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2016 Books


Several books of interest to our readers were published in 2016. Here are some of the more notable ones:

Faustian Bargains: Lyndon Johnson and Mac Wallace in the Robber Baron Culture of Texas, by Joan Mellen. A deep dive into the dark side of Lyndon Johnson and his relationship with Mac Wallace, from the "stolen" 1948 Senate election to allegations that Wallace's fingerprints were found in the Texas School Book Depository. American History Magazine wrote: "FAUSTIAN BARGAINS stands apart from the latter-day run of LBJ books by distinguishing fact from opinion and primary from hearsay evidence, conscientiously not vaulting to conclusions and satisfying the author--and this reader--that Lyndon Johnson was a killer more than metaphorically."


The Reporter Who Knew Too Much: The Mysterious Death of What's My Line TV Star and Media Icon Dorothy Kilgallen, by Mark Shaw. An investigation into the mysterious death of journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, who was writing about Jack Ruby and the Warren Commission at the time of her death at age 52 on Nov. 8, 1965. From the publisher's description: "Was What's My Line TV Star, media icon, and crack investigative reporter and journalist Dorothy Kilgallen murdered for writing a tell-all book about the JFK assassination? If so, is the main suspect in her death still at large?"


CIA & JFK: The Secret Assassination Files, by Jefferson Morley. JFKFacts.org editor and author Jeff Morley "reveals deceit and deception on the part of the CIA relating to the Kennedy assassination and why the CIA should reveal to the American people what it is still keeping secret." Through interviews and examination of long-secret records, Morley discusses CIA surveillance of Oswald and its later efforts to keep its actions hidden from the Warren Commission and other investigations. Kindle and Audible only.


The Missing JFK Assassination Film: The Mystery Surrounding the Orville Nix Home Movie of November 22, 1963, by Gayle Nix Jackson. The author is the granddaughter of Orville Nix, whose Dealey Plaza film of the motorcade during the assassination is important if less remembered than Abraham Zapruder's. Gayle Nix Jackson relates the story of her grandfather's film and asks why the original is missing, why the FBI returned the camera in pieces, and why her grandfather believed that the existing film copies do not match the film he originally took.


The Polka Dot File on the Robert F. Kennedy Killing: The Paris Peace Talks Connection, by Fernando Faura. Students of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy may be familiar with the LAPD's aborted search for a girl in a "polka-dot dress", seen by campaign worker Sandy Serrano and several other witnesses in the company of alleged assassin Sirhan Sirhan. Journalist Fernando Fauro reviews that story in detail and adds to it with new research. Jim Douglass, author of JFK and the Unspeakable says: "The Polka Dot File is a gem in the field of RFK assassination research. Read it and learn."


Two Princes and a King: A Concise Review of Three Political Assassinations, by Carmine Savastano. This book covers the assassinations of John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr., and "reviews primary evidence that showcases deception, incompetence, and errors in the legal record." Larry Hancock writes that Savastano: "makes use of the most contemporary documentary evidence and research, kudos to him for tackling the myths along with the conspiracies."


Bulletins from Dallas: Reporting the JFK Assassination, by Bill Sanderson. UPI reporter Merriman Smith first broke the story of the shots in Dealey Plaza, and this book tells Smith's story. From the publisher's description: "Smith's scoop is journalism legend.....With access to a trove of Smith's personal letters and papers and through interviews with Smith's family and colleagues, veteran news reporter Bill Sanderson will crack open the legend. Bulletins from Dallas tells for the first time how Smith beat his competition on the story, and shows how the biggest scoop of his career foreshadowed his personal downfall."


He Was Expendable: National Security, Political and Bureaucratic Cover-Ups in the Murder of President John F. Kennedy, by James Kelleher. Kelleher re-examines both the scientific evidence and the lengthy history of disclosures in the Kennedy assassination to argue the case for a conspiracy and national-security cover-up. Former HSCA Chief Counsel G. Robert Blakey writes: "Kelleher's compelling new study includes a powerful reassessment of the knoll's witnesses (sound, smell, and sight) that shows a fourth shot.....It fully merits study."


Hit List: An In-Depth Investigation into the Mysterious Deaths of Witnesses to the JFK Assassination, by Richard Belzer and David Wayne. Comedian Richard Belzer and his co-author present a book-length examination of 50 "mysterious deaths" in the Kennedy assassination. The persons covered include Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Melba Marcades aka Rose Cherami, Dorothy Kilgallen, Guy Banister, Lee Bowers, Mary Meyer, Eladio del Valle, William Pitzer, William Sullivan, Johnny Roselli, Jimmy Hoffa, and dozens more.


Betrayal: A JFK Honor Guard Speaks, by Hugh Clark and William Law. William Law has written extensively about the JFK autopsy, and Hugh Clark was a member of the honor guard that escorted Kennedy's casket that night. Together they tell the extraordinary story of the honor guard's interaction with medical corspman at Bethesda Naval Center, who told the honor guard that Kennedy's body had already been received a half-hour before their arrival.


The Plot to Kill King: The Truth Behind the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., by Dr. William F. Pepper. William Pepper, who was James Earl Ray's lawyer at the time of Ray's death, writes again about the MLK assassination. From the publisher's summary: "This myth-shattering expose is a revised, updated, and heavily expanded volume of Pepper's original bestselling and critically acclaimed book Orders to Kill, with twenty-six years of additional research included. The result reveals dramatic new details of the night of the murder, the trial, and why Ray was chosen to take the fall for an evil conspiracy - a government-sanctioned assassination of our nation's greatest leader."


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