High Treason 2 (No. 2) [Paperback]

Harrison Edward Livingstone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 1993

This book's nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list reflects the public's need to know the facts of the assassination of JFK. The author's new evidence and astute analysis point toward a conspiracy to kill JFK, the act itself, and the cover-up that followed. Illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In its exhaustive examination of the medical evidence and its over-emotional comments on Kennedy's lifestyle, this volume represents both the best and the worst aspects of the assassination cover-up genre. It spent two weeks on PW 's hardcover bestseller list in cloth.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This sequel to High Treason (Conservatory Pr., 1989), cowritten with Robert J. Groden, expands on its predecessor's thesis that JFK's autopsy pictures were faked. Three basic flaws mar Livingstone's argument. Like Philip H. Melanson's Spy Saga: Lee Harvey Oswald and U.S. Intelligence ( LJ 11/1/90), Livingstone here assumes the reader has a great deal of prior knowledge. In addition, frequent authorial asides impede the flow of the story. Thirdly, Livingstone's tendency to sprinkle the text with irrelevant insults provides more heat than light. Joining the ranks of conspiracy theorists Mark Lane ( Plausible Denial , LJ 11/1/91) and Mark North ( Act of Treason , LJ 11/1/91), the author does put together a strong body of evidence pointing toward a domestic coup d'etat (a la JFK ). More uniquely, he looks into the research cottage industry that has grown up around the assassinations of JFK, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr. Recommended for extensive collections on the JFK assassination and libraries that already hold High Treason .
- Randall L. Schroeder, Augustana Coll. Lib., Rock Island, Ill.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 656 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (August 8, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786700173
• ISBN-13: 978-0786700172
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #850,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good But Sometimes Gets Off Track., June 22, 2002

By 

Mr. Fellini "Fellini" (Orange County, California United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: High Treason 2 (No. 2) (Paperback)

Harrison Edward Livingston is certainly right in saying that a conspiracy killed John F. Kennedy. There is too much evidence that proves something strange and suspicious was going on in Dallas on November 22, 1963 and in Washington. His book, "High Treason 2," a follow-up to the bestseller "High Treason" which Livingston wrote in collaboration with renowned JFK assassination expert Robert Groden, is both an informative, eye-opening investigative work and a slippery search for facts and answers. The areas dealing with the medical evidence are meticulous and very important with it's testimonies and detailed accounts of Kennedy's wounds and the evidence that the shot that killed him came from the front. There is a good deal of evidence that Martin Luthor King Jr.'s assassination was also plotted and Livingston provides some interesting insights into the FBI's harrassment of King at the hands of J.Edgar Hoover. He also makes you wonder about the facts behind the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the attempt on George Wallace. However, Livingston's fault is that he writes with a saintly-look at Kennedy and gets too paranoid at times. I can buy that King, Kennedy and Wallace were victims of shady doings, but to also say the attempts on Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan were results of conspiracies is a little too out there. Also the notion that even the Zapruder film is fake evidence makes for too much paranoia. But what shows Livingston to be more of a radical than just an investigator is his attack on Oliver Stone and "JFK," claiming the movie is damaging to researchers when in fact, it aided in the release of more documents and many researchers, including Robert Groden (who even consulted on Stone's film) have called it a brilliant collage of assassination research material gathered by those trying to prove a conspiracy. Livingston also goes on to attack Jim Garrison, who in my opinion, is a social hero for speaking out and even pushed for the Zapruder film to be shown in colleges so young people would start asking questions. It is easier in this paranoia-driven age, when events like Watergate, Iran Contra and others have made our trust in the government dissimate, for Livingston to speak his ideas and conclusions. Garrison was one of the first to speak out publicly in a time when government conspiracy was still seen as an impossibility by a lot of ordinairy Americans and the government had an easier time shutting people up. He also denounces L.Flether Prouty and his claims eventhough Prouty worked in the intelligence community and military industrial complex for many years, Livingston hasn't. While he is an investigator, Prouty actually lived it. That said, "High Treason 2" in the end is well-written, with some good information and it sure works better than Gerald Posner's "Case Closed," a fascist piece of lies. Livingston has uncovered a lot of valuable things, but once in a while, he tries to put too much icing on the cake, or case.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Retrospection on the Assassination, June 26, 2002

By 

Acute Observer (By the Shore NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Treason 2 (No. 2) (Paperback)

This 1992 book is very readable and contains many interesting essays that may educate you. Chapter 1 tells how HEL remembers the 1950s. The election of JFK made a difference due to the people; the times they were a-changing. Pages 43-4 tells of the "bureaucratic phenomenon" but doesn't ask if any clique or secret society is responsible. Chapter 2 tells of JFK's medical history. He quotes the curious comments of Dr. Humes on the adrenal glands (pp. 55-6). There would be no reason for covering up any Addison's disease. HEL suggests the use of cortisone by JFK affected his personality: euphoria, strength, endurance, warmth, and libido (p.59).

Chapter 3 tells certain findings are conclusive: the back of the head is missing (p.71). If the photographs and X-rays don't show this, they are forgeries. Or from another body. HEL derides the theory that "the Mob killed Kennedy" on the grounds that they couldn't do a cover-up. But their controllers could! Chapter 5 discusses the events at Bethesda. The face in some of the autopsy photographs does not look like JFK, but of a younger man (p.135). Chapter 6 discusses the conflicts of the autopsy. This is one of the most important chapters in the book!

Chapter 14 tells of the discussion for a 1991 documentary. "The large hole in the back of the head was an exit wound" (p.287). These witnesses insisted there was not entry wound in the back of the head (p.293). Chapter 16 quotes the House Committee report that the authenticity of the photographs was never established (p. 314-6). Chapter 19 discusses some other major political killings following the assassination of JFK. HEL notes that if George Wallace ran for President he would have taken enough votes from Nixon so McGovern would have won (p.403). Friends of this lone gunman soon died or disappeared (p.407). More potential witnesses were bumped off when the House Assassination Committee started in 1977 (p.414). Page 418 summarizes the bottom line of American political history.

Chapter 20 summarizes the changes in America since the Nixon and Reagan reigns (p.422); it doesn't cover the 1990s. Page 458 claims the Schoolbook Depository rifle was not fired that day (from negative evidence)! Chapter 24 discusses JFK's "intent to withdraw from Vietnam", while the military sought to send in combat troops. That happened with the new President. Vietnam is important since it borders the oil-rich South China Sea; and Big Oil is the most powerful special interest in the country.

Chapter 25 tells of Jim Garrison's investigation. "A secret investigation ... pointed in the direction of Hoffa, Marcello, some Texas oilmen, and a few involved with the CIA in the New Orleans and Dallas area" (p.511). But Garrison couldn't get a conviction of anyone. David Ferrie, and others, soon died (p.513). Pages 518-9 discuss the justice system: "too often a case can be rigged". Jim Garrison was the first official to question the Warren Report in the 1960s. Oliver Stones's "JFK" was based on Garrison's book; he make a popular film about a Presidential assassination - a Hollywood first! It did renew a wider interest in the books on this case.

Chapter 28 gives HEL's ideas of "What Really Happened", and summarizes this case. Watergate and Nixon's removal were caused by Nixon's use of political murders. Page 571 imagines an "ice bullet" that would disappear; isn't it more likely that a plastic bullet would not show up on X-rays? Pages 573-7 gives HEL's ideas on how the real government works: politicians are like actors on a stage, spouting the lines written by the invisible government. He says "our elections are rigged from the
start". And that a vast amount of money was made by those who sold short on the morning of 11/22/1963 due to advance information. The Warren Commission and the Administration were from the high-level banking and financial interests that control our nation.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars High Treason - The Great Cover Up, July 1, 2000

By 

joan robbins (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Treason 2 (No. 2) (Paperback)

The book is marvellous and the truth is coming out about his murder. Oswald was a patsy, at that time the US and the public were obsessed with the Soviets, any mention of the word and all hell broke loose. It was convenient to say Oswald was a communist, he had bad eyesight, so how he ever shot the President from 5 storeys up in a moving car, with a rifle like that is beyond belief. People need to use their brains and realise an assassination of ANY US President and get away with it, the assassin has to be more powerful and have powerful friends. The person who ordered the murder of Kennedy will never come to justice. Assassinations have gone on for years, look at Abraham Lincoln, wouldn't it be uncanny if the person who ordered the death of Lincoln, another family member ordered the death of Kennedy. They say there have been similarities with the two Presidents.