THE MAN WHO KILLED KENNEDY

Another in the long line of JFK assassination conspiracy books.

The first sentence in the book is: "I recognize that those who question the government's official contentions regarding the assassination of John F. Kennedy are labeled by many in the mainstream media as 'nuts,' 'kooks' and worse." Stone—who shares a byline with journalist Colapietro but writes very personally throughout—uses the rest of the preface to explain why he believes his personal knowledge of political players makes him different. Unfortunately, he shoots himself in the foot. He certainly has political chops, but his pro–Richard Nixon bias is extreme. Further, he seems to hate Lyndon Johnson purely out of Nixon loyalty. After introducing himself, Stone’s writing lacks the cohesion that would make his argument believable. He presents conclusions as a given long before presenting his supporting evidence and jumps from topic to topic and scene to scene with few transitions. In one memorable section about how Nixon learned of the assassination, Stone inserts a few paragraphs midstory about Johnson trying to keep Nixon from winning in 1968. In the end, readers are unsure of how Nixon’s lines of communication have anything to do with who killed Kennedy and are left wondering why a former Democratic president wouldn’t try to keep a Republican from winning the position. Stone does present some compelling evidence for his argument, but the scattered format and hatred for Johnson make it difficult to focus on those portions. He is at his most clear and convincing when simply pointing out the likelihood that there was some conspiracy afoot in the assassination rather than trying to prove that Johnson was at the helm.

Stone may be right, but his book is unlikely to convince anyone who doesn’t already agree.