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50 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Conspiracy Theory, New Orleans Style, August 23, 2007
Having lived in the New Orleans metro area for almost twenty years, author Edward T. Haslam's expose, "Dr. Mary's Monkey," linking the murder of Dr. Mary Sherman in 1964 to the Kennedy Assassination and to a world-wide health epidemic triggered by cancer- causing viruses effecting the populace today, puts a lot of extra spice in the otherwise already piquant political roux that substantiates the eclectic yet sometimes covert gumbo that differentiates this sultry city from other metropolises in the United States. Not only does Haslam provide residents and other aficionados of this area with a thrilling history of dot-connecting events that literally traverses from one end of St. Charles Avenue to the other, he does so compellingly in simple colloquial language that facilitates his theory involving a cover-up of far-right wing politics gone very wrong.
Haslam espouses his New Orleans charm frequently in an engaging manner that makes him extremely readable; his first chapters tell of his remembrances from childhood of primate virus research first brought to his attention by his father, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Tulane University. Later as an attendee of the prestigious Jesuit High School, fellow students (the sons of other New Orleans leaders) pique his curiosity further by providing otherwise unpublished information about a claim made by then district attorney Jim Garrison that connected the recent Kennedy assassination with an underground medical laboratory which was inducing cancer in mice by injecting them with monkey viruses.
Rather than spoil Haslam's smooth disclosure of this explosive material involving the prominent Dr. Alton Ochsner, founder of New Orleans Ochsner Clinic and Hospital, the polio vaccine (developed by growing polio viruses in monkey kidneys), a plot to develop a biological weapon meant to stamp out the spread of communism in Cuba and the rest of the Latin American world, the involvement of Lee Harvey Oswald, the Mafia and the notorious David Ferrie and the scheme to obscure the facts regarding the death of cancer-researcher Dr. Mary Sherman, I will focus on Haslam's ability to tell a good story. He devotes a chapter to each of the key figures in his theory, concluding with some well-thought out speculation regarding the rise in cancer in the past fifteen years.
If the book has one fault, it is that although Haslam provides the reader with the information that he has accumulated and well-documented, as in any other conspiracy theory, he cannot verify all of his information. The appearance of three Judyth Vary Bakers subtracts from some of Haslam's plausibility, but only if you don't buy into his theory that as he collected information, the puppeteers orchestrating the concealment of the facts delivered a few red herrings, the stink of which attempted to jar him off the right track.
Nevertheless, "Dr. Mary's Monkey" scares the reader silly with its implications about how powerful men can bend and twist reality as we perceive it while perilously changing the future of an entire generation. On the higher philosophical plane of right versus wrong, it speaks poorly of our American culture and what can and will be done in the shadow of flag-waving freedom.
Bottom line: While Edward T. Haslam's "Dr. Mary's Monkey" suggests scenarios that may or may not be fully substantiated at this time, the author compiles an interesting and totally absorbing page-turner that screams for local, if not national attention. Wisely interspersed with maps, newspaper articles and photographs, Haslam presents his theory in a colorful manner which bespeaks his New Orleans charming background. Recommended.
Diana Faillace Von Behren
"reneofc"
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48 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A cold case murder investigation links to the JFK assassination and the soft-tissue cancer epidemic, May 20, 2007
This is a significantly updated version of Mr Haslam's 1995 book, "Mary, Ferrie & the Monkey Virus". If you only have the older version, you will want to get "Dr. Mary's Monkey".
This book covers many areas of interest for a wide reader audience. Readers interested in new information about the JFK assassination will likely be the main audience, but other topics receive a lot of well-documented attention as well. These include epidemiology (polio, soft tissue cancers, AIDS), cold case murder investigations by an 'amateur sleuth', vaccines, New Orleans history, US medical research history, and scientific topics--linear particle accelerators in particular. Readers interested in any one of these topics should find this book interesting and credible.
I am not going to review this book in detail. Readers already know if they're basically interested or not, and additional detail is available from links I list below. I merely provide a shoppers' guide by addressing three points:
1. I believe that both the specialist and the general reader will find this book interesting, if not fascinating.
2. Ed Haslam is a credible author.
3. You can find out more about this book and its author for free with some links I provide.
This book is very well written and organized. It contains dozens of black and white photographs, charts, graphs and maps. These graphics, while unfortunately not indexed, are nonetheless placed strategically in the text to aid readers' understanding of the text. As a former New Orleans resident, I appreciated the historic photos and maps of New Orleans. While Mr. Haslam does provide a lot of information, a strong, page-turning narrative style underlies the information.
Seasoned JFK assassination investigators may be wary of YAKAB (Yet Another Kennedy Assassination Book). The publisher's decision to include a foreword by Jim Marrs, while possibly attracting additional buyers, may raise some people's skeptical antennae. Mr. Haslam was raised in New Orleans and spent much of his educational and professional career there. You will probably agree with me after reading this book that Mr. Haslam was uniquely placed to write this book. To the two-part question, "Is the author credible, and will I learn anything new from his book?", I answer, "Yes and yes." For example, a possible motivation for Oswald's well documented visit to Clinton, LA is found in these pages. In a brief epilogue, "The Perfect Patsy - Rethinking Lee Harvey Oswald", Mr. Haslam presents three well-considered scenarios concerning Oswald's involvement in the JFK assassination.
It is easy to find out more about Ed Haslam and this book. The obvious first thing to do is to Google his name. Mr. Haslam's late father was also named Edward T. Haslam, so you will find links related to him, as well as another unrelated Edward T. Haslam. I see that URLs are technically forbidden in Amazon reviews, so I will just tell you what to search on to be sure to find links I consider to be important and useful.
Browse the book, including sample chapters by searching on drmarysmonkey.
Find links to video interviews with Ed Haslam and an important witness interviewed for his book, Judyth Vary Baker, by searching on themonkeyvirus.
Last but not least, especially since this is how I first heard about Ed Haslam, is the extensive archive of Dave Emory's radio programs. Mr. Haslam appears on eight Dave Emory "For the Record" programs. Do a search on:
wfmu "Dave Emory"
There's a main page and an archive page. Look for "For The Record" FTR # 577 and 526 on the main page, and dx-FTR-019 (six separate files, a-f) on the archive page.
(Technical note for owners of mp3 players: you can record Real Audio files on PCs (Linux or Windows) in MP3 format by recording them as they play with the freely available Audacity player/recorder/editor.)
I see that a book mentioned by Mr. Haslam, "Lee Harvey Oswald: The True Story of the Accused Assassin of President John F. Kennedy, by His Lover (Paperback)" by Judyth Vary Baker is now available through Amazon. The book (as yet unread by me) was unavailable (temporarily suppressed?) at the time that Mr. Haslam wrote about it. Ms. Baker's book is regarded with varying skepticism (no pun intended), according to the reviews I have read on Amazon. Reading about Ms. Baker in Mr. Haslam's book may assist potential buyers of Ms. Baker's book.
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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Story of the Century still being hid from the public, November 15, 2007
This is the best kept secret of the last 60 years with more subplots and surprise situations (with no endings in sight). Haslam is a very modest and humble man calling for what should be an obvious formal investigation into many issues still unresolved. He claims he's NOT the investigation, but his exposure is enough that if one reads the work entirely with an open mind, they will understand why 60 Minute TV Magazine Producers call this the "story of the century." Haslam introduces us to an unsolved murder of one of the leading cancer researchers of the last 75 years, Mary Sherman. Her autopsy was sealed for around 30 years, and Haslams explanation of how she died makes far more sence than the official police report written under questionable police procedure. Most importantly, Haslam introduces us to the dark side of the Polio Vaccine and the complications it went through during it's development and the lasting problems we are now struggling with because of it -- the SV-40 VIRUS. It's all over your interest, but ask your doctor or a med school faculty doctor about the SV-40 Virus, and you'll learn, they know nothing about it. Their education and training has been so carefully compartmentalized and they know nothing of these issues, but they are all over the internet if you choose to look. Haslam teaches us about many doctors who lost their careers trying to blow the whistle on these issues.
In short the polio vaccine made from monkey kidneys carried the SV-40 virus which remains dormant inside baby boomers who received the polio vaccine until the immune system is weakened to the point where the SV-40 Virus can transform into one of the major cancer's: lung, breast, soft tissue, bone cancer, etc. In the early 50's 33,000 new cases of polio was called an epidemic, and Ed Haslam now ask, how come around a million new cases of cancer each year is NOT being called a cancer epidemic? I think it's a fair question.
Hopefully, you will read Haslam's work and get your family, friends and associates to read it. Main stream media had a chance to share this with us in 2000 when 60 Minutes had spent more time and money on this story than any other segment of the TV Magazine's history according to their producer, but the network producers would not permit the program to air. Hmmm? Don't you want to know why? Read DR MARY's MONKEY, and you'll begain to have your eyes openened. Edward T. Haslam and Judyth Vary Baker are modern American heros, and only until you have read their works will you even begin to understand why I hold them in such high esteem. Only until you read their works can you begain to understand the price they have paid, the risk they bear; so you and I can learn the truth and demand something be done about it for us, our children, and our children's children to the nth generation.
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