Best JFK books of the last 2 years?

[Peter Lemkin]

I just finished the Skorzeny Papers by Ganis and was very pleasantly surprised. I missed rigorous references and there are quite a lot of minor editing problems [all too common these days with books] - but putting those aside, this book is FULL of new names that are important - new connections of these new name and some old ones we all know of - and lastly putting Otto Skorzeny in his proper post-war position working with US and other Western intelligence agencies on special operations and assassinations. Ganis provides some tantalizing connections between Skorzeny's friends and intelligence/military connections that were connected to Dallas and specifically to the events of the JFK assassination. The Soutre-Skorzeny connection is also delineated. He has made a very strong case for Skorzeny having been the chief of QJ/WIN. I know few will read this book compared to other 'JFK books' - but this will be your loss and your mistake! This book is so important I'm about to re-read it and this time take notes on the associations, dates, etc. Ganis states he is going to place the original materials in some archive for others to work on further. He also makes clear that much of what was originally in these private papers of Skorzeny were not in those he purchased at auction - so there are some missing pieces - but more than enough to sink one's teeth and mind into! As I mentioned earlier, I have had Skorzeny on my own research radar for decades on another period [end of WWII and just after the War]. A friend of mine has some letters from Skorzeny written post-war and I will now re-read them with what I have learned from this book. Anyone not reading this book will have an incomplete JFK assassination book collection IMO. More research needs to be done on Skorzeny and some other names [many new!] mentioned in the book - but the author acknowledges this. With all that said, the last two chapters where Ganis tries to posit a outline of what happened in Dallas is very weak indeed. He is obviously not a student of the assassination and, IMO, fails in his attempt to make the Skorzeny network front and center in the assassination. However, he does name a few new names and associations that may help others. He goes a long way in the book to prove that Skorzeny was likely QJ/WIN and that one of his mechanics [Soutre] may well have been on assignment that day as one of the gunmen. Still, a very important book! I look forward to one on overlapping issues coming in the Fall by Albarelli.