The Search for Lee Harvey Oswald: A Comprehensive Photographic Record

Oswald is the subject of a number of recent books, but this is the first one that gives to his strange life the kind of photographic attention that has often been lavished on the Kennedy assassination itself-most notably by Groden in The Killing of a President. But although his labors must have been remarkable, and he has come up with dozens of pictures never seen before, it is difficult to see what this book hopes to accomplish. The text, except for a few curious emphases-Grodin spends much more space and detail on the killing of police officer J.D. Tippitt than on the assassination itself, and gives by far the longest and most detailed account ever of the efforts to save Oswald's life after he was shot by Ruby-adds little that is not already known. Often the pictures-of Oswald in Russia, in the marines, and arcana such as a shot of the Moscow hotel bath where he attempted suicide-seem to be included only because they were available, not because they shed light on his mysteries. And sometimes the captions talk about matters, or name people, not even mentioned in the text; at other times (the scenes in the garage before Ruby fired) they seem tendentious. (Nov.)