Killing Kennedy and the Hoax of the Century: And the Hoax of the Century

Livingstone (High Treason; High Treason 2) is becoming the Grand Old Man of Kennedy assassination literature. Dogged and persistent, and with endless patience with niggling details, particularly involving the medical evidence, he has now turned his attention to the Zapruder film of the assassination that is the source of so much speculation by both lone-killer-Oswald and multi-shooter-conspiracy camps. Aided by what seems like impressive technical examination, frame by frame, of the surprisingly many versions of the macabre home movie available, Livingston is convinced, along with his experts, that parts of the film as publicly shown are faked. They find that frames have been eliminated and that certain visual effects involving the impact of the shots have been cleverly added to the film-presumably with the aim of eliminating the possibility of shots from elsewhere than Oswald's alleged window. The book also tellingly dwells on the conflicts between the various doctors' evidence of the Kennedy autopsy, and the X-rays and photographs that were released. A chapter is devoted-mostly by way of assaults from other assassination buffs-to attacking Gerald Posner's Case Closed. Like many assassination theorists, however, Livingstone weakens his presentation by maudlin appeals to the spirit of Camelot. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)