Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination, Sherry P. Fiester

[Alan Dale]

I have not read this book but while speaking with a long time JFK researcher last night I was told that Sherry's MO is to dispute eyewitness accounts from that day.
Said researcher has not read the book either. Anyone notice anything of this nature in the book?

Dawn

Hello Dawn,

I wonder if the person with whom you spoke intended the term "MO" in a pejorative sense? I hope not. It's difficult enough presenting ground breaking research that challenges sacred dogmas without being diverted by protestors who, as was the case with Monty Python's Life of Brian, and Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ, haven't seen the film.

Ms. Fiester does not dispute or attempt to discredit any witnesses. Chapter 2, Ear Witnesses uses current forensics to explain how different people experienced this dramatic sequence in different ways. I have found nothing within the pages of the book stating that any claims associating the infamous grassy knoll with something that sounded like a shot or something that looked like smoke are based upon lies or deceit. In fact, Ms. Fiester accepts the idea that a shot was fired from that location.

As Phil's most eloquent and informative review outlines, Ms. Fiester's "MO" is in the introduction and application of contemporary -- as recent as 2011 -- developments in forensics which are applicable to our decades long struggle to interpret aspects of this horrendous event. We did the best we could and no one is blaming anybody for mistaking the various stations and stages along the way as ultimate destinations. New developments in the emerging (last two decades) fields of Ms. Fiester's areas of expertise have important things to tell us about what we thought we knew. I believe this is news. CSI has finally caught up with the nightmare of Dallas.

The book has the following chapters:

Chapter 1: Dallas PD Followed Protocol
Chapter 2: Ear Witnesses
Chapter 3: Blood in Zapruder is Faked
Chapter 4: The Limo Stop
Chapter 5: Ballistics Prove One Shooter
Chapter 6: The Grassy Knoll Headshot
Chapter 7: Two Headshots
Chapter 8: The Single Bullet Theory
The Witnesses

With the exception of the distinctly personal style of "The Witnesses" in relation to the preceding chapters, each topic is professionally addressed through description, forensic evaluation, and summation. Ms. Fiester's conclusions refute our inherited mythologies associated with each of those issues.

I'm aware of some controversy about who may actually have said this famous line credited to Arthur Schopenhauer:

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.'

I think Enemy of the Truth: Myths, Forensics, and the Kennedy Assassination by Sherry P. Fiester is important. I hope all who are interested will discover for themselves something of value there.

Thank you for reading.