Case Closed

Rating:
Summary: Finito
Review: Gerald Posner's thorough volume leaves no room for doubt that America's shining prince was struck down by Lee Harvey Oswald wielding a ten-dollar mail-order rifle. He was not aided and abetted by the CIA, the FBI, the Cubans, Big Oil, the Right Wing, the Left Wing, or LBJ. Oswald did it, and he did it alone. Sad, but true. One of the many stubborn facts that the conspiracy buffs just can't skirt is that Oswald only had his perch in the Texas School Book Depository because of the intervention of the well-meaning strangers who had gotten him the job because they had taken pity on his wife. Serendipity, not conspiracy, placed Oswald in that window. Mr. Posner's proofs on this point are irrefutable.

Don Delillo's "Libra" is high art (George Will's crack that Delillo is a "...literary vandal" notwithstanding) and fun to read.Though not in Delillo's league, James Ellroy's "American Tabloid" and "The Cold Six Thousand" are also good reads. So are many other fictionalized accounts of the most famous assassination in history. But fiction they are, the artistic product of imagination. The conspiracy theorists have long ago blurred the line between fact and fiction. Mr. Posner has once and for all painted that line bright red. Oswald did it, and he did it alone.

Rating:
Summary: The logical side is finally revealed!
Review: I admit that at one time I was an avid follower of conspiracy theories. I truly believed that JFK was murdered by our government and that Jim Garrison was a saint. Although I was steadfast in my beliefs, there were creeping little questions that continued to disturb me. Why had no one been charged? How could that many people keep that many secrets for so long? Why haven't computers been used to solve some of the questions involving timing, direction, and angles of the shots? Posner delievered big time on all my concerns. He profiles Jack Ruby and Lee Harvey Oswald with such vivid description that I feel like I know them personally. Photographs and computer simulations reveal how the bullets ripped through JFK. Unreliable witnesses are exposed and accurate, first-hand testimonies are revealed. Posner explains the motivation for witnesses to change stories 20 years later, and he theorizes on why the conspiracy vehicle has such momentum. This is a great book an! d a must read for all open-minded people that are bothered by the simple questions that plague conspiracy notions.

Rating:
Summary: calm down
Review: I find the negative reviews listed here quite amusing. Sure, you can diss Posner all you want but none of you list any hardcore facts that work against Posner's claim. For those interested, go look at the Conspiracy web pages. Look at how they make personal attacks on Posner but avoid a substantive attack on his work. For the record, his work is fabulous. As for the Harold Weisberg comment, go ahead and read his Case Open. Any level headed individual will realize that Weisberg's work takes Posner's work out of context and can be understood with a little research (Yes, I've done it, and Posner is all in all quite correct). I'm sorrry if Posner busted all of your little conpsiracy bubbles, I know it was exciting to believe that the President couldn't possibly be killed by a lone nut!! Too bad. Posner's book is powerful and very effective, and certainly better than anything Lane, Weisberg, Josiah Thompson, or certainly the LaFontaine's could produce. Please, read this book. It's absolutely great. If your logic is based on speculation and personal attacks, you might be offended. If you want hard core facts that prove the single bullet theory (with nitrate tests and advanced optical blowups of the Zapruder film), read this book. If you're concerned of Lee Harvey Oswald's actions with any mysterious government plots, take a look at the obvious sociopathic behavior and make the smart decision. Look at his past and look at the credibility of the so many who have claimed to have seen him being involved with the mystery men (Ferrie, Banister, CIA, KGB). Give me a break, use your heads for this one. Conspiracy babies, bow down before Posner 'cause the roosters come home to fry you! END

Rating:
Summary: The Final Word on JFK
Review: I used to believe there was a conspiracy involved in the death John Fitzgerald Kennedy, but the more conspiracy books I read, the more I realized how distorted the facts were becoming with each publication. Having read most of the books that Posner debunks, there is no doubt this finally gets down to the truth. Posner's depth of research and ability to form clear-thought, logical arguments makes each discussion convincing. You never feel like he is reaching just to make a point, unlike most conspiracy books. His multiple chapter analysis of Lee Harvey Oswald's life (never even attempted in any conspiracy book for obvious reasons shown here) is evidence enough to make one realize Oswald COULDN'T work within a conspiracy. But most importantly, Posner takes all of the facts, proves them beyond their mere being, and assembles them into the most convincing explanation on what happened at Dealy Plaza. The shear wealth of conspiracy theories alone, flying off in hundreds of directions without ever actually proving anything, only add weight to what Posner has achieved.

Rating:
Summary: This book convinced me that Oswald killed JFK
Review: It's kind of funny to look at the reviews of this book. Half the people loved it and have been convinced that Oswald did kill JFK, while the other half hang onto the conspiracy theories. I never thought anybody would convince me that Oswald acted alone, but Posner converted me.

He does a great job of shooting holes all over the conspiracy theories. The book was thoroughly researched and well-written. If you have made up your mind that it was a conspiracy and no facts will ever convince you that it wasn't, don't waste your time and money reading this book. On the other hand, if you have not already decided that Oswald was not the one who killed JFK, this book should help you see the light.

Rating:
Summary: Orwellian Parody
Review: One hundred years from now when the US can look moreobjectively at the sordid affair that was the Kennedy assasination,Case Closed will be seen as a brilliant Orwellian parody of the Government and the Warren Commission's lies put forth on the American people.

Yes, Posner defends the Warren Commission findings, but if you read between the lines, this book is more damning to lone nut theory than any conspiracy book.

There are some throwaway lines in this book, eg.: "The FBI, axious to downplay its contacts with Oswald, witheld information from the Warren Commission...the CIA witheld information as well, most critically that the Agency and the Mafia had embarked on a joint effort to kill Fidel Castro."

"Few of the witnesses who contradicted the official version of events testified before the commission...despite it shortcomings, early reviews in the United States generally lavished praise on the Warren report. In Europe, however, where political conspiracies and government changeovers are an integral part of much longer histories, the Commissions work was viewed as the official, sanitized version."

How does Posner defend the magic bullet theory? Well it was proven by a government consulting firm in a particle physics laboratory. Case Closed.

Posner has written about Nazis, and he understands how government propaganda works. One of the standard tools of the propagandist is two ridicule anyone who questions the official version of events as a "nut", "quack", or "conspiracy theorist", which he does plenty of in his book.

Rating:
Summary: Another Untenable Defense of the Warren Commission
Review: The New York Times Book Review, The Boston Sunday Globe, and the Chicago Tribune have all praised Posner's "Case Closed" as "The most convincing explanation of the assassination" and "Case closed, indeed" With all the praise surrounding the book, the average reader might come to believe that Posner has indeed solved the case. But unfortunately, nothing could be further from the truth. The most that can be said about Posner is that he has destroyed some untrue conspiracy arguments that have been around for too long. But on such issues as the single bullet, the medical evidence, Lee Oswald's role, etc., Posner stumbles and offers strained and doubtful theories.
First of all, Posner's book is extremely arrogant. He often uses the disrespectful term of "conspiracy buff" to designate anyone who disagrees with his opinions. He holds all other views points with great disdain.
Secondly, Case Closed contains many factual errors. Here are just a few of them:

*Pontchartrain is not a river but a lake

*James Tague stood twenty feet east of the triple underpass, not beneath it

*The testing he refers to was done by the Army, not the FBI

*The Warren Commission had no investigators

*Leftists are not the only critics of the Warren Report; there are evangical Christians who reject the single bullet theory and Earl Warren was a die-hard liberal

Unfortunately, the list goes on and on.

Also, all the evidence that Posner presents is taken out of context, corrupted, nonsourced, or is the opposite of what the sources actually say. As with the case of Linnie Mae Randle, who swore the package that Oswald carried was 28 inches long, too short for the package to have carried the rifle. Randle swore that Oswald held the end of the package in his hand and let it almost touch the ground. Posner converts this into "tucked under his armpit, and the other end did not quite touch the ground"
Posner also offers some very bizarre theories about the James Tague wounding. Posner asserts that the first shot hit a branch of a tree and its lead core instantly separated from the metal jacketing and traveled in a straight line from the TSBD to the curb over 400 feet away, somehow landing with enough force to send concrete fragments streaking toward Tague. How is this possible?