"The President Has Been Shot!": The Assassination of John F. Kennedy

The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, was "the great American tragedy," according to Swanson, whose clear and concisely written narrative highlights the key events of the Kennedy administration before focusing on the moment-by-moment details of the assassination. Part two of the narrative opens with Lee Harvey Oswald's background, an aerial-view photograph of Dealey Plaza in Dallas, a detailed map of the motorcade route, and images of the Texas School Book Depository, where Oswald perched, rifle in hand. With riveting text and well-selected photographs, the narrative proceeds with an account of the assassination, weaving in information from the now-famous Abraham Zapruder film and culminating with grisly hospital scenes. Everything is here but the matter of Oswald's motive. As Swanson states in the epilogue, "Whatever his motives, Oswald took them with him to the grave." The epilogue also considers conspiracy theories, the report from the Warren Commission, and how some people believe the Kennedy assassination ushered in a dark time that included an escalation of the Vietnam War, racial violence, and the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. Extensive back matter provides further information. dean schneider