Author: Richard Belzer
Published by Ballantine Books, New York (1999)
Amazon Purchase Info
This book isn't a new release by far---it was published in 1999---and it feels like its been on my Amazon Wishlist for nearly as long. It wasn't really a top priority for me in a sea of so many other awesome paranormal and weird history books, but it was on Book Outlet during their mega Black Friday sale, so I added it to the cart.
It turned out to be a good purchase!
It was a good purchase for me, but I should preface this by saying that this book probably isn't for everyone. Belzer was (and is) first and foremost a comedian and an actor. Also, this book is now 17 years old. Therefore, there is some dry and corny humor thrown it, and much of it is seriously dated. There were a couple of times I had to stop and think, 'Oh yeah. Bill Clinton was in office, lol. I get it now'. But aside from that, it was a good read.
The majority of the book discusses the JFK assassination and in my opinion, is a great primer for those who aren't well versed on the subject. Information is largely presented in side bar, snippet-type formatting, so it makes for a really quick read great for the ADHD crowd among us. Nothing goes too deep into detail, but there's just enough to get a pretty clear picture of the theories and research up to the date of the book's publication. And then things get weird.
There's a transitional section of the book that is largely like an homage to Jim Marrs, who I guess was the inspiration and the resource for this book and Belzer's interest in conspiracy theories. From then, there are some brief mentions of some other conspiracy theories, mostly dealing with UFO and space cover ups. It was interesting, but just a little...all over the map.
In summary, this book was good, but not great. It was a quick and interesting read for someone with an informal interest in conspiracy theory, especially the JFK assassination, but might be a little dated for today's younger reader.
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