Paine comes across as perhaps too trusting but also relatively pure of heart; asked about whether she harbors anger or resentment toward Oswald and about what she would ask him in an afterlife, she responds that she got over the anger soon after the event and would want to know "Where are you now in your learning, and your understanding of life?"

Mallon has less empathy for Paine's ex-husband Michael, who apparently knew in advance that Oswald had the rifle that would be used to kill JFK and never revealed it until 1993--30 years after the assassination. It is hard to fathom how Michael, even as Ruth's estranged husband, would have so little regard for her safety or that of his children, who lived in the house with the Oswalds--much less the safety of society in general. Mallon speculates that Michael might have succumbed to a family tradition of strangeness--his forbears include Ralph Waldo Emerson and another man intensely interested in ESP and the paranormal. But the book never explains Michael's motives as it convincingly captures Ruth's.

It is unfortunate that so many other reviews of this fine book get caught up in the never-ending disputes about whether there was a conspiracy to kill JFK or whether Oswald acted alone. Regardless of where the truth lies in these debates--and I for one believe that we will never completely know what really happened--this book warrants the consideration of thoughtful readers for its many positive attributes. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This intriguing book brings a fresh perspective to bear on the intimate, charged partnership of John and Robert Kennedy. The author, Richard D. Mahoney, whose father was a friend of Bobby's and an appointee of Jack's, has both the academic and political experience necessary to evaluate evidence of the Kennedys' relations with the Mafia, anti-Castro rebels, and other groups lurking in the shadows of American life. He also has a sharp eye for the brothers' differing yet complementary personalities. Jack was intellectual and cheerfully cynical, with a zest for pleasure increased by a life-threatening illness concealed from the public. He looked to passionate, partisan Bobby for bulldog-like political support and used his brother as a "moral compass" when planning his administration's actions on civil rights, the corruption of organized labor, and the containment of Communism. Their powerful father, Joseph--whose deep pockets basically bought Jack the presidency and at the same time compromised it because of Joseph's links to organized crime--looms over the brothers as the author of a Faustian bargain that may well have played a role in JFK's assassination. Mahoney's vivid, compulsively readable text offers suggestive questions rather than definitive answers, but it certainly succeeds as a bracing corrective to "America's inability to see its history as tragedy," a failure Jack and Bobby emphatically did not share. --Wendy Smith ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Sons and Brothers
This is an exciting and informative journey through the lives of Jack and Bobby Kennedy. Last December I was doing a twenty page report on Robert Kennedy and I used Sons and Brothers as one of my sources. But i finished reading the book last week. I enjoyed this book because although it presented some of the Kennedys' dark side it showed them both as good men. It also presents the case for conspiracy. This book was by no means boring and anyone interested in the Kennedys should read this. This also got me to thinking how different America would be today if Robert Kennedy had become president instead of Richard Nixon.

A great book
I thought I knew everything there is to know about the Kennedys but this book took me to a new place. Other versions tell one of two stories: the Kennedy brothers were great or they were terrible. This tells a different story, a clasic tragedy. Because they did terrible things to achieve wealth and power, the Kennedys had to pay the price just when they (particularly Bobby) were on the brink of doing good things for the country and the world. The anguish of Bobby is right out of literature. He (and old man Joe) were the Kennedys most guilty of making deals with the devil -- and JFK may have paid for his dad's and Bobby's sins with his life -- and he was also the one determined to do good after 11/22/63. Tortured by guilt, he reached out to heal those hurting, rather than inflict hurt as he had in the past. But the past caught up with him and killed him.Terribly sad.An incredibly good book: the best on the Kennedys.

The picture on the cover says it all
I was raised in a conservative household and consider myself conservative in many ways (though I'm a registered independent). That said, I am 29 years old and both these men were dead before I was even born. However I have had a fascination with JFK & RFK since I first started studying history and the impact that the changes in the 1960's would have on future America. The picture on the cover is very telling about how different these brothers were -- black and white. What this book is really about is how co-dependent these two men were, with Jack more so upon Bobby. Many disturbing facts have come out about the Kennedy brothers in the last twenty years. Much of it does bother me as a moral and religious person. But that doesn't erase the fact that Jack and Bobby were very intelligent and gifted men and when it is all said and done, their idealism and determination positively impacted our nation's history.

one star is far too much
this is not a biography,it's a fiction and it's stupid, boring.
the author was surely drunk when he wrote it.
this book is a shame to the legacy of the kennedys.
there are a few photos.
buy abetter book like: rfk and his times....

A fine prose aside from conspiracy hints
Sons and Brothers was a well written biography of the dynamic duo that occupied the White House in the sixties. Aside from brief, and not well provin conspiracy theories, it gave an excellent glimpse into the Kennedy brothers and their politics. I recommend this book to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the JFK and RFK. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A Definitive Insight into the 60's
Richard N. Goodwin gives a detailed analysis on of the most intriguing and eventful era's in U.S. history. His personal account and experience with the most powerful leaders was strikingly fascinating. The book begins with a brief description of his childhood. From Goodwin's Anti-Semitic dilemmas to his scholastic achievement that lead to his admission to New York's Columbia University. After his graduating at the top of his class at Harvard Law School,he received a clerical job working for a Supreme Court justice. To the justice's disgusts, Goodwin decides to work on a presidential campaign for then Mass. Senator, John F. Kennedy. Richard N. Goodwin proceeds through his exciting and successful election of 1960. JFK awarded Goodwin for his splendid work on the campaign , as a top consultant to Latin America. After the assasination, he is forced to work with LBJ. Not content at first, he sees Johnson under a different limelight. The author is more pleased and optimistic about Johnson, only to be let down with Vietnam. LBJ's erratic behavior and his paranoid personality, leads to an early exit from The White House. I highly recommend this book to to individual's who enjoy reading about contemporary American History. As someone who was fortunate to be born a decade later , I was still able to appreciate the historical significance Goodwin's rise and fall within the political arena.

Great read, but not what you may expect
Richard Goodwin clerked for a Supreme Court justice, played an important role in the politics of the 1960's, and was personally acquainted with JFK, RFK, LBJ, and Eugene McCarthy. As such, one might imagine that he's got some great stories to tell. And he does. But, lest you get the wrong idea, let me tell you some things you won't find in Remembering America.

Like some others, I bought the book after seeing the movie Quiz Show, to read more about the Van Doren scandal. And, yes, the book is about Van Doren; it's also about a lot of other things, and the quiz show scandal of the late 1950's is only a small part. There's a lot more here than that.

So many books written about JFK and RFK idolize them and give them godlike status. Goodwin clearly admires them both, and is not an impartial judge of either - but in all fairness, I don't believe he would claim to be unbiased. But, if you're looking for effusive, gushing praise of the Kennedys, a la Pierre Salinger, you'll probably find Remembering America a disappointment. Goodwin presents fairly well-rounded portraits of both men.

Perhaps you want historical analysis, complete with graphs, footnotes, and scholarly reasoning. This isn't it. This is Goodwin's own recollections over his career, include his brief (and hilarious) Army service; his admiration of, and later pity for, Johnson; his shock and grief when Robert Kennedy (who had become a close friend by then) was assassinated; his personal impressions, memories of, and anecdotes about a wide variety of significant people, from Felix Frankfurter to Che Guevara.

Maybe you want "the voice of the sixties," complete with all the garbage that often passes these days for political and historical thought about that period: self-indulgence, combined with the sanctimonious suggestion that the baby boomers were the only people ever to be troubled by or try to change the world around them, topped with the arrogant idea that they are always right. Nope, you won't find that here either. Goodwin does recall that decade as turbulent, exciting, and volatile; I wouldn't be surprised if he considered those years the best times in his life. But he does not consider the era or people to be sacred.

So what's here to like? A hell of a lot.

A speechwriter for Presidents remembers the sixties
Through Dick Goodwin's masterful retelling of this chapter in history, we are given the opportunity to be a fly on the wall inside the political machinery of one of the most exciting and, at the same time disappointing, decades in our history.

A good read about the 1960's
This book is a good overview of the 1960's from a man who was heavily involved in the politics of the time. It is not a book which comes without its biases as Mr. Goodwin definitely portrays himself in a light which is glorious. If a reader can look beyond his self glorifying rhetoric, they will find good insights of this extremely important era.

A look at a time from a different point of view; excellent.
This is a great book by Richard Goodwin who's place in history is unique to no one other. He was envolved deeply in the quiz show scandal of the late 1950's, the Kennedy and Johnson administrations as well as Mccarthy's and Robert Kennedy's run for the white house in 1968. I highly recommend tis book for all interested in that era as America lost it's simplicity. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

REALLY His Own Man Now...
I'm sure that this book will soon find it's way back into print after Knight's dismissal from Indiana University. Whether you believe that Knight was the greatest college basketball coach of all time, or the biggest bully of all time, you owe it to yourself to read Mellen's book. Say what you will, Knight is not a simple man. After reading this book, you may not have any symphathy for Knight, but you can't dispute his knowledge of the game, determination, and committment to excellence.

Must Read for Any College Basketball Fan
Joan Mullen's book is an eye-opening experience for the typical college basketball fan. She looks past all of the hype surrounding one of the game's greatest coaches and gets down to his true passion: The success and development of the young men trusted to his care. This is great book and illustrates the many facets of Coach Knight. I highly recommend it, especially for those of you who have already read Feinstein's book, A Season on the Brink. This book offers a more objective approach.

Bob Knight is one of a kind
This book is a fascinating look at the general, Robert Montgomery Knight, one of the most interesting coaches in all of sport. This book follows him through a season to give you a total picture of the man. It shows you far more than the narrow, negative view John Feinstein took, and it also debunks many of the myths about Knight the media has created. Through it all you see Knight's humor, wisdom, candor, ability, and yes ocassionally his temper. You see why he is the character, and the winner he is. You also see why his players love him. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A twilight Struggle: The Life of John Fitzgerald Kennedy
This book is about John Fitzgerald Kennedy.The authors Barbara Harrison and Daniel Terris do a good job making this book seem like we really meet John.A Twilight Struggle describes John's hopes and dreams.After the first few pages it is a page turner. ... Read more

Book Description

Martin Luther King, Jr.'s ideashis call for racial equality, hisfaith in the ultimate triumph of justice, his insistence on the power ofnonviolence to bring about a major transformation of American societyare asvital and timely as ever. The wealth of his writings, both published andunpublished, is now preserved in this authoritative, chronologically arrangedmulti-volume edition. Volume III chronicles the Montgomery bus boycott of 1956and Dr. King's emergence as a public figure who attracted internationalattention. Included is the galvanizing speech he gave on the first day of thebus boycott, transcribed from a fragile tape recording and published here in itsentirety for the first time. Also included are his remarks to an angry crowdafter the bombing of his home and his powerful speech at the 1956 NAACPconvention. King's words from this period reveal the evolution of hisdistinctive blend of Christian and Gandhian ideas and show his appreciation ofthe broader significance of the Montgomery movement, a protest that revealed the"longing for human dignity that motivates oppressed people all over the world."The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr. is a testament to a man whose life andteaching continue to have a profound influence not only on Americans, but onpeople of all nations. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Another book on MLK? Yes -- and perhaps the best one yet
I reviewed this volume for the Southern Communication Journal and found it to be one of the most comprehensive historical compilations to address the American Civil Rights movement. Kudos to Carson for undertaking such an ambitious project. In an age of sensationalism and revisionist histories, Carson and the rest of the King Papers Project have shown that accurate documentation, rather than speculation, yields priceless insight into King and the Montgomery bus protest, a key event in the American Civil Rights movement.

This volume combines letters (to and from King), speeches, newspaper articles, and other texts to illustrate the King's depth. We see his religious upbringing, as evidenced in the influences of Ghandi and Christianity; his talent as a minister and an administrator, suggested by the National Baptist Convention's invitation to serve them as their president; and his intellectual aptitudes, shown in the strategy he employed in the Montgomery protest. His decision to move toward incremental change (with full equality as a long-term end) is a major reason why the Montgomery movement succeeded. Had he opted for an all-or-nothing, now-or-never approach, he would have encountered greater resistance, and the movement might have ended while achieving little or no progress. Instead, he lobbied for minor changes in an effort to gain momentum for the larger movement -- an approach dismissed by more radical members of the African-American community. For its insights into King the preacher, King the scholar, King the strategic activist, this text is a valuable addition to the legacy of arguably the most influential American of the last century -- and likely the most influential one never to serve as U.S. President. ... Read more

Book Description

Outstanding figures who have shaped the path of history are profiled in these handsome, inexpensive volumes. These biographies detail the facts known about their subjects and emphasize their childhood, motivation, accomplishments, and humanity, as well as their impact on history.

Figuras destacadas que han protagonizado los hechos más importantes de la historia están retratados en estos bellos volúmenes económicos. Tan fascinante como los hechos que les hicieron famosos, estas biografías detallan los hechos conocidos acerca de los sujetos con énfasis en su niñez, su motivación, sus triunfos, y su impacto en la historia, mientras revela un lado humano de estos hombres. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

2/3 Kennedy Family + 1/3 John Jr. = this book
I bought this book hoping to have a nice memory of a life extinguished in its prime.It wasn't long reading (I read the entire thing in under 2 hours) but it was brief, interesting reading.To my suprise, Idiscovered that this short book gives a tiny glimpse into the Kennedyfamily spanning back to John Jr.'s great-grandparents.I enjoyed theauthor's candid and blunt writing style.He certainly spared no feelingsin writing this book, as you will see when reading about John Jr.'smediocre accomplishments, Jackie's controlling maternal style, and thepresident's wanderings during marriage.The favoritism the family hasenjoyed in the pursuit of different endeavors was especially riveting. (The interesting acquiring of the president's Pulitzer Prize, for example.) I would be untruthful, however, if I didn't admit that I did learn alot from this book.If you don't want to devote days to a heavy biographyon America's Royal Family, but are still interested in some behind thescenes escapades, then I would recommend it.

Prince Charming is much, much better
I read Prince Charming by Wendy Leigh and it is a fabulous beautiful book, a marvellous memorial to John. really worth getting.so don't waste your time with this book. Prince Charming tells the real story. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (10)

A Treasure From A Treasure
As a Texan who remembers that November day, and as one who was delighted to have John Connally as our Governor, I looked forward to reading this book when it came out. Nellie Connally remains a Texas treasure in her eighties, dignified and still just plain pretty. She proves, in this book, that she can be articulate as well.

After watching an entire week of History Channel telecasts that refute the lame Warren Commission report, it is unfortunate that at this late date we will never know the complete truth behind the Kennedy tragedy. However, no matter which side of the fence on which a reader rests, this slim volume will remain a great resource. I found it particularly interesting not for her recollection of the murder, but for her account of the treatment of her husband after the event.

A book for all who are interested in that day.

Mrs. Connally Speaks Her Views
As the last surviving member of the motorcar of two couples in which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated forty years ago, the wife of former Texas Governor John Connally provides us with her experiences of that ill-fated event. Mrs. Connally supports the belief of three shots being fired from behind. The first hit President Kennedy in the throat, the second hitting her husband behind the right shoulder, and the third shattering the skull of President Kennedy. She states that her husband sitting in the front seat had time to move from side to side after Kennedy had been hit in the throat. She states, "Even magic bullets don't hang in the air that long." Following this shot, Mrs. Connally states, her husband was hit behind the right shoulder, and then the President was hit in the head. She states her husband heard the first and third shots, the second one he did not. She has been told you do not hear a bullet that hits you, and John heard the first and third shots. She also describes her apprehension while her husband was in the emergency room, and wondering if he was getting the proper care (he was), or was everyone attending to the stricken president. John Connally researched every report prepared on the subject, and in 1983 he still held to the belief of Oswald's guilt stating, "Nobody in America can keep a secret that big for that long." In addition to Mrs. Connally, each of her three children provide their remembrances of this infamous day. The book concludes with the speeches President Kennedy was to deliver at the Dallas Trade Mart at noon, and his speech in Austin that evening. Forests have been felled with versions of this American tragedy, but it is special to hear it from one as close to the situation as she was. Thank you, Mrs. Connally, for sharing your experiences with us.

From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kenn
The assassination of President Kennedy 40 years ago this month jolted Americans into the realization that their country would never be the same, says Wrone. This history of the 26-second Zapruder film and its role in the criminal investigation argues forcefully that Kennedy was shot by more than one person, none of whom was Lee Harvey Oswald. Wrone is neither a Warren Commission defender nor an outlandish conspiracy theorist but a careful historian who presents a strong case that the Warren Commission hastily and wrongly concluded that Oswald murdered Kennedy and that a single "magic bullet" shot both the President and Texas governor John Connally. Wrone calls Gerald Posner's influential 1993 Case Closed "one of the most error-ridden works on the assassination" but also condemns conspiracy enthusiasts like Oliver Stone for offering such shoddy speculations that the government and mainstream media often treat the work of serious assassination researchers as screeds bordering on the paranoid. Future assassination researchers will consult this fascinating history of the indelible Zapruder film. Strongly recommended for academic and most public libraries. While Lubin (art, Wake Forest Univ.) also makes some interesting comments about the Zapruder film, which he calls "a political thriller," his book offers only cursory comments about the assassination itself. Instead, he provides a series of provocative essays about how perceptions of the Kennedys have become part of our national memory. Lubin's spirited and gracefully written essays demonstrate that John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy became such dominant personalities because the public associated them with enduring themes of classical and popular culture. For example, the Kennedys, viewed as classic defenders of the poor, and The Beverly Hillbillies, the most popular TV show of 1963, were both known for poking fun at the rich. In addition, the macho image that Kennedy cultivated was enhanced by his reading Ian Fleming's best-selling James Bond novels. Following the death of the President, the Camelot myth of noble leadership and the protection of all subjects was readily accepted by a grieving nation. As Lubin shows, this myth was already ingrained in American culture, and he skillfully relates how Kennedy used it to stir the populace and create his own iconography. He also explains why these myths, reinforced by both ancient and contemporary images, remain vibrant. Strongly recommended for academic and larger public libraries. "Mr. President, you certainly can't say that Dallas doesn't love you!" These were the famously innocent last words that Nellie Connally, wife of the Texas governor, uttered to Kennedy seconds before he was killed. In a voice that is both forthright and personable, she presents her recollections of the momentous events of November 22, 1963, based on notes written shortly after the assassination but lost and not rediscovered until 1996. Nellie Connally is the last surviving dignitary who rode in that fateful presidential limo, and this memoir shows how the events of this national trauma personally affected her and the three Connally children. The reader shares her anger at seeing Lee Harvey Oswald receiving excellent medical treatment in the same hospital where President Kennedy was pronounced dead and where her husband almost died from an assassin's bullet. The three Connally children tell how they were pulled out of school that day, while rumors swirled that their wounded father was already dead. This unique account tells how Nellie Connally coped with the long recovery of her husband and how the Connally family lost its sense of security as a result of the assassination. This well-illustrated memoir by a witness to history is recommended for public libraries

Thank you, Mrs. Connally
The former First Lady of Texas takes an infamous blot on our history, an event that quite literally changed the world for generations to come, and put it in completely human terms. This is what happened to her and her family. This is how she remembers it. What's more, it's how she experienced it -- from both the front seat of the Lincoln Continental and the corridors of Parkland Hospital. This makes it an invaluable historical record, and a moving account written by a woman who had been fired upon in an open car and held her bleeding husband in her arms. Perhaps it is "slight." I would not have wanted her to embellish or alter her memories of those tragic days just to accommodate readers who measure a book's worth by the number of pages. I did not consider the photographs, the reproduction of her notes nor President Kennedy's undelivered speeches "filler." They lent texture and veracity to her story. And I do not see how anyone can say there is nothing "new" here. She is the only one of those three surviving passengers who discussed what happened at this length with the public. That in and of itself is "new." I appreciate this lady's gallantry and her generosity in contributing her family's history to our country's history. And I was also moved by her son John's recollections of the funeral. It was poignant to read a man nearing 60 recalling the awe, pagentry and pain he experienced while still a teen.

FROM LOVE FIELD-FINAL HOURS W/JFK
THIS IS A VERY DISAPPOINTING BOOK - IT COULD HAVE SERVED ITSELF BETTER AS A MAGAZINE ARTICLE - THERE IS TOO MUCH REHASHING OF OLD