Sailing in a Sea of Words

Book: Four Days in November - The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy

Author: Vincent Bugliosi

Genre: Non-Fiction/U.S History/Assassinations

Summary: Four Days in November is an extraordinarily exciting, precise, and definitive narrative of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald. It is drawn from Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a monumental and historic account of the event and all the conspiracy theories it spawned, by Vincent Bugliosi, legendary prosecutor of Charles Manson and author of Helter Skelter. For general readers, the carefully documented account presented in Four Days is utterly persuasive: Oswald did it and he acted alone. -W.W. Norton, 2007.

I have never read a recreation of an event that was so detailed and thoroughly researched. Bugliosi is one of the most thorough researchers and chroniclers I have seen. I have the highest respect for his work and I want to read more of it. I got this book in D.C. when I visited Arlington National Cemetery. The detail intrigued me and I was curious to see how much I would glean from it.

This isn't your average Kennedy Assassination book. Bugliosi details every action and word that was taken or said by everyone involved. This isn't even the full book. Four Days in November only recounts the assassination and aftermath. The full book, Reclaiming History, also goes in and debunks every conspiracy theory about the assassination. There are over two thousand cited notes and an enormous bibliography. He even conducted interviews with some of the law enforcement officers and government officials. I am extremely impressed and this book will be the first one I recommend to anyone who wants to know more about the assassination.

The writing isn't melodramatic. It's just cold, hard facts. It feels weird that in the span of all of this detail, Kennedy is dead before you even reach a hundred pages. The first day alone is over three hundred pages in a book that's slightly over five hundred pages. It's strange to quantify an event like this in this way, but those were the little details I noticed.

I learned a ton of details I had never noticed or considered until now. It quite literally changed my thoughts about the assassination. Again, I highly recommend this book. It's probably the best book on the JFK assassination that's out there. I'm glad I read it.

I give Four Days in November - The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy an A+.

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