Customer Reviews

Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy

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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

Jim Marrs' Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy, published in 1989, still offers, in my opinion, the best introduction to the JFK assassination newbie. It was not the first book on the subject I read, but I wish it would have been. The book I picked up first dove deep into some very specific aspects of the case, and a pretty comprehensive overview of the assassination and the theories offered as to the truth about it would have made my initial plunge much easier. Not only does Marrs seek to bring together and distill the bulk of information out there, he does so in an orderly and systematic fashion. Part One looks at the assassination itself: the motorcade route and security, the movements of JFK and John Connolly at the time they were hit, the accounts of all manner of witnesses in and around Dealey Plaza, a detailed look at activity in and around the Texas School Book Depository as well as the Grassy Knoll, etc. In Part Two, he pontificates on the motives and means of all of the most likely culprits behind the murder: Lee Harvey Oswald, the Soviet Union, pro-Castro as well as anti-Castro Cuban exiles, the Mafia, the CIA, the FBI, big business (especially oil), right-wing extremists, and the military. In Part Three, he examines all manner of evidence with a critical eye. The chaotic aftermath of the shooting offers up much food for thought in terms of unusual sightings and events, not the least of which is the murder of Officer Tippet and the movements of Lee Harvey Oswald from the time of the assassination to his capture in a local movie theatre. Jack Ruby's history and links to organized crime are threshed out, revealing many intriguing possibilities about the possible extent of Ruby's role in events. Marrs then attacks the basic foundations of the Warren Commission analysis, going into a good bit of detail about the probably forgery of incriminating photographs of Oswald, revealing unforgivably sloppy breakdowns in the chain of evidence, easily explaining how the bullet that miraculously appeared essentially intact on a stretcher in Dallas could not possibly have done all the damage the Warren Commission's "magic bullet" officially did. From there, he explores Jim Garrison's case against Clay Shaw for conspiring to kill the president and goes on to summarize the workings and findings of the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979. Only at the conclusion of the book does he express in a straightforward manner his own theory as to what happened.

Crossfire just offers one important piece of information after another, easily preparing the way for the reader to pursue a more detailed study of the assassination. Marrs is not totally objective at all times, yet he does touch upon just about every important facet of what is a most complicated case. The number of coincidences and links between different suspect groups is nothing short of incredible, and you really need to have an understanding of how, for example, the CIA and Mafia were linked together in efforts to kill Castro, how Oswald's possible role in intelligence plays into different scenarios, etc., in order to come to terms with all of the theories out there. The medical evidence in this case is amazingly frustrating and controversial, and one can get lost without an understanding of the differences in the testimony of employees of Parkland Hospital in Dallas and the findings of the undeniably unprofessional and sloppy (not to mention illegal) autopsy. Marrs isn't afraid to summarize the most controversial of opinions, which can help the assassination novice look out for potential landmines in his/her further reading.

In his concluding chapter, Marrs finally offers what he believes is a possible scenario to explain all of the facts he has attempted to address in the main body of the book. He in no way presents these ideas as facts or probabilities. He goes farther than some Warren Commission critics go, pointing fingers of potential culpability at a significant number of different groups somehow coming together to eliminate a man each group had reasons for opposing; he clearly sees the assassination in terms of a coup d'etat with some level of complicity (be it passive or active) at the highest levels of government. Many, including myself, find this to be a little far-fetched, but Marrs' personal theory does not get in the way of all the facts he presents throughout the book. Anyone who accepts the official story of the tragedy without question will naturally find fault with Marrs for his differing conclusions, but those willing to examine the case with an open mind will find much food for thought in this remarkable book. There are no footnotes to be found here, but Marrs lists a significant number of sources alongside a selected reading list. Basically, this book prepares you for a more detailed look at all of the evidence, making this an invaluable introductory guidebook to the tangled world of JFK assassination theorizing.

I first read this book over a year ago and recently bought my own copy. The wealth of detail, the multitude of witnesses who saw something but were not questioned or were intimidated by the questioners, the endless connections and cross connections of the FBI, CIA, the Mob, military intelligence and the so, so obvious questions that should have been asked by investigators and the Warren commission that not only were not asked, but they turned away those who had answers.... all these and more make it so obvious that there was a conspiracy and a coverup! Mr Marrs does an excellent job of presenting a tremendous amount of information. If this subject intrigues you at all, I promise you.... you won't be disappointed in it's content. You will alternately be amazed, angry and frightened as well at the inescapable conclusions you can not avoid about our government, leaders and our national security... as well as our own personal security. It is chilling! I remember the events! of those days and nothing in this book contradicts any thing which I heard and observed at the time and it corroborates a number of things which I was sure I remembered noticing during the aftermath of the asassination. I believe this book to be factual and accurate as much as any could be written by someone was not a part of the conspiracy. Only the conspiritors and those who did the coverup can know more!

Mr. Marrs presents a very indepth study of the circumstances & events surrounding the death of JFK. It is well written and intriguing. Any intelligent, educated, open minded person has to conclude that the truth as told by the government & the Warren Commission is NOT the truth at all. It is very hard to say what exactly happened. We the public will never know the entire truth. But if you read this book with an open mind (that is important) you must conclude that there is definitely more to it & our government is guilty of lying to its people along with many other crimes.

In this book, Jim Marrs tries to present the many theories about the assassination of President Kennedy, no matter how realistic or laughable. The book tries to cover its topic exhaustively, and gives you an idea of the full gamut of theories about the J.F.K. assassination.

Probably the best statement to make about the book is what the author wrote at the beginning of his Preface: "Do not trust this book. In fact, when it comes to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, don't trust any one source or even the basic evidence and testimony..."

Mr. Marrs begins the book by giving a wide variety of witness statements. Some of it is contradictory, some of it is very thoughtful, and some of it is plain ludicrous. While I found this section interesting, I found the fact that he gave equal weight to statements made shortly after the event as he did statements that weren't made until years - sometimes decades - after the assassination.

The second part of the book outlines the possible suspects for the crime - giving their means, motives and opportunities. This was my favorite part of the book. Not only did he list the possible subjects (Oswald, USSR, Cuba, Mob, CIA, FBI, LBJ, Nixon, etc.) but he gave a brief history of the person or organization. I found it extremely fascinating to learn about the history of the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover, the formation of the Secret Service, how their powers evolved, etc. If I were reviewing the book on this section alone, it probably would have received 5 stars.

The third section of the book discusses consequences and occurences after the assassination. These include the Warren Commission, Ruby killing Oswald, the irregularities around the autopsy records, the Garrison investigation, etc. This section was interesting and did create a lot of questions.

The final section outlines the author, Jim Marrs, hypothesis about what really happened in Dealey Plaza that fateful day. As I'm sure Mr. Marrs realized, this section is sure to cause a lot of arguments.

All in all, Mr. Marrs has created a very interesting and fairly well written book about the Kennedy assassination. He definitely is in the camp of the conspiracy theorists, but then most people who would read this book are probably also in that camp. I do have 2 significant problems with the book: 1) I don't feel that his conclusions presented at the end of the book are supported by the evidence that he provides within the book. 2) I don't agree with his reasoning for not footnoting within the text. Mr. Marrs states (in the introduction to the sources and notes section at the back of the book) that he did not want to footnote within the text, because he thought it would impede upon the flow of ideas. I did not find this statement until I was almost done with the book. I was very frustrated because there were a number of things that he mentioned in the book that I would like to have looked up the original source - unfortunately, it is very difficult to go back and find the items that I wanted to look up.

If you are interested in the J.F.K. assassination, you will probably enjoy this book. However, keep in mind the author's own warning about trusting this book alone!

I just finished this book, and won't comment on its positives and negatives, as so many have already done that.

However, it is worth reading IMO due to loads of new evidence that has surfaced regarding the mob & the CIA (much of which supports Marrs).

It's also worth reading as you see that the motives & influence of the military-industrial complex are alive and well in 2005.

War is big business. WWII required a build up in the armaments industries never before seen, and just like any other business or animal, survival is key - no war meant they were going out of business, so wars had to continue, it's as simple as that.

I'm not a ballistic expert, nor was I there, but unless Marrs actually changed quotes, there is no way on Earth you can accept the lone-assassin theory at face value, there is way too much contradiction from the various law enforcement personnel.

And I struggle to accept that if Oswald was the lone assassin, why were most of the files buried until 2039?

That's obscene! Let the truth come out, then we can finally put this sad chapter of our history to rest.

If anyone wants to see a book that makes this look like kiddie material, I highly recommend Gold Warriors, which traces the funding of the CIA back to the end of WWII and recovered Japanese war loot (which was never returned):

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1859845428/qid=1124301133/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i3_xgl14/002-8622474-3417626?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

In Crossfire Jim Marrs has produced a virtual encyclopaedia for the conspiracy minded. No theory is ignored however unusual or implausible, he investigates the involvement of the Mafia, the CIA, & the FBI, as well as putting individuals such as Lyndon Johnson under the microscope. His research is careful, if a little one sided, and his conclusions seem to have been arrived at through logical examination of the evidence, even if he has been selective with the evidence he chooses to examine.

What he does best is ask questions, many of which we will have come across before, How did Oswald manage what no expert marksman has since? Why would Oswald have contracted Gonorrhoea in the line of duty? How is it that Oswald was able to speak fluent Russian, without the trace of an accent, if he taught himself from books? Why did more people originally feel that shots were fired from the grassy knoll than the depository? The list of such ponderables is too long to do justice to.

Do not expect to follow a simple theory however, if you were to believe everything that is written about, and every avenue explored, you would arrive at the conclusion that almost everyone killed Kennedy, and that there were more assassins there that day than bystanders! Marrs leaves nothing out, and that is part of its charm.

One criticism aired is that the Warren commission did not set out to find the actual assassin, rather to reassure everyone that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone , and that there was no conspiracy, they twisted evidence to suit their conclusion rather than objectively evaluating evidence. I am afraid this might just as well be a criticism of Crossfire. I am no expert in this area but I found it easy to find instances where Marrs had included evidence, which has been shown to be false. A case in point would be the letter allegedly written by Oswald to a Mr Hunt, Marrs captions this letter, reproduced within crossfire as a photograph, as having been proven to be in Oswald's handwriting. In truth experts agreed that whilst the handwriting seemed to be consistent with Oswalds he had seemingly spelt his own name wrong, and that the care taken to write this was suggestive of the fact that this was written to look like it was by Oswald! Marrs also paraphrases Ruby's request to be moved to Washington to make it appear as though he is afraid that he is in danger from other conspirators when in fact he actually asked to be moved to Washington to prove he was not part of any such conspiracy. Despite its obvious flaws, Marrs never questions the credibility of any pro conspiracy witness, but does more comprehensively question those who seemed to give evidence supporting the lone assassin theory. This remains an epic work which demands the reader form an opinion, and does much to put the case for the much maligned conspiracist. You may find that you begin to question whether you knew anything at all before you read this.

I purchased this book for my own personal research and it proved to be quite a good buy. Jim Marrs basically cut the book into 4 seperate parts: The Kill Zone, Means motives and opportunities, Aftermath and Conclusions. Its a very good book for someone who is just beginning to read up on the JFK assassination because it goes into great depth about each situation, character, evidence and possible conspiracy set-ups. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Jim Marr's book is a virtual encyclopedia on the Kennedy assassination, and is a must read for anybody really interested in the assassination. He mentions most of the ideas that a concerned citizen might have in exploring the maze left by the debacle known as the Warren Commission. This book should be read by all concerned Americans looking for the truth behind the assassination.

I truely enjoyed reading this book. A must read for anyone who is interested in the assassination of JFK. The way that the author has put togther all of the information was great and he covered almost every conspiracy theory. This book definitely gave credance to the idea that a conspiracy in fact, took place.

I read bits and pieces of this book for 6 months until I had read from cover to cover. It goes into the abckground of the assasination, the principal players, and explores possible theories about who did it, the problems with each theory, and the strengths of each theory as well. This book is perfect for both the newbies with JFK assasination material, and the seasoned "buff". I cannot recommend this book any higher! A MUST READ!