TARA SAID:
I have read many different reviews on Mr. Bugliosi's book, Reclaiming History. Most are very positive. My question then is: what will I get out of the book should I decide to invest the time reading it?
DAVID VON PEIN SAID:
Hi Tara,
If you decide to read "Reclaiming History" (and every person with a deep interest in the JFK case should definitely read it, in my opinion), you will be exposed to THE most comprehensive book about President Kennedy's assassination that has ever been published.
Virtually every JFK conspiracy theory is placed into the trash heap of history by Mr. Bugliosi (which is, of course, where all of those theories have belonged in the first place). And Vince provides ample citations (and common sense) to back up what he says--every step of the way.
You'll also be treated to some first-rate humor, as Bugliosi skewers and lampoons everybody from David Lifton to John Armstrong to Oliver Stone to Jim Garrison to a crazy Government photographer named Joe O'Donnell. (I recently started a forum thread about O'Donnell's lies and fairy tales; CLICK HERE for that.)
Naturally, almost all conspiracy theorists strongly disagree with the things I've said above about Mr. Bugliosi's magnificent book known as "Reclaiming History". But, to borrow part of a quote from one of my favorite fellow LNers, "Bud" (I think I got most of this from Bud anyway) --- The irrational and speculative ramblings of a bunch of conspiracy kooks couldn't possibly matter less in the long run.
Bud also offered up the following very good evaluation of the "kooks" who populate forums like alt.conspiracy.jfk:
"The [JFK conspiracy] kooks have all the advantages. They can attack our [lone assassin] position, because we have one. They don't. They can put shooters anywhere. We can't. They can exploit any discrepancies, errors, omissions, ambiguities, anything poorly worded, etc. We can't.
In a human endeavor like this case, a large amount of these things are bound to exist. They exist in anything humans do. Only in this case, a great effort has been made to exploit this inevitability. Wherever there is desire, this can be done. Whatever humans produce can be criticized (see the 9-11 conspiracy kooks for confirmation).
They raise issues with the [Zapruder] film. When an effort is made to address these issues, they both criticize the effort, and raise further issues. They raise issues with the trajectories. When efforts are made that tackle these issues, they merely criticize the effort.
[...]
You [DVP] and Jean Davison do a better job than most in fighting kooks on the terms they choose. My take is that the problems of the case don't lie with the case itself, but with the kooks. That is where the focus needs to be, at the source of the problem, not at its many manifestations.
[...]
More study needs to be done on the phenomenon of kookiness. That is the root. It can be seen all over the internet, and you can find some study on it, but they really just nibble around the edges. A real in-depth study needs to be done on personality types and the belief in stupid things.
[...]
The question is, why are CT [conspiracy theorists] so devoid of common sense, and unable to think reasonably?" -- Bud; June 11, 2006
Back to "Reclaiming History" ---
I think you will enjoy Vince Bugliosi's book immensely, Tara, if you choose to
read it.
Or, instead of reading the whole 2,800-page book (including the endnotes on the CD-ROM disc), you could just save your money and read my review of the book (linked below). My review is only 2,500 pages long. ~wink~
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David Von Pein
June 2, 2009
