09-08-2013, 02:53 AM
Here is my review so far on Amazon. Plan to add a couple of more paragraphs tomorrow. Please like this review if you can on Amazon. There is an Unspeakable product link, and Hundred Days is starting to leap in sales now that we are inside the 100 days till Dallas. The billionaires prevent real books from ever getting a chance to be known a lot much less purchased. If we are in a war let us use any means necessary to try to even out the playing field.... a bit.
-------------- http://www.amazon.com/JFKs-Last-Hundred-...LLI2LTQCB6
3.0 out of 5 stars JFK and the Unspeakable, LIGHT!, July 28, 2013
By Brookbird34 "Nathaniel Heidenheimer" (NYC) - See all my reviews
Edit Review
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This review is from: JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President (Hardcover)
This book is best discussed with reference to JFK and the Unspeakable, which has been completely censored by the Corporate media for reasons w apparent about 7 minutes after one begins reading it. There are some unique things about Clarke's book, but also some severe limitations inherent in its form, which is a day by day account of the last hundred days. The day to day vignettes are at once refreshing and restrictive. In general, this book can serve as good introduction to an incredibly busy period that is the most important period in terms of understanding America right now, when elected officials are pawns to intelligence agencies and their corporate masters.
The best aspect of Last Hundred is a unique admission-- for a mass marketed book-- of just how fast JFK was changing the dynamics of US foreign policy in 1963. FINALLY, a book that will be widely known, is formally slaying the horrible "Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam!
In reality the academic works showing that JFK was not "just another Cold Warrior" have been available for years, and have been especially persuasive on the JFK as detente midwife theme since the new records of the Assassination Records Review Board ARRB forced release ofmore than six million new documents in the late 1990s. It takes a while for those to be analyzed by historians. However, by around 2008 about seven new academic works on, for example Vietnam between 1960-65, have all shown that the evidence that JFK was getting out of VIetnam was far stronger than had perviously been known.
Hundred Days, to its credit, is very clear in stating this abrupt contrast with LBJ's hawkishness.
The major weakness of the book stems from its form, namely its strict narrative focus on the life of JFK and his family. Why is this a weakness? Because in dealing with US foreign policy in 1963 we are truly at a fork in the road. Yes the US had already become "globocop" i.e. completely interventionist since at least 194, but there was still some ambiguity-- more than most would think-- about whether the US should perceive third world colonial struggles as inherently between communist and non-communist ideologies. In fact, JFK was unique in the US Senate of the 1950s in arguing that all colonial struggles were not inherently pro or anti-communist, but were essentially longings for liberty from imperialism. Clarke does manage to sneak in some background here, but not enough to show just how unique JFK was.
This emphasis is really needed because of the degree to which polemicists, especially those ALLEGEDLY on the left such as Chomsky, have inaccurately maintained the Cold War Liberal catechism that JFK was "just another Cold Warrior."
Much of the book is focussed on JFK's Vietnam policy, as it should be. The problem here is that some in-country background is absolutely essential. This is because the CIA was, in actuality, making its own policy in VIetnam, as even a front page New York Times article of October 3rd, 1963 argued. [ look up October 3rd, 1963 Black Op Radio to read the Arthur Krock piece] Clarke's book is critical of JFK for being ambiguous about the coup. But that criticism is impossible to evaluate without more knowledge of the intense conflict between CIA and their ostensible masters in the White House, unless we know more about this "Intra-Administration" conflict as Krock piece put it, i.e. the conflict between Kennedy and CIA, which was evident in nearly all of his foreign policies from Laos to Vietnam and also involving Cuba, Indonesia, Brazil, Congo and the USSR.
In a 2013 world in which we increasingly see the limitations of elected pols that are imposed by intelligence agencies [e.g. the NSA phone tapping and what this implies for Representation] 1963 is the point of no return.
It is the last point at which we can, if the author is brave enough, see presidents struggle against the restrictions of CIA.
And that is where a contrast with 100 Days is needed. JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters is a book originally published in 2008. Later it was reissued by Touchstone in 2010. It is the most important book published since 1945.
Unspeakable has more than 2,500 footnotes mostly from author interviews of first hand participants and also from academic sources. It has earned the highest praises from Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame, from Marcus Raskin, who worked in the Kennedy White House under McGeorge Bundy, from Ray McGovern who was CIA pdb to President H.W. Bush and from academics from Princeton to Berkley.
Yet this book argues that JFK was assassinated by CIA. Therefore it is completely censored in the US media in spite of the 20 years of research which shows in every page. The book has not received a single mention in US corporate Media save one occasion: on January 11th in Dalls RFK Jr and his sister Rory were interviewed before an audience of ten thousand, and he mentioned this book as having convinced the entire family, once and for all, of the case for conspiracy in the JFK assassination.
YET WHERE IS THAT INTERVIEW ON THE INTERNET? It ended up never even being shown on Charlie Rose. The next day in the very municipal-minded Dallas Morning News, there was a brief mention of The Unspeakable, but only in condescending terms that completely ignored its scholarly heart.
JFK and the Unspeakable is truly a dissident book in the United State of 2013. Here we don't Siberia the authors we just confine their books to desperate please written with amazon inserts. Please look up this book, see what's been written about it. { one source is Are Presidents Afraid of the CIA by Ray McGovern, see the last half of that long article.}
Hundred Days is a good introduction to the new research, but several of its assertions are dubious without analysis of the sourcing, particularly with regard to JFK's personal life. More axes have been ground into JFK's back than q-tips into Bush ears, all while the media protest they have been too easy on the 35th president. They protest too much as a contrast with Krock's less corrupt piece shows.
If you read only one book on JFK, it should be unspeakable. In a completely corrupt corporate media world we need to most need to hear dissidents about 1963. It was when the CIA was unsweetened 16. It was the last time we see the seem. And there is much more to see than one might think. America you are too processed! Listen to your best dissident! JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters
"With penetrating insight and unswerving integrity, Douglass proves the fundamental truths about JFK's assassination . . . by far the most important book yet written on the subject."--Gaeton Fonzi, former Staff Investigator, US House Select Committee on Assassinations
"An unfamiliar yet thoroughly convincing account of a series of creditable decisions of John F. Kennedy--at odds with his initial Cold War stance--that earned him the secret distrust and hatred of hard-liners among the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA."--Daniel Ellsberg, author, Secrets: A Memoir of the Vietnam War and the Pentagon Papers
"Douglass writes with moral force, clarity, and the careful attention to detail that will make JFK and the Unspeakable a sourcebook for many years to come, for it provides us with the stubborn facts needed to rebuild a constitutional democracy within the United States."--Marcus Raskin, co-founder, Institute for Policy Studies
"Remarkable . . . . This book should be required reading for every American citizen."--Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University
-------------- http://www.amazon.com/JFKs-Last-Hundred-...LLI2LTQCB6
3.0 out of 5 stars JFK and the Unspeakable, LIGHT!, July 28, 2013
By Brookbird34 "Nathaniel Heidenheimer" (NYC) - See all my reviews
Edit Review
Delete Review
This review is from: JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President (Hardcover)
This book is best discussed with reference to JFK and the Unspeakable, which has been completely censored by the Corporate media for reasons w apparent about 7 minutes after one begins reading it. There are some unique things about Clarke's book, but also some severe limitations inherent in its form, which is a day by day account of the last hundred days. The day to day vignettes are at once refreshing and restrictive. In general, this book can serve as good introduction to an incredibly busy period that is the most important period in terms of understanding America right now, when elected officials are pawns to intelligence agencies and their corporate masters.
The best aspect of Last Hundred is a unique admission-- for a mass marketed book-- of just how fast JFK was changing the dynamics of US foreign policy in 1963. FINALLY, a book that will be widely known, is formally slaying the horrible "Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam!
In reality the academic works showing that JFK was not "just another Cold Warrior" have been available for years, and have been especially persuasive on the JFK as detente midwife theme since the new records of the Assassination Records Review Board ARRB forced release ofmore than six million new documents in the late 1990s. It takes a while for those to be analyzed by historians. However, by around 2008 about seven new academic works on, for example Vietnam between 1960-65, have all shown that the evidence that JFK was getting out of VIetnam was far stronger than had perviously been known.
Hundred Days, to its credit, is very clear in stating this abrupt contrast with LBJ's hawkishness.
The major weakness of the book stems from its form, namely its strict narrative focus on the life of JFK and his family. Why is this a weakness? Because in dealing with US foreign policy in 1963 we are truly at a fork in the road. Yes the US had already become "globocop" i.e. completely interventionist since at least 194, but there was still some ambiguity-- more than most would think-- about whether the US should perceive third world colonial struggles as inherently between communist and non-communist ideologies. In fact, JFK was unique in the US Senate of the 1950s in arguing that all colonial struggles were not inherently pro or anti-communist, but were essentially longings for liberty from imperialism. Clarke does manage to sneak in some background here, but not enough to show just how unique JFK was.
This emphasis is really needed because of the degree to which polemicists, especially those ALLEGEDLY on the left such as Chomsky, have inaccurately maintained the Cold War Liberal catechism that JFK was "just another Cold Warrior."
Much of the book is focussed on JFK's Vietnam policy, as it should be. The problem here is that some in-country background is absolutely essential. This is because the CIA was, in actuality, making its own policy in VIetnam, as even a front page New York Times article of October 3rd, 1963 argued. [ look up October 3rd, 1963 Black Op Radio to read the Arthur Krock piece] Clarke's book is critical of JFK for being ambiguous about the coup. But that criticism is impossible to evaluate without more knowledge of the intense conflict between CIA and their ostensible masters in the White House, unless we know more about this "Intra-Administration" conflict as Krock piece put it, i.e. the conflict between Kennedy and CIA, which was evident in nearly all of his foreign policies from Laos to Vietnam and also involving Cuba, Indonesia, Brazil, Congo and the USSR.
In a 2013 world in which we increasingly see the limitations of elected pols that are imposed by intelligence agencies [e.g. the NSA phone tapping and what this implies for Representation] 1963 is the point of no return.
It is the last point at which we can, if the author is brave enough, see presidents struggle against the restrictions of CIA.
And that is where a contrast with 100 Days is needed. JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters is a book originally published in 2008. Later it was reissued by Touchstone in 2010. It is the most important book published since 1945.
Unspeakable has more than 2,500 footnotes mostly from author interviews of first hand participants and also from academic sources. It has earned the highest praises from Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame, from Marcus Raskin, who worked in the Kennedy White House under McGeorge Bundy, from Ray McGovern who was CIA pdb to President H.W. Bush and from academics from Princeton to Berkley.
Yet this book argues that JFK was assassinated by CIA. Therefore it is completely censored in the US media in spite of the 20 years of research which shows in every page. The book has not received a single mention in US corporate Media save one occasion: on January 11th in Dalls RFK Jr and his sister Rory were interviewed before an audience of ten thousand, and he mentioned this book as having convinced the entire family, once and for all, of the case for conspiracy in the JFK assassination.
YET WHERE IS THAT INTERVIEW ON THE INTERNET? It ended up never even being shown on Charlie Rose. The next day in the very municipal-minded Dallas Morning News, there was a brief mention of The Unspeakable, but only in condescending terms that completely ignored its scholarly heart.
JFK and the Unspeakable is truly a dissident book in the United State of 2013. Here we don't Siberia the authors we just confine their books to desperate please written with amazon inserts. Please look up this book, see what's been written about it. { one source is Are Presidents Afraid of the CIA by Ray McGovern, see the last half of that long article.}
Hundred Days is a good introduction to the new research, but several of its assertions are dubious without analysis of the sourcing, particularly with regard to JFK's personal life. More axes have been ground into JFK's back than q-tips into Bush ears, all while the media protest they have been too easy on the 35th president. They protest too much as a contrast with Krock's less corrupt piece shows.
If you read only one book on JFK, it should be unspeakable. In a completely corrupt corporate media world we need to most need to hear dissidents about 1963. It was when the CIA was unsweetened 16. It was the last time we see the seem. And there is much more to see than one might think. America you are too processed! Listen to your best dissident! JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters
"With penetrating insight and unswerving integrity, Douglass proves the fundamental truths about JFK's assassination . . . by far the most important book yet written on the subject."--Gaeton Fonzi, former Staff Investigator, US House Select Committee on Assassinations
"An unfamiliar yet thoroughly convincing account of a series of creditable decisions of John F. Kennedy--at odds with his initial Cold War stance--that earned him the secret distrust and hatred of hard-liners among the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA."--Daniel Ellsberg, author, Secrets: A Memoir of the Vietnam War and the Pentagon Papers
"Douglass writes with moral force, clarity, and the careful attention to detail that will make JFK and the Unspeakable a sourcebook for many years to come, for it provides us with the stubborn facts needed to rebuild a constitutional democracy within the United States."--Marcus Raskin, co-founder, Institute for Policy Studies
"Remarkable . . . . This book should be required reading for every American citizen."--Richard Falk, Milbank Professor of International Law Emeritus, Princeton University