The Dark Side of Camelot

Rating:
Summary: Not A Tragedy, An Obscene Farce
Review: 58,000 Americans died in Vietnam as part of this spoiled, sick, child's 1964 re-election strategy. South Vietnam's President Diem was murdered because he was negotiating a separate peace that would have ended the war at a time that less than 100 Americans had died in combat there. But that would have made JFK look soft on Communism, so he had to go. Weep for Diem; do not weep for Kennedy. An excellent book. A necesary book. We should hold a national day of mourning and reparation. 58,000 lives, what a waste.

Rating:
Summary: hmm.....i already read the richard reeves book
Review: I actually didn't read the book but skimmed it at Borders because they have the most comfortable chairs to crash in. Haven't we heard enough about this guy. Geez. And [e-mail], whoever you are, get a grip. You're supposed to review the book not offer up another lame conspiracy theory. Go take your neglected wife to dinner and turn off the computer already.

Rating:
Summary: A very informative, revealing, and confirming investigation
Review: I would give it an 8 1/2. Superior. Anything can be better, I suppose, and there are polished jewels produced by unusual intellects (example--The Anatomy of The Nuremburg Trial by Telford Taylor) which I browse through over time and draw literary and in my case legal inspiration. But in its genre this book of investigative reporting deserves high marks. I note the range of reactions to it, both in the Amazon reviews and in the general media--indicating it has touched nerves, both pro and anti Kennedy. I lived through the Kennedy years, which was one reason I bought the book. I feel I have some insight into the period merely by dint of living then and reading the newspapers then, watching the TV, sensing the popular reaction to events, and touching base with my own reactions to events. I saw Kennedy driving up Broadway in an open car (premonitions of Dallas in retrospect) in Oakland, California, in the early 60's. I noted that the exposure in the convertible car was offset by the fact he was traveling about 40 mph. I think his trip through Dallas, by the way, was also at about 40 mph, SOP (standard operating procedure, as they say in the military). But, speed notwithstanding, and to dwell for a moment on the digression, Oswald had an easy shot. Much has been said about his skill as a U.S. Marine trained marksman. I have never seen anyone comment on the fact, obvious to any marksman or hunter, that he was shooting at a target moving directly away from him and below him. Kennedy was almost a stationary target. Even more, Oswald didn't have to track his target except in the left-right axis. A bullet sent down the left-right slot would have a very high probability of hitting the target, which was vertical. The bullet would lift, meaning it would hit higher than the weapon was sighted in for (unless it was sighted in downhill, an unlikely although in review an intelligent preparation) because gravity would not act as much on the weight of the bullet since it was not traveling at a 90 degree angle to the surface. What this means is that Oswald only had to align the muzzle with the left-right axis, and he had a target about five feet high, (and 18 inches wide). He could hardly miss. Consider the obverse. Kennedy is traveling across Oswald's sight picture. Then Oswald has a much tougher shot. He has to move the muzzle tracking the target, and the target is only 18 inches wide, instead of 5 feet high. I think your readers will indulge this digression. I have never seen these simple observations, obvious to anyone familiar with marksmanship, mentioned in any of the many books written on the subject. Hersh has been attacked as credulous and worse. Amazon reviewers call his book "trash." I think that is, at the least, overstatement, the sort of overstatement that leads one to question the objectivity of the reviewer. Indeed, there is a projective quality to this overstatement--after all, the thesis of Hersh's book is that Kennedy is trash. Charismatic, intelligent, but morally deficient. Along with his pit bull-loyal family members. Many leaders in this century have been charismatic and intelligent. That is a practical requirement. Examples can be readily found which I would rather not compare to John Kennedy. Hersh's larger point, I think, is that there must also be a personal moral component in the leader. Lacking that, his effectiveness degrades. To put it the other way round, gross immorality in the leader is a fatal defect. Hersh proves, I think, defense carping aside, that Kennedy was guilty of gross immorality. Sexual, of course. But more importantly ethical. By which I mean, immorality in his personal relations with other persons in a non-sexual context. This includes political behavior which goes beyond the normally conceded bare-knuckles political rules of conduct. Hersh lays out his research before the reader. As he has said repeatedly under attack recently, he stands behind his book and his research. The articles I have seen attacking Mr. Hersh's book seem less straightforward than Mr. Hersh himself. The authors of these articles would like to believe Mr. Hersh has some sort of hidden agenda against Jack Kennedy. But Hersh's critics instead reveal, it seems to me, an agenda of their own against an author who has the temerity to say the emperor wore no clothes.

Rating:
Summary: GET REAL
Review: As if the first conspiracy were not enough more mediocre trash about JFK. So what's the point?Could it be people are finally finding out who really wanted JFK dead and why??? Kennedy not Johnson declared the WAR on poverty. Before he died he printed 5.5 BILLION in United States Notes to finance that WAR, not Vietnam mind you, but the War on poverty. United States Notes (Legal tender for all debts public and private) We are talking 5.5 Billion dollars in money without a Federal reserve stamp. 5.5 Billion dollars that every Bank in the Country was going to have to make change for and deal with day in and day out and not be able to charge a dimes worth of interest on because it was not FEDERAL RESEVRE MONEY!!! ??? What could be worse??? The guy couldn't keep his U NO WHAT in his pants. But he never did near the damage that the fascist's that murdered him have>

Rating:
Summary: History, Journalism or Tabloidism?
Review: Seymour Hersh presents his bid to become the Oliver Stone of print media in his much-anticipated Dark Side of Camelot. To hear Hersh tell it, JFK and his brother Bobby were alternately best buddies and bitter enemies with J.Edgar Hoover, Mafia chieftains and the CIA. Hersh spins a confusing tale of sex, spies, and money laundering by tying one isolated fact to another. When he lacks a second source to support a claim, he resorts to convoluted logic instead. While the author purports to be writing a revisonist history of the Kennedy Presidency, unlike genuine scholarly studies, the broader context of the era is often ignored. Hersh's book will be momentarily titilating to those of us who grew up during the Kennedy years, but ultimately, it leaves many questions unanswered. If JFK soiled the bedsheets of so many rich married women--including the spouses of foreign diplomats-- how is it that not one of their cuckolded husbands raised a stink? Why should we suppose, furthermore, that Jackie would have been ignorant of these affairs, as Hersh claims? If Joseph Kennedy Sr. had actually used his fortune to steal the 1960 election in so many different ways, how was it possible to keep so many Republicans or even independent skeptics silent for so many years--that is, until Mr. Hersh ambled by? Why would they suddenly reveal their secrets to him? Finally, the book is not so much a carefully reasoned account of the Kennedy era as it is a collection of disjointed investigative news articles that are repetitious, redundant and ultimately reckless. Despite the intense marketing of the book--reminiscent of a Hollywood blockbuster movie--this dog's bark is worse than its bite.

Rating:
Summary: Worth passing up !!!
Review: I found the author repeating the same information over and over in different sections of the book. I'am more disappointed with myself for picking up the book than what the author wrote --- in another words, this is a good one to pass up.

Rating:
Summary: Exposing Camelot's Golden Boy
Review: Finally a book that exposes the truths about the deceit, depravity, and debauchery of Camelot. It is criminal that tens of thousands of lives were sacrificed in Vietnam to prove the manhood of the Boy Wonder. Too bad his manhood was not to be found during the Bay of Pigs Liberation.

Rating:
Summary: A very fine book- the truth revealed at last
Review: we finally know the truth about JFK and his obscene behavior. Suddenly we know where Ted Kennedy gets his lack of morals. Hopefully the human robots so in love with this deviant man will read this fine book and cure their obsession with him. A brillant book about a very sick member of a very sick family

Rating:
Summary: This book is pure trash
Review: The only reason I didn't give this a rating of 1 is because this guy may write another book. I hate to think that this trashy book cost the lives of perfectly good trees. The only value to be realized from this will come from the fact that it is biodegradable.

Rating:
Summary: Another sourceless meal for vultures of gossip.
Review: Gossips, like vultures, like their meat rancid. Here's a perfect meal for the vacuous minds that sustain themselves on junk food like this. Hersh is a gossip with few real sources and no concern for journalistic integrity. Most of those who read this will ooh and aah about it like it was factual. A lazy mind deserves what it's fed. Enjoy your rancid meal.