cover image A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination

A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination

Philip Shenon. Holt, $32 (640p) ISBN 978-0-805094-20-6

This sober and powerful book, in spite of its headline-grabbing subtitle, is more a secret history of the Warren Commission than a secret history of the J.F.K. assassination itself. As in his The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation, Shenon, a former New York Times reporter, affords the reader access to the behind-the-scenes deliberations and dynamics that shaped a historic inquiry into a national trauma. Positive word about Shenon%E2%80%99s first book prompted a prominent lawyer%E2%80%94who had been a young investigator on the Warren Commission%E2%80%94to ask Shenon to tell the story of the commission%E2%80%99s staff, %E2%80%9Cthe then young lawyers who did the actual detective work in 1964.%E2%80%9D The result is likely to frustrate both those who are adamant that a conspiracy was behind the killing, and those convinced that the Warren Commission got everything right. Shenon successfully portrays the unethical approach of the most prominent early conspiracy theorist, Mark Lane, and rigorously avoids speculating beyond what the evidence demonstrates. But the combination of destroyed records, unpursued investigative leads, and lies by senior government officials%E2%80%94%E2%80%9Cmost especially at the CIA%E2%80%9D%E2%80%94will leave most reasonable readers unsettled as to whether the truth has yet been discovered. Maps and photos. (Oct.)