Customer Reviews

President Kennedy Has Been Shot

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Both newspaper reporters and television newscasters provide the reader with a review of the unforgettable four days in 1963 that jolted America. The book provides a nice mixture of photographs that are embedded into the consciousness of those who lived through this tragedy in addition to a text of newspaper and television reporters who were directly involved in informing the public. I, like other readers, found the book hard to put down, and went through the book in two sessions. Throughout the book it is mentioned how easy it was for reporters to gain access to places in 1963 that increased security would deny them nowadays. Memories will come flooding back to you if you lived through this period of American history. If you were too young to remember, or if you weren't alive at the time, this book, through text of those who reported the event, and the photographs will bring you back to the way it was. A CD accompanies the book narrated by Dan Rather to add to its reality. I would highly recommend this book to you.

There has never been and may never be a book like this one. President Kennedy Has Been Shot combines the best of "oral history" (long-quotes from people who were there rather than a long newsmagazine-style narrative account) plus a pull-out-all-stops CD...that puts you BACK in 1963, even if you weren't born yet.

Where was I? I had just finished a (terrible) speech to run (unsuccessfully) for jr high school vice president. I was self-absorbed after my first-ever serious public speech. Right after I spoke a teacher got up and said something, there was a gasp and people filed out to the buses (it was time to go). I asked a teacher what happened and he said the title of this book: "President Kennedy has been shot..."

It doesn't matter if you lived through this time or not. The highly-detailed reminiscences plus excerpts from things said at time time -- coupled with the effective use in the book of text of key audio-news tracks on the incredible CD -- make this highly compelling. And you're shoved into 1963, whether you were alive then or not, when you hear the CD's radio and television news bulletins, the shooting of Oswald -- but especially the loud, shocked GASP from the crowd when the Boston Symphony's conductor tells the crowd that the President was assasinated. And then you hear the mournful gasp as he says he will play a funeral march...

It's all there in the text and the CD. Including things you didn't know at the time: authentic audio of Lady Bird Johnson's dramatic diary dictations, tapes of private phone calls by Johnson to J Edgar Hoover, Rose Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr, and a slew of news correspondents trying to cover a story. In the text you see how they covered it; in the CD you hear how some of them emotionally lost it.

This is THE amazingly-priced multimedia packet to get anyone who wants to learn more, recall, or learn for the first time about what happened on that awful Nov. 22, 1963 and on those wrenching days after it. The CD is worth the price of the book and CD; the book is worth the price of the book and CD.

I was reluctant to buy this at first. I thought it'd be seriously deficient and not do justice to the man or the tragedy. I was wrong on all counts.

Gripping. Get prepared to be completely transported back to 1963. It is fascinating to re-live the events surrounding JFK's assassination through all the journalists and reporters who had unbelievable access to everyone involved. I couldn't put the book down!

An amazing book that transports those of us not living at the time of the assassination to one of the most significant moments in US history. This book makes you feel like you were there!

In the 40 years since his assassination, I have never experienced the kind of breathless, consuming, dark pain that I did when I first heard President Kennedy had been wounded and then assassinated in 1963. In 1963, I was an 8-year-old in third grade. Paging through this book and reading the chronology of events, I faintly experienced the awful echoes of Nov. 22, 1963. The book contains photos I had not previously seen. I've read most everything on the John Kennedy's assassination, but the pages reveal new reflections and memories of people who witnessed events during those four days of death. The CD accompanying this book contains sounds of the day I had read about but had not heard.

If you think this book is a light piece and has been published just to capitalize on the 40th Anniversary of John Kennedy's death, you'd be wrong. It's a riveting read and a solid piece of historical reflection.

P.S. Beware of feeding the conspiracy industry. It was one mentally ill 24-year-old armed with a gun and fate.

I typically read books that I think will be good for my mind or my soul, rather than selecting them strictly because they will be fun or interesting. This book reminded me about the joys of pleasure reading.

Of course, the topic of the book is far from fun, and I was initially disappointed by the focus of the book. Rather than focusing strictly on the events surrounding President Kennedy's assassination (which I am too young to have experienced), this book addresses those horrific days from the perspective of many journalists. It is basically a series of interviews from literally dozens of the newsmen around the country who played significant roles in the coverage of this historic event.

Though I didn't really anticipate this emphasis, it was actually an incredibly fascinating vantage point from which to analyze the events surrounding JFK's death. To hear the stories of the men and women who helped the nation and world process and understand these shocking scenes was at times exhilarating and at other times gut-wrenching.

Besides these fantastic interviews, the book also includes a CD, which gives the listener an opportunity to hear 42 different soundbites (most only a minute or two in length) starting with Kennedy's arrival in Dallas and concluding with the funeral. I imagine that this would resonate well with folks who heard many of these clips over forty years ago, but it was equally interesting for me to hear them for the first time.

Ultimately, this book and the accompanying CD far exceeded my expectations. I was hoping to learn some interesting little trivia tidbits, but instead, I was engrossed in those terrible four days when the country suffered and grieved such a great loss. I was absolutely captivated and had a hard time putting down the book.

It arrived on time, and as soon as I got my hands on it, I found that I couldn't put it down.

The detailed descriptions told from those who were there were heartbreaking to read, but nevertheless it had my mind turning while reading it. The audio CD that came with it held different broadcasts as well as phone calls that those people made to others at the time of the assassination.

It came better than good. Definitely recommend both the seller as well as the book.

Not one of the best efforts on compiling available facts from that dreadful day but worthy of your read. Worth the price just to have the sounds of that time.

I am sure all of us remember where we were on that tragic Friday nearly 44 years ago. The book and companion CD recreates those horrible images from Dallas in 1963 up to the time of Kennedy's funeral. Whether you like him or not Dan Rather did a fine job in narrating the CD featuring the actual news clips from the broadcasts at that time. Excellent reading for those who remember this tragedy and for those who like to get a sense of what America and the world was like at that time.

On November 22, 1963 President Kennedy was assassinated: this collection of images and memories assembled by Newseum (an interactive museum of news), recounts the four days in November which began with his death and charted the nation's confusion and agony. The addition of an audio cd with actual broadcasts accompanies eyewitness accounts, pictures and a unique 'you are there' impression contributed by the numerous news accounts and stories throughout. An excellent survey.