Killing Kennedy
Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
By: Bill O’Reilly (& Martin Dugard)
”Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment, that was known as Camelot.”
If you want to read a whole book on the JFK assassination- don’t read this one. There’s only a small portion at the end dedicated to the actual event.
But, if you like history and don’t already know everything there is to know about JFK, this is an excellent book! It is similar to Clint Hill’s book ‘Five Presidents’ which I would also recommend. I realized I didn’t know much about JFK and his presidency so I found it all fairly fascinating.
I wouldn’t necessarily say this portrayed JFK in a positive light- the frequency and breadth of his affairs with his wife’s knowledge is pretty loathsome to me. And even the same issue with MLK Jr. was new info for me. As well as Sinatra’s mob connections. I also was intrigued by the animosity between the Kennedys and LBJ.
Although I am disturbed by a lot of his lifestyle, it was crazy to think of all the big national and international issues he had to deal with during his short time as president and you gotta give him some credit for all that! It takes a certain type of person to desire such a position of influence with so much at stake and with so many critics.
Sooo...yeah I learned a lot and googled a lot. I suppose with any book like this you wonder how they obtained some of this information, especially with personal conversations and feelings, etc. I’m not qualified to evaluate the credibility of his sources but a lot of the things I googled on my own seemed to check out. There’s obviously some dramatization but it helps bring facts to life.
I found it very entertaining and read it fairly quickly. It’s been too long since I’ve read Killing Lincoln to really compare the two, but I would highly recommend this book. Oh, I also need to point out that I have done virtually no research on all the theories surrounding the assassination so I did not read it with any intention of evaluating how it fits into all that. There’s so much that we just can’t know so I didn’t read it with critical eyes to that regard, doesn’t really matter to me at this point.
I will definitely read more of O’Reilly’s books like this- love me some history. Well done.