Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln.
The basis for the 2013 television movie of the same name starring Rob Lowe as JFK.More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the iconic anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy--and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath. In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States. Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy. In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody. The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader.
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
I don't like Bill O'Reilly much but he is an excellent author and a careful researcher. I really enjoyed this bookk-on-tape.
This book is written in a breathless, almost tabloid style, and I enjoyed the fast pace of the writing. It is as much about the evolution of John Kennedy and his leadership style as it is about the assassination of Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald. O'Reilly comes down clearly on the side that Oswald acted alone, and shows how the FBI failed to see Oswald's danger, even thought they had him in his sights.
O'Reilly devotes considerable time to Kennedy's philandering, Mafia ties, and his bungling of the Bay of Pigs, and the near hatred between Bobby Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. It all makes for a fast, entertaining quick look at this slice of American history.
The conspiracy that seems to me that O'Reilly raises is not about Oswald's killing Kennedy; it's his mentioning how Marilyn Monroe's death was pronounced a suicide by overdose of pills, though her stomach was empty. She had been distraught over the president's dumping her after a weekend affair, and with the 1964 campaign on everyone's mind, it fell to Bobby Kennedy (who may also have had an affair with her) to keep her quiet. His Mafia ties were still strong. I was left wondering more about whether this was a murder versus suicide rather than wondering if Oswald acted alone in ending "Camelot."
O'Reilly devotes considerable time to Kennedy's philandering, Mafia ties, and his bungling of the Bay of Pigs, and the near hatred between Bobby Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. It all makes for a fast, entertaining quick look at this slice of American history.
The conspiracy that seems to me that O'Reilly raises is not about Oswald's killing Kennedy; it's his mentioning how Marilyn Monroe's death was pronounced a suicide by overdose of pills, though her stomach was empty. She had been distraught over the president's dumping her after a weekend affair, and with the 1964 campaign on everyone's mind, it fell to Bobby Kennedy (who may also have had an affair with her) to keep her quiet. His Mafia ties were still strong. I was left wondering more about whether this was a murder versus suicide rather than wondering if Oswald acted alone in ending "Camelot."
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.