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Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series) Paperback – May 10, 2016
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A riveting historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln.
The basis for the 2013 television movie of the same name starring Rob Lowe as JFK.
More than a million readers have thrilled to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln, the page-turning work of nonfiction about the shocking assassination that changed the course of American history. Now the iconic anchor of The O'Reilly Factor recounts in gripping detail the brutal murder of John Fitzgerald Kennedy―and how a sequence of gunshots on a Dallas afternoon not only killed a beloved president but also sent the nation into the cataclysmic division of the Vietnam War and its culture-changing aftermath.
In January 1961, as the Cold War escalates, John F. Kennedy struggles to contain the growth of Communism while he learns the hardships, solitude, and temptations of what it means to be president of the United States. Along the way he acquires a number of formidable enemies, among them Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, and Allen Dulles, director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In addition, powerful elements of organized crime have begun to talk about targeting the president and his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy.
In the midst of a 1963 campaign trip to Texas, Kennedy is gunned down by an erratic young drifter named Lee Harvey Oswald. The former Marine Corps sharpshooter escapes the scene, only to be caught and shot dead while in police custody.
The events leading up to the most notorious crime of the twentieth century are almost as shocking as the assassination itself. Killing Kennedy chronicles both the heroism and deceit of Camelot, bringing history to life in ways that will profoundly move the reader.
- Print length336 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMay 10, 2016
- Dimensions5.45 x 0.85 x 8.2 inches
- ISBN-101250092337
- ISBN-13978-1250092335
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What's it about?
A historical narrative of the shocking events surrounding the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and the follow-up to Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln.
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Baughman is well aware of another chilling fact. Since 1840, every president elected in a twenty-year cycle has died in office: Harrison, Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Harding, and Roosevelt.1,091 Kindle readers highlighted this
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Kennedy is the youngest president ever elected. Eisenhower is the oldest.961 Kindle readers highlighted this
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By the time the Bay of Pigs is over he will count among these enemies not only Castro but also one of the highest-ranking officials of the U.S.government: the wily CIA chief, Allen Dulles.928 Kindle readers highlighted this
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“Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right. Not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom—here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.”726 Kindle readers highlighted this
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About the Author
MARTIN DUGARD is the New York Times bestselling author of several books of history, among them the Killing series, Into Africa, and Taking Paris. He and his wife live in Southern California.
Product details
- Publisher : St. Martin's Griffin; Reprint edition (May 10, 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1250092337
- ISBN-13 : 978-1250092335
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.45 x 0.85 x 8.2 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #24,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #97 in US Presidents
- #144 in Murder & Mayhem True Accounts
- #577 in United States History (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors

Martin Dugard is the New York Times #1 bestselling author of the Taking Series — including Taking Berlin (2022) and Taking Paris (2021).
He is also the co-author of the mega-million selling Killing series: Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, Killing Patton, Killing Reagan, Killing England, Killing the Rising Sun, Killing the SS, Killing Crazy Horse, and Killing the Mob.
Other works include the New York Times bestseller The Murder of King Tut (with James Patterson; Little, Brown, 2009); The Last Voyage of Columbus (Little, Brown, 2005); Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone (Doubleday, 2003), Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook (Pocket Books, 2001), Knockdown (Pocket Books, 1999), and Surviving the Toughest Race on Earth (McGraw-Hill, 1998). In addition, Martin lived on the island of Pulau Tiga during the filming of Survivor's inaugural season to write the bestselling Survivor with mega-producer Mark Burnett.

Bill O'Reilly is a trailblazing TV journalist who has experienced unprecedented success on cable news and in writing fifteen national number-one bestselling nonfiction books. There are currently more than 17 million books in the Killing series in print. He currently hosts the ‘No Spin News’ on BillOReilly.com. He lives on Long Island.
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Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book very readable, informative, and eye-opening. They also appreciate the writing style as clearly written and articulated. Readers describe the book as interesting, hard to put down, and hard to find. They praise the plot as honest, vigorous, and terrifying. They mention the pacing as fast and well-moving.
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Customers find the book well written, entertaining, and memorable. They also appreciate the great pictures.
"...had to have done their homework very well and have produced one of the finest books I have ever had the pleasure to read about Lincoln and his times...." Read more
"...In short, a vigorous and wholly engaging read - a great example of history the way it ought to be told...." Read more
"...This is a book well worth the time spent reading it and one that you will remember for a long time." Read more
"...His words flow well and he holds the reader's interest from start to finish...." Read more
Customers find the book very well written, informative, and well-researched. They also say it's a great read with history weaved throughout. Readers also mention that the author communicates in an interesting and readable way. They appreciate the many photos and maps.
"...and Dugard have magnificently re-told it here, enhanced greatly by details and information that we have not previously been exposed to before...." Read more
"...In short, a vigorous and wholly engaging read - a great example of history the way it ought to be told...." Read more
"I like that the author was able to put a lot of information into a fairly easy to read book...." Read more
"...JFK was initially hired to lead the U.S. because he was young, good looking, charismatic, and had the power and money of Joseph Kennedy Sr...." Read more
Customers find the writing style clear, articulate, and compelling. They also say the book does a good job describing the events of that tragic day. Readers also say it's approachable, easily-read, and authentic. They mention the Camelot analogy is a glamorous myth that the country seemed to need at the time.
"...It moves in real-time and is so clearly written and articulated that you literally feel that you are "there"....which I have never experienced before..." Read more
"...predecessor outlining Lincoln's assassination, by penning such an approachable, easily-read history of the early years of the 1960s - that seminal..." Read more
"...There is a lot of JFK's background and history that I hadn't been aware of before reading...." Read more
"...The author presents an an exciting and objective history, in extremely readable form, of these two Presidents...." Read more
Customers find the book interesting, detailed, and rekindles nostalgia. They also say it gives the reader a short, but detailed, insight into the mind of JFK.
"...The back story is clear and concise, seemingly not too long, but neither short-ended with its presentation of relevant facts, etc...." Read more
"..." before it, is its pace and brevity: this is the clipped, streamlined story and lean prose you'd expect from this veteran newsman, unencumbered by..." Read more
"...This book qualifies as both fascinating and historically accurate and is definitely not "just another book about Kennedy"...." Read more
"...This book also gives the reader a short, but detailed, insight into the mind of JFK's killer, Lee Harvey Oswald; his political views, troubled..." Read more
Customers find the plot riveting, masterful, honest, and forthright. They also say the book is vigorous, engaging, and not judgmental in its presentation.
"...the notoriety and instantaneous presentation of events, both tragic, horrifying, and ceaselessly amazing to us, the people who either were there..." Read more
"...In short, a vigorous and wholly engaging read - a great example of history the way it ought to be told...." Read more
"...This book really held my attention and was actually hard to put down once I got into it...." Read more
"...Beyond this, what they did write about is rife with all the errors, assumptions, and grievously incompetent conclusions of the Warren Commission..." Read more
Customers find the book engaging, saying it's hard to put down and a real page turner.
"...Like the Lincoln book, it was hard to put down...." Read more
"This is another fascinating book by Bill O'Reilly that is impossible to put down...." Read more
"...is gripping in it's detail and drama. It's hard to put it down and it takes us back to a time we will neversee again in America." Read more
"...Second, it was not as much an easy read as Killing Lincoln...." Read more
Customers find the pacing of the book fast, real-time, and riveting. They also say the tension builds with every page turned.
"...It moves in real-time and is so clearly written and articulated that you literally feel that you are "there"....which I have never experienced before..." Read more
"...'s "Killing Kennedy," like "Killing Lincoln" before it, is its pace and brevity: this is the clipped, streamlined story and lean prose you'd expect..." Read more
"...I enjoyed this book. It is well written, fast paced, covers its angels and leaves the door open for who killed Kennedy but agrees wit the Warren..." Read more
"...Killing Kennedy is a well written, fast paced account of the years before the assassination, following Lee Harvey Oswald on his fateful journey that..." Read more
Customers find the book interesting, detailed, and graphic. They also say it gives insight into Kennedy's administration, both his friends and enemies. Readers also appreciate the book's defusing of bizarre conspiracy stories.
"...Killing Kennedy is a must read. I highly recommend it." Read more
"...This book has a great overview of the Kennedy administration. It covers the Cuban Missile Crisis, Civil Rights, Cold War and the Vietnam War...." Read more
"...Brought back memories. There are some kinks in the official story that never made sense to me. Bill explores some of them...." Read more
"...The book is a good read, and shows the bravery, politically astuteness, and also the President's personal recklessness of which he lived...." Read more
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First, (some personal thoughts and recollections) that day....
November 22, 1963. It was one of those rare days that (unfortunately) get imprinted onto our cogitative memory like 9-11-2001, or myriad other things that for one reason or another we always remember. I have never forgotten that day, nor that moment, (having just returned from lunch with my high school sophomore classmates to Miss Curtis' homeroom and waiting to go to the first afternoon's class) when our principal, John Abbott, came over the intercom with the news from Dallas. I do not believe that any of us actually thought what we were hearing was true. We were young, untouched by any kind of tragedy in our lives, and thus, it had some kind of unreality; difficult for us to absorb. I was left simply not knowing how to act, or react, to this news, and still remember that all I could muster was a smile (to my horror), but truthfully, I did not know how to act or react, nor what I really was feeling at that moment, trying to process something unimaginable to my young self. Much later I would learn that usually response to this sort of thing is either tears or a smile (or something like it) is quite normal. This was the United States, this just couldn't happen here. We were dismissed and I remember the walk home from school, through town, seeing people everywhere, all asking or declaring what had happened, or how, in Texas, so many, many, miles away, just an hour ago. And, then, of course, the uninterrupted broadcasts of never-ending coverage from the saddest possible news and images to scenes of unbelievably and outrage that were still playing out there in Dallas, Texas, throughout that sad weekend.
Time, of course moves on, and with that time, things settle out, become sifted to their proper level of importance or memory to the times. It takes this time for history to sort itself out.
***
"Killing Kennedy" review:
Last year I bought "Killing Lincoln" as I have had a life-long interest in both the man and the Civil War and it's times. Of course, with a lifetime of prior readings and studies, I knew the story inside out (I thought). Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard certainly had to have done their homework very well and have produced one of the finest books I have ever had the pleasure to read about Lincoln and his times. It is a magnificent achievement, and if you have not read it, I heartily recommend it to you for your enlightenment. It moves in real-time and is so clearly written and articulated that you literally feel that you are "there"....which I have never experienced before. That book can be found by clicking this link: Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever
As I was finishing up "Killing Lincoln", I saw the announcement for "Killing Kennedy", and thus since it was relevant to my or "our" time, I pre-ordered it here and awaited its publication and release. Other life obligations prevented my reading it until about two weeks ago, but I must say it, also, is one of the finest-told (presented), in "real-time" again, "endings of Camelot" that I have read, and as with Lincoln/Civil War, I have read many about Kennedy, Cuban Invasion, Missile Crisis, Cold War, etc.
Again, O'Reilly and Dugard have done incredible homework and worked diligently to piece together this riveting account, hour-by-hour, of the assassination there at Dealey Plaza that "last" sunny autumn day of the Kennedy presidency, and the shattering destruction of "Camelot" as we were just coming to know it. The back story is clear and concise, seemingly not too long, but neither short-ended with its presentation of relevant facts, etc. I was quite fascinated by revelations of JFK and Jackie's "private life" in the White House vs. their "public life" that we of course always knew about.
Of course, we all know the story, (again, it seems), intimately from the "over-and-over" of all the intervening years and the countless "theories" that have come about. I greatly admired O'Reilly's avoidance of these theories, directly, in this presentation of this sad and tragic piece of American history. Mention of all those who have been accused over the years of having had a hand in this brutal killing, but O'Reilly leaves that information "just there", which I was pleased and impressed by.
Details, yes, there are myriad details concerning many things that have not been exactly presented in the "full light of day" so to speak, and they speak much here in this fascinating account of Jack, Jackie, Bobby, even the rise of Teddy, and more; --revealing and personal insights into their lives, personal and public, shining new light onto and into their situation during JFK's "reign" as this country's chief executive.
You will get insights into the introductory chapter(s) of the Viet Nam Conflict, the Mafia, Marilyn Monroe, the Lawford's, Onassis (and how he first came into the picture), Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Greta Garbo, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Adlai Stevenson, Lee Harvey and Marina Oswald, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, the CIA, the Secret Service, and the police force there in Dallas that day. And, of course, the last character in this story, the strip-joint operator, Jack Ruby. There also are wonderful "afterwards" to all concerned characters here in this "Saddest of Stories".
This, of course, has always been one of the biggest and so-called best stories of the past century, and O'Reilly and Dugard have magnificently re-told it here, enhanced greatly by details and information that we have not previously been exposed to before. Because of the news-coverage and the immediacy of the electronic age that was just coming into being, the notoriety and instantaneous presentation of events, both tragic, horrifying, and ceaselessly amazing to us, the people who either were there that day in person or were there because of television, it will long remain in the memory of the history of the citizens of the `60s and too, the history of this country and of it's leaders and the movement just out of sight of us as ordinary citizens.
This surely is a "must read" book for every person in this country who lived during those days or who is interested in this country's history, both in and of itself, and also of it's leadership over the years. I cannot recommend Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard's magnificent presentation to us of "The End of Camelot" (as we knew it) highly enough. You are SURE to love this book!
~operabruin
And like its predecessor outlining Lincoln's assassination, by penning such an approachable, easily-read history of the early years of the 1960s - that seminal decade that, when understood, explains so much about America today, O'Reilly touches a much broader audience than the combined reach of weightier tomes, exposing the important chapter of world history in a time when reading has taken an unfortunate back seat to YouTube and video games in a culture all but ignorant of our heritage. So while this is story of Kennedy's death, it cannot be told out of context, which O'Reilly efficiently sets in the events of the day, from the young president's disastrous and ham-fisted "Bay of Pigs" invasion to the other end of the spectrum, where a steely-eyed JFK stares down Soviet tyrant Nikita Khrushchev in a game nuclear holocaust brinkmanship in the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is a period of explosive Civil Rights marches and demonstrations, the early days of the Viet Nam War and the all but forgotten South Vietnamese president-thug Ngo Dinh Diem, of self-emolliating monks, and J. Edgar Hoover honing his now legendary skills of extortion. While O'Reilly's portrait of Kennedy is respectful, giving all due credit for JFK's heroism in WWII, and his bipartisanship and leadership as president, it is hardly fawning adoration. JFK's many dalliances - Marilyn Monroe only one conquest of a myriad - his connections with mobsters, mistrust of VP Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King, and various missteps add balance to a man all too easily martyred. If O'Reilly was smitten by any of the players, it is certainly Jackie, who emerges as a doting mother with a steel spine; a steadfast and loving companion hurt by her husband's infidelity, but willing to look the other way.
The profile of the infamous Lee Harvey Oswald is worth mentioning. Much has been written about Oswald's connections with shadowy figures like George de Mohrenschildt, and Oswald's failed attempted murder of right-winger Ted Walker, which get only a passing mention here. But since O'Reilly essentially dismisses five decades of conspiracy theory speculation - one can assume that O'Reilly's dismissive treatment of Oswald is wholly intentional - a conscious ploy to insure this miscreant is never given credit for being anything other than a misguided and deranged murderer. Unlike the well organized conspiracy crafted by John Wilkes Booth nearly a century earlier, O'Reilly is firmly in the camp, as am I, that JFK was the victim of the lucky shot of a single madman acting alone.
In short, a vigorous and wholly engaging read - a great example of history the way it ought to be told. Even if you think you already know this story, you'll do yourself a disservice by not hearing O'Reilly's take on this remarkable man in a fascinating slice of Americana. Bravo Zulu!









