3 comments about Grandmere: A Personal History of Eleanor Roosevelt.

1. Grandmere is a lovely inside look into the life of Eleanor Roosevelt from the point of view of her grandson David. He covers events in his grandmothers life with honesty and facts while still showing tenderness and fondness. The many family photos were especially interesting. The book also quotes Eleanor and Franklin's own children on different subjects concerning their parents that only immediate family would know. A pleasant read for sure.



2. This rather short coffee-table book is most notable for its collection of photos of Eleanor Roosevelt and her family. The photos are extensive, and a few have not been seen before by non-historians like myself. Otherwise, there was almost nothing new to be learned about this very remarkable and intelligent woman, much to my disappointment! Most amazing was that her grandson actually admitted that he was ignorant of her role on the public stage until her death when he was 20 years old!



3. I love everything and every pictures too. Thank you.

5 comments about A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story.

1. I had David's father as a teacher in Junior High and High School on Islesboro, ME and can remember clearly in '93 when he 'suddenly' took time off. His students were left wondering what happened to him? Where did he go? What was Waco all about? David' book clearly puts words to an event, sometimes there are no words for, only silence. Although I've never met younger David, I have met the Senior and if he's incrediblely gifted and talented -- a bank full of knowledge -- than David the young eloquently and rawly gives voice to his nightmare -- of survival -- at a time when there were only questions as to whether he would. Honest, Brash, Brilliant and lastly Human.



2. David Thibodeau was a young LA musician when a chance meeting with the charismatic David Koresh led to his involvement with the Branch Davidian community outside Waco, Texas. This book is a well-written, articulate account of his life within that community and the events leading to the tragic 1993 inferno that claimed the lives of all but nine of the members.
   
   Thibodeau honors his community by putting a human face on a group of people who have been badly demonized by the media. The author does a decent job of explaining the group's appeal, but he is also honest in his descriptions the darker sides of the group. He appears, however, to remain a true believer in his path. While he does address the discomfort he felt that Koresh chose to engage in such behaviors as having sex with underage girls in the community, he falls short of asking the hard questions that observing such behavior in a spiritual leader should require someone to ask.
   
   It's easy to get distracted from those tougher questions, however, by the chilling depiction of the government siege against the Branch Davidians. While it was clear that Koresh himself had broken some laws, it is equally clear from this account that the government's heavy-handed approach to the situation resulted in the horrific deaths of many people who were entirely innocent of any crime other than believing in something unorthodox. Thibodeau's account of the facts surrounding the siege, the fire, and the resulting investigation is deeply, deeply disturbing, and is crucial reading for anyone who is concerned about the state of civil rights in the US.



3. David Thibodeau, in writing this book, has said that he wanted to present a balance account of the almost total annihilation of the religious community known as Mount Carmel, home for the Branch Davidians. (Eight adults and one teen survived.) I believe he did exactly that. Thibodeau had been a late comer to this community, brought in by its charismatic leader David Koresh. But, he was there long enough to witness the good and the bad that existed and he ended up being a survivor of the carnage. He does not try to whitewash the possible illegal weapons charge or the definite statutory rape and child-endangering acts that were committee there. On the other hand, he doesn't paint the Feds with an all-tarnishing brush either, as he admits he doesn't know who fired the first shots (or if in the last climatic attack any shots were fired) and he doesn't know how the fatal fire was begun. What he does is present a detailed description of overkill as he explains how the government used tanks, deadly and inflamable teargas, and bullet-strafing helicopters to attack this group of 62 adults and 21 children huddled in their ramshackle structure. Ironically, he considers much of the blame falls on the newly-appointed Attorney General Janet Reno, who in her first days of administration didn't want to appear soft in the face of the bullying tactics of the FBI and the ATF, and thus capitulated to their massive attack plans that were put into affect just days before Koresh had promised to surrender. Thibodeau gives us, I believe, a true accounting of the life lead by the citizens of Mount Carmel, the overpowering attacks of our government, and the cover-up investigations that follow. I would hope that one of the results of this book would be to help assure that there are no more such incidents in America's future. Mr. Thibodeau, a job well done.



4. If they were so peaceful then why did they not just exit the compound? Why have such a long standoff which they knew would end that way? Overall, this book answers a lot of questions and raises more. The conduct of the followers was atrocious and the conduct of the FBI was less than professional, but I must say that I don't feel bad for any of the people that died other than the children who had been raped, physically abused (spanking), and never given a chance.



5. Most everyone knows about the federal government's disastrous debacle at Waco, Texas back in 1993. We have watched the testimonies, the congressional investigations, and the flames engulfing the building that housed the Branch Davidian religious sect. Some of us have even read books on the event, and many have been written. This book, written by survivor David Thibodeau, is one of the best yet.
   
   Thibodeau was right there, in the middle of the standoff with ATF and FBI agents, so his perspective is unique from others who have written about the event from the outside. Starting with the time when he first met David Koresh while playing in various bands in Los Angeles, Thibodeau talks about his interest in the Branch Davidians and explains what got him involved in the group; why he became interested in religion after never having much interest or instruction during his youth; why he decided to follow Koresh and his teachings; why he decided to stay at Mt. Carmel during the siege; how he handled the media and press following his escape from the fire; and his post- Mt. Carmel life, touring the country as an informational speaker.
   
   Thibodeau has a lot of anger to share in this book, not toward Koresh or the other members of the religious group, but toward the press and the U.S. government. He fully admits that Koresh wasn't perfect and that certain actions taken by Koresh (like sleeping with young girls) wasn't right and should have landed him in jail. But above all, he is most scornful of the media and the U.S. government. The members of the media acted like lap dogs during the siege, reporting on anything told to them by the ATF and FBI as if it were absolute truth. Thibodeau and the other members of the Davidians were saddened and angered by, for example, the reference to their group as a cult and the reference to their building as a compound. The various government reporting agencies promoted these terms to turn the public against the Davidians. Thibodeau is correct in his assertions about the government's actions in this area, and he makes some good points about this. It is true that Koresh himself was a little strange, but he was no real threat and the things he taught were hardly radical. If his teachings qualify the Branch Davidians as a cult, then many mainstream Protestant groups would also be cults. It is known, too, that the FBI deliberately prevented the release of a video tape that featured the different members of the group talking to the camera about their families and lives because the FBI was worried that, once the public saw this tape, they would see that these people were pretty ordinary and it would sway public opinion over to the Davidian's side.
   
   The government's handling of the investigation was purely political, with Democrats taking the side of the ATF and FBI, in order to protect the Clinton administration, and the Republicans taking the side of religious freedom in order to make Clinton and his administration look bad. Thibodeau talks about how sickening it was to watch this unfold. No one really seemed to care about truth or justice. All they cared about was protecting their own fellow politicians or making the opposing politicians look bad.
   
   The writing in this book is excellent, and Thisbodeau was very wise in making the decision to hire a professional editor to help with the work. Other victims of well- publicized tragedies have also written books, but many of them rely on their own amateurish writing skills to carry them through, often resulting in a book that is sub-par at best and that often fails to be as effective as it could have been. The writing in this book, thanks to the assistance of Leon Whiteson, is nearly flawless and it kept my attention throughout the reading.
   
   Thibodeau spends his time touring the nation now, giving speeches to different groups around the country about what happened and what needs to be done in the future to prevent any more Wacos. He shows some strong courage in writing this book, openly admitting that certain actions taken by his own friends were wrong and were deserving of punishment. But he places the bulk of the blame on the ATF and FBI for starting all the trouble in the first place. Like Ruby Ridge, Waco is yet another example of what can happen when government power goes unchecked. And Thibodeau makes a strong case for reigning in the power of government in this well- written, personal book about the tragedy at Waco that killed more than eighty people.

5 comments about Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House.

1. An intriguing title for an uninspired book. Though the writing style is crisp, the content merely consists of a recitation of commonly-known facts and anecdotes. There is too much regurgitation of the high- and low-lights of the presidential years and too little new ground covered in the "retirement" years. The most serious flaw of the book, however, is the sloppy research; basic and unpardonable factual errors repeatedly leap off the pages, casting doubt about the author's knowledge and reliability. A sampling of the more blatant examples include:
   * Updegrove cites November 20, 1963 as the date of JFK's assassination!
   * He refers to vice presdient Alben Barkley as "Alvin".
   * At one point he identifies Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn as "Senate Majority Leader".
   * Six Crises, the book Richard Nixon wrote following his 1960s defeats, is erroneously included in the list of books he penned from "1979 to 1992".
   * According to Updegrove, Gerald Ford uttered his famous "I am a Ford, not a Lincoln" after taking the oath of office as vice president when, in fact, it happened after succeeding Nixon as president.
   * President Andrew Johnson, the first president to be impeached, was successful in "dodging impeachment", in the author's distorted version of the episode.
   * Updegrove claims that Winthrop Rockefeller, Nelson's brother, was governeor of West Virginia when he actually was governor of Arkansas.
   * He refers to the prestigious Wellesley College, Hillary Clinton's alma mater, as "Wellesley University".
   These are unforgivable factual errors. As teacher I cringe at the thought that unsuspecting readers will be misinformed when relying on this book for authoritative information.
   A suggestion for the author and editor at the Lyons Press: do a fact check before releasing books on biography and history.



2. This book makes for light reading but it does offer a unique insight into what president's have done after leaving office and how the role has evolved and differed over the years. It also offers interesting insights into how the various presidents have interacted with one another and with the public at large including how they seem to regain or obtain a measure of respect that eluded them in office. One flaw that kept this from being a five star review was the number of editorial mistakes including a number of incorrect dates listed through out the book that ultimately made a perfect book slightly imperfect. But don't let that stop you from reading this!



3. Second Acts tells the very human stories of the transitions Presidents Truman through Clinton made from president to private citizen--albeit very public ones. The book is highly readable, revealing the character of the men it covers in ways more illuminating than standard historical tomes. The Library Journal proclaimed it "highly recommended." So do I.



4. This book tells of the post-presidential years of all the Presidents beginning with Truman. It is jam packed with interesting information, and while it may break no new ground it does a superlative job of summing the times and men involved. It is a very easy read, and I found it fun to read.



5. Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House chronicles the activities of former presidents who, far from retiring from office, are making important contributions. Now ex-presidents perform valuable services such as international emissaries, taking their own agendas overseas. Interviews with former presidents, first ladies, family member and staff members not only present these activities, but analyze how ex-presidents are continuing to shape the politics and events of the Oval Office. Essential for any collection strong in American history or politics.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

2 comments about A Texas Cavalry Officer's Civil War: The Diary and Letters of James C. Bates.

1.  The day I learned of Richard Lowe's publication of the diary and letters of James C. Bates I ordered the book. I read Bates' diary and letters first then re-read the entire book. I was fascinated! In his letters, Bates reveals his feelings much more often than most Civil War soldiers. I have often wondered how he survived such a dreadful wound. His description of forcing a tube down his horridly damaged throat would make anyone cringe. I knew a descendant of James C. Bates had the major's Civil War papers, but I had no idea where to find that person. This book is a valuable contribution to the history of a band of brave and dedicated young men who deserve recognition. Their brigade, made up of the First Texas Legion, the Third, the Sixth, and the Ninth Texas Cavalry, is the only Texas cavalry brigade to serve east of the Mississippi. They were transferred from the TransMississippi to Corinth in April 1862 and remained in the Confederate West to the end of the war. In the Official Records they were known as the Texas Cavalry Brigade and later in the war as Ross's Cavalry Brigade. I have a special interest in the Ninth Texas Cavalry and would have paid a large ransom for Lowe's book a couple of years ago. I am elated to add it to my library. My mother remembered two uncles, Reuben and Jesse Rogers, who served with the Ninth. Her stories and a few old family records started my research on the regiment ten years ago. In January of this year Avon Books published my book about the Ninth and Ross's Brigade - All Afire to Fight - The Untold Tale of the Civil War's Ninth Texas Cavalry. See Amazon.com for description and reviews of All Afire to Fight.



2. In our family my great aunt was the keeper of this rare piece of glass pressed into a frame, not even as big as a deck of cards. It was the likeness of my great-great grandfather, a supposed captain in some Confederate unit, captured in an ambrotype, a primitive form of photograph. I peered at him as a child as he proudly gazed back at me from more than a century ago, his hat flamboyantly cocked, beard prominent, and pistols visible at his waist.

   We never knew what the war was like for him, the details of his life blurred by a sketchy oral tradition: Didn't know what he thought about the cause in which he was engaged; what he thought about his fellow soldiers; about the Union; about his family. We didn't know why he came back home to Arkansas, so we were told, in the middle of the war, only to die. Had he been wounded or taken ill? Had he deserted, or just walked away on a long odyssey home, as Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain soldier had?

   These past few days, though, have offered a vivid and authentic picture of how life must have been for my forebear. Richard Lowe, Regents Professor of History at the University of North Texas, pulled all the strands of that world together in this book.

   Captain, then Major, then Lieutenant Colonel Bates' letters and diary entries, along with Lowe's invaluable geographical markers and chronological waystations, give us a true picture of the trials -- physical, mental and emotional -- that must have weighed heavily on those young men in the maelstrom of war.

   Bates' own psyche tilts at the eternal and epic questions of Everyman's life and death throughout the book. In some letters, the young Bates playfully teases his future wife Mootie. In others, the darker hand of war and combat color his mind. His lightheartedness with Mootie stands out against the grisly accounts of terrible battles and revenge. In one he reports that his men "set a good many" former slaves who had gone over to the Union side "to stretching hemp," a euphemism for hanging.

   As Bates' letters and diaries continue throughout the war, his own accounts of rumors brought into his camp and his joy at optimistic accounts of victories reported leave us pitying his soul, for he knows not yet of the war's inexorable grinding on the Confederacy. Lowe's ample and informative historical notes and charts force us to twist privately in our seats as we read, unable from this vantage point to even vicariously enlighten or encourage Bates in his travels and battles through the Indian Territory, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

   Bates would hear of nothing to dampen the spirits of the Confederate cause, evidenced by a letter to his sister, a scalding scolding, after she had written to him a particularly depressing letter. "Why all this gloom," he asks. "You permit your imagination to conjure up a thousand dangers & difficulties & causes for trouble that have no existence in reality." Then, after a tub-thumping sermon on reasons for bearing up under the strain: "Make an effort to appear cheerful at all times - and making the effort to appear so will soon really make you feel so."

   Bates' optimism bears up even when he contemplates continuation of the war after the fall of Vicksburg and Atlanta.

   Analyses of the deeper reasons for the conflict pepper Bates' writings, based many times on his reading of letters and papers captured from Union soldiers. Then, as if it is all a joke, he relates a story of how the belligerents, negotiating in 1861, came to terrible disagreement over which side would take Mississippi. Abraham Lincoln, who in this tale really didn't want anything to do with Mississippi, reluctantly offers to take half, then precipitating the war, since the South could not bear to have only half. Bates despised Mississippi. On his second trip there, he was obliged to admit that his Confederate troops were treated better than before, the locals having got a dose of the Yankee medicine since his last visit, a medicine which he felt had taught them to respect the presence of their own Confederate troops.

   Bates' use of American slang still rings true in the ear today, with his talk of having the "blues" from time to time, but his prose is undeniably pristine and proper. His take on the ineptitude of Confederate leaders is poignant and his analysis of politics is deadly sharp.

   Possibly while on a visit back home, he, like so many soldiers in other conflicts, left a code with his friend Mootie, which allowed him to pass along information to her which could have compromised the troops' mission have it been general knowledge. Lowe includes the two instances of the code in use, along with a facsimile of the actual key used in deciphering. How exciting and intimate it must have been to think of passing along privileged information along to his future partner.

   Bates also follows the lead of many other soldiers, finding God, or "taking religion," after his brush with death and subsequent injury. He assures his mother that if he were to die, he would be reunited with her one day in the heavens.

   The war for Bates ended with his inability to return home for a while. He spent time wandering Mississippi, in all likelihood working through events that changed him from a young innocent to a vengeful, physically shattered man.

   Bates was lucky enough to have survived a minié ball wound to the mouth, and lived a productive life for some time after the war, unlike my "Captain," who died before the war was over. Even so, I, and many others who may have wondered about their forebear in their own carefully passed-along photo, now have something to go on, something that reveals the real world of a Confederate soldier, the hopes, the joys, the wrenching twists of morals and psyche.

1 comments about Indian Summer: Traditional Life Among the Choinumne Indians of California's San Joaquin Valley.

1. Indian Summer: Traditional Life Among The Choinumne Indians Of California's San Joaquin Valley by Thomas Jefferson Mayfield offers an eye-witness account of life of the Native American people in California in the nineteenth and early twentieth century as described by the author, who is the only known outsider to have ever lived entirely among the California Indians while they were still leading their traditional lives. Having been adopted by the Choinumne Yokuts at the age of six, Mayfield was raised to speak their language, wear their clothing, eat their foods, navigate their boats, hunt their game, and build with them their houses. Indian Summer is the first hand account of all of these Native American traditions season-by-season, providing contemporary readers with a glimpse into the natural daily life of the Choinumne Yokuts people. Indian Summer is very strongly recommended for personal and academic library Native American reading lists and reference collections.

1 comments about The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: Penn Reading Project Edition.

1. Ben Franklin recalls his earlier life from a later vantage point in this skillfully-written walk back in time. As is often the case when reading the words of those from other ages, this most human and brilliant of Founding Fathers seems simultaneously utterly modern and distinctly Colonial as he tells about his life as a printer and inventor in 18th-century Philadelphia. It is the small moments that grant this book so much flavor. Franklin's description of chasing a "whirlwind" is a prime example of that. This is history at its most approachable, penned by a man whose wit and self-confidence make him fine company for the duration of a most enjoyable read.

2 comments about God and General Longstreet: The Lost Cause and the Southern Mind.

1. If you want to know how the Lost Cause syndrome got its start and how Longstreet to his shock became the designated failure of the Confederacy, this is a revealing book. Old Pete survived his crippling wounds incurred by bullets during his great counter attack in the Wilderness but the ink from "Old Jube's" (Jubal Early's) pen created greater harm and anguish to Longstreet as Early effectively destroys his reputation. Early holds a tight grasp of southern history and the Southern Historical Society making sure that no one dared write anything about the War of the Rebellion without his approval. How ironic that the man that moved Alexander's auxiliary guns away during Pickett's charge, the former and inefficient Pendleton, makes up a bogus story about Longstreet disobeying a sunrise attack order on the second day of Gettysburg in a speech shortly after Lee died and blames Longstreet solely for the lost battle and in turn the "cause". Early picks up the ridiculous story to exaggerate Pendleton's story to gross proportions while coloring his own role that is very suspect in not supporting an attack on Culp's Hill on the first day of Gettysburg and he also pushed Ewell in not moving his corps to the right as Lee wished failing to contract Lee's over extended lines. Old Jube was a tough fighter but had a hard time with cavalry particularly in the Valley where Lee finally has Early relieved. Unlike Longstreet and Lee, Early left the country after the war and upon his return made a career out of rewriting history to suit his slant. Jubal Early could have been the Roy Cohn of the post Civil War era.

   Connelly also explains how Lee becomes a greater hero after death and a rallying point for statues and dedications while the south understandably searches for an answer to the defeat of what many in the south tried to remember as a noble cause. Jackson's role is diminished as Lee's appreciative role becomes magnified almost to diety. As the reasons for the "Lost Cause" become justified, Davis and Stephens even write retrospective histories that contrast conveniently with the changing times, States Rights and Rights under the Constitution rise to greater reasons of separation than does slavery for example.

   A devastating loss with so much death, maiming of young men and destruction needed a nobleness that was overwhelmed only by large numbers of Union soldiers and errors of judgement of those other thsn the leaders of the armies. "Lest we Forget" is defined in Connelly's fascinating book.




2. Connelly and Bellows offer a fine selection of short essays that deal with the "mentality" of the Southern mind amid the squalor of a defeated nation. I would think those more versed in their Civil War studies would appreciate this more than the casual reader. An appetizing psychological look at the only section of our country that has been a "defeated nation"

No comments about Andrew Jackson: The Great Generals Series.

4 comments about Detailed Minutiae of Soldier Life in the Army of Northern Virginia, 1861-1865.

1. I found the book an easy read. It was informative to find out the day to day life of an average soldier in the Confederacy during the last part of the Civil War. In many ways though I wish the author would have been more specific with details, but I had to remember of the time (1882) in which he wrote. He was really a product of the time, the flowery language shows and I accept this. Still some of the descriptions seemed intentionally vague, as if he was scared at offending some one, or worse yet stirring up old emotions. I would however, recommend it to a person studying the day to day life of a soldier in the Army of Northern Virginia.



2. Nicely paced, reader-friendly account of the "minutiae" involved in the life of a Confederate soldier - more specifically, as a member of the Army of Northern Virginia. Along with Billings' Northern perspective as seen in Hardtack and Coffee, these two books tell just about all the "ins and outs" of the tedium and horror of war.



3. A quick, really great read on the everyday life of the Confederate soldier in the War for Southern Independence. The Whats, Whens, Hows, and Whys of the survival of the common man in the Army of Northern Virginia told in a very readable manner. Anyone interested in "the War" shouldn't go without reading this one! Too bad there isn't a hardback!



4. Worth the time and the money (affordable price) to read about some of the everyday life of a regular Confederate soldier. It's a fairly quick read, and quite interesting.

5 comments about Mrs. Paine's Garage: And the Murder of John F. Kennedy.

1. Very good book taking information from the account of the landlord for Marina Oswald at the time of the shooting....I read the whole thing....Interesting addtl info re: Dallas happening.



2. This book is an example of creative nonfiction as it is written like a novel. The operative word here is "creative". This book is written as the title suggests from Ruth Paine's point of view. Both the author and interview subject have placed much more importance on her relationship with the Oswalds than was really there. Ruth seems to think that she was an integral part of what happened as if she could have stopped Lee. The truth is she had only met them at a party in early 1963 and even though Marina was living with her; Ruth barely knew the couple.

   Mallon makes a lot of assumptions in this book like stating that Oswald went back to the boarding house to pick up the pistol "he used minutes later to kill the patrolman, J. D. Tippet who stopped him near the corner of Tenth and Patton." The gun Oswald had on him at the time of his arrest at the Texas Theater had a defective firing pin so he couldn't have shot anyone with it. Witnesses were goaded into identifying Oswald during the police line-up. I might remind readers that it has never been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lee killed Kennedy or Officer Tippet.

   I must admit that Ruth's obsession with Marina before and after the assassination was VERY INTERESTING and the only part of the book that seemed based on reality.

   If you like historical comedy, this is the book for you!




3. Thomas Mallon has written about Ruth Paine, the woman who found she had harboured one of the most infamous criminals of all time- Lee Harvey Oswald. Whatever you believe about the Kennedy assassination, you'll appreciate Mallon's glimpse at what it was like to be standing right next to one of the most important, disruptive, and tragic events of the twentieth century. Ruth Paine is revealed to be a woman with a very sure sense of who she is and what she stands for, a woman who- almost alone among survivors truly close to the assassination- refuses to be defined by her proximity to what happened that day in Dealey Plaza.

   Mallon's skill at conveying a sense of what the world was like in 1963 is remarkable, and very welcome. In several paragraphs, he details just how un-sophisticated a planet we lived on then; it was a day of hand-typed copies instead of Xeroxes and the 8-cent stamp instead of e-mail. As someone who was around at that time, I've often wished that more authors dealing with this topic would take more care to remind readers that the world was a very different place then. Forgetting that has led many assassination researchers and theorists down many a specious and unproductive pathway. One example (which is not to be found in Mallon's work) is Michael Paine's ownership of a Minox camera. Today's researchers have made the most prodigious hay out of that, never suspecting the truth- the Minox was heavily promoted and sold in the early Sixties as a toy for the well-off (which Mr. Paine was, despite his unassuming lifestyle), advertised in 'National Geographic'. The camera- in the context of its time- was no more meaningful than possession of a laptop is today. Yes, both COULD be used for nefarious purposes, but most owners use their laptops for peaceful, private purposes, and so did most Minox buffs. Mallon's work is always scrupulous in remembering the difference between Now and Then, and it is most refreshing.

   Ruth Paine seems to have given much of herself to Mallon, and therefore to us. She is revealed to have been very pained at several questions and revelations that came up both before and during the interviews for the book, but she seems never to have cut off the author's lines of inquiry, nor even to have directed them, answering frankly. Touchingly, Mallon's research revealed things to Ruth Paine even she had not known about the central event of her life, and her reactions to them are interesting indeed.

   Mallon has not produced a perfect book- there does not seem to have been much direct questioning of Mrs. Paine on some of the topics that assassination researchers raise the most questions about (that Minox, for one), and so the book will give a great deal of unnecessary ammunition to those who feel that Mrs. Paine has something to hide, rather than clearing matters once and for all. And there are a few places where Mallon does not make clear that he's quoting from previously published material, giving rise to the impression that he interviewed people he did not. While a reader familiar with the subject will be able to discern immediately that, say, Robert Oswald did not grant Mallon an interview, the author waits a bit to let the average reader in on that.

   Still, it's a remarkable look at a remarkable witness to history, a woman who has had staggering events roll over her, and like the slender reed she resembles, has sprung back, ready for new life, ready to bend in new directions, respecting the force of the storm, but quietly, serenely confident in her ability to survive it.




4. Thomas Mallon's most recent foray into "non-fiction," is not only a disappointment. It's a disgrace. The book's a bust not so much for what it is but for what it fails to be.
   Mallon's subjects, Ruth and her ex-husband, Michael Paine, were the young couple who befriended Lee and Marina Oswald
   in early 1963. When President John F. Kennedy's long-awaited visit to Dallas rolled around on Nov. 22, 1963, Marina was
   living at Ruth's house in Irving, Texas. Lee Oswald, who would eventually be charged with the president's gunshot slaying,
   spent the night before the assassination there at Ruth's home. When Dallas police appeared at the Irving address on that
   fateful Friday afternoon, Marina told them Lee's rifle was in the garage. When they searched, the gun was missing.

   Mallon could've delved deeply into the Paines' background, revealing their family's relationship, for instance, to former CIA Director Allen Dulles, who became one of the primary investigators into the Kennedy assassination.
   When the Paines each testified before the Warren Commission in 1964, Dulles oversaw their questioning. For many years, Michael's New England-based mother and stepfather, Ruth and Arthur Young, had been close friends of Mary Bancroft,Dulles' mistress dating back to his days as an undercover operative in Switzerland during World War II.
   If the public had known in 1964 about the Paine family's ties to Dulles, the Warren Commission may have been exposed for the sham that it was, a tool of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Hoover and Johnson both desperately wanted the JFK hit to dissolve swiftly into history, attributed to a "lone nut," Oswald, who in turn was assassinated by another "lone nut," Big D nightclub operator Jack Ruby.
   Mallon is apparently among the shrinking number of Americans who swallow that unlikely scenario, the double-lone nut theory.
   Instead of exploring the Paines' unholy alliance with Dulles in this book, Mallon wallows in Ruth's Quakerism and her worries over her lost friendship with Marina. Instead of examining Michael's classified work at Bell Helicopter or his father's interest in the assassination of Leon Trotsky, he describes the husband's fascination with cabinetry and contradancing. In doing so, Mallon effectively trivializes the JFK murder and expressly taunts conspiracy theorists who insist that the Paines deserve more serious probing. Mallon actually mocks longtime assassination researchers by comparing them to "Trekkies," the cult-like followers of a long-ago canceled TV science fiction show.
   Having endeared himself to Ruth, courting her carefully over years via mail and telephone in order secure her
   permission to interview her at length about the murder of the president, Mallon literally sold out.
   The Westport, Conn. writer boasts a lengthy and impressive resume, having cranked out well-received novels such as "Dewey Defeats Truman." His years of experience fail him here, however, as he relies on his literary talents to dance around issues he should have more fully embraced.
   Specifically, he simply labels such facts as the Dulles connection as mere "coincidence." In making this point, Mallon quotes two people: Ruth's mother, who blames "fate" for her daughter's unusual notoriety, and Norman Mailer, author of "Oswald's Ghost," a mid-90s biography of the alleged assassin.
   In "Oswald's Ghost," Mallon neglects to inform readers of "Mrs. Paine's Garage," Mailer actually asserted that -- given the unlikelihood of the Warren Report's single-bullet theory -- a second gunman may well have stood, completely by chance, firing at JFK from behind the stockade fence on the grassy knoll in front of the presidential limousine while Oswald fired from behind, totally oblivious to the other shooter!
   After reading illogical deductions such as that, you can see why writers such as Mailer and Mallon remain more highly
   admired for their fiction than for their non-fiction.
   To illustrate his insistence that coincidence ruled the Paines' fate, Mallon concludes his book by relating a story
   about Mr. and Mrs., Raymond Entenmann, former Paine pals who happened to help stock JFK's Fort Worth Hotel room with
   artwork on the night of Nov. 21-22, 1963.
   The Entenmanns have nothing to do with the killing of the president, of course, but Mallon seems to be saying that
   since the Paines knew the Entenmanns, it's also logical that they may have known Dulles as well or Dallas FBI agent James Hosty, or that we shouldn't be surprised that Ruth's father worked for a CIA-related development agency in South America or that Michael's father-in-law was an inventor for Bell Helicopter and his father, Lyman Paine, had been a prominent follower of Soviet expatriate Leon Trotsky.
   Although they both gave lengthy testimony before the Warren Commission in 1964, neither of the Paines were called
   before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979 nor before the Assassination Records Review Board in the
   mid-1990s. Now there's a coincidence that bears explaining, because both Ruth and Michael, now in their early 70s, still have
   plenty to answer for. Tyhey sure didn;t tell Mallon anything expept what they WANT people to hear, and he was oh-so-agreeable to participate in that subtle subterfuge.




5. Thomas Mallon's most recent foray into "non-fiction," is not only a disappointment. It's a disgrace. The book's a bust not so much for what it is but for what it fails to be.
   Mallon's subjects, Ruth and her ex-husband, Michael Paine, were the young couple who befriended Lee and Marina Oswald
   in early 1963. When President John F. Kennedy's long-awaited visit to Dallas rolled around on Nov. 22, 1963, Marina was living at Ruth's house in Irving, Texas. Lee Oswald, who would eventually be charged with the president's gunshot slaying, spent the night before the assassination there at Ruth's home. When Dallas police appeared at the Irving address on that fateful Friday afternoon, Marina told them Lee's rifle was in the garage. When they searched, the gun was missing.

   Mallon could've delved deeply into the Paines' background, revealing their family's relationship, for instance, to former CIA Director Allen Dulles, who became one of the primary investigators into the Kennedy assassination. When the Paines each testified before the Warren Commission in 1964, Dulles oversaw their questioning. For many years, Michael's New England-based mother and stepfather, Ruth and Arthur Young, had been close friends of Mary Bancroft, Dulles' mistress dating back to his days as an undercover operative in Switzerland during World War II. If the public had known in 1964 about the Paine family's ties to Dulles, the Warren Commission may have been exposed for the sham that it was, a tool of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Hoover and Johnson both desperately wanted the JFK hit to dissolve swiftly into history, attributed to a "lone nut," Oswald, who in turn was assassinated by another "lone nut," Big D nightclub operator Jack Ruby. Mallon is apparently among the shrinking number of Americans who swallow that unlikely scenario, the double-lone nut theory.
   Instead of exploring the Paines' unholy alliance with Dulles in this book, Mallon wallows in Ruth's Quakerism and her worries over her lost friendship with Marina. Instead of examining Michael's classified work at Bell Helicopter or his father's interest in the assassination of Leon Trotsky, he describes the husband's fascination with cabinetry and contradancing. In doing so, Mallon effectively trivializes the JFK murder and expressly taunts conspiracy theorists who insist that the Paines deserve more serious probing. Mallon actually mocks longtime assassination researchers by comparing them to "Trekkies," the cult-like followers of a long-ago canceled TV science fiction show. Having endeared himself to Ruth, courting her carefully over years via mail and telephone in order secure her permission to interview her at length about the murder of the president, Mallon literally sold out. The Westport, Conn. writer boasts a lengthy and impressive resume, having cranked out well-received novels such as "Dewey Defeats Truman." His years of experience fail him here, however, as he relies on his literary talents to dance around issues he should have more fully embraced.
   Specifically, he simply labels such facts as the Dulles connection as mere "coincidence." In making this point, Mallon quotes two people: Ruth's mother, who blames "fate" for her daughter's unusual notoriety, and Norman Mailer, author of "Oswald's Ghost," a mid-90s biography of the alleged assassin. In "Oswald's Ghost," Mallon neglects to inform readers of "Mrs. Paine's Garage," Mailer actually asserted that -- given the unlikelihood of the Warren Report's single-bullet theory -- a second gunman may well have stood, completely by chance, firing at JFK from behind the stockade fence on the grassy knoll in front of the presidential limousine while Oswald fired from behind, totally oblivious to the other shooter! After reading illogical deductions such as that, you can see why writers such as Mailer and Mallon remain more highly admired for their fiction than for their non-fiction.
   To illustrate his insistence that coincidence ruled the Paines' fate, Mallon concludes his book by relating a story about Mr. and Mrs., Raymond Entenmann, former Paine pals who happened to help stock JFK's Fort Worth Hotel room with artwork on the night of Nov. 21-22, 1963. The Entenmanns have nothing to do with the killing of the president, of course, but Mallon seems to be saying that since the Paines knew the Entenmanns, it's also logical that they may have known Dulles as well or Dallas FBI agent James Hosty, or that we shouldn't be surprised that Ruth's father worked for a CIA-related development agency in South America or that Michael's father-in-law was an inventor for Bell Helicopter and his father, Lyman Paine, had been a prominent follower of Soviet expatriate Leon Trotsky.
   Although they both gave lengthy testimony before the Warren Commission in 1964, neither of the Paines were called before the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1979 nor before the Assassination Records Review Board in the mid-1990s.
   Now THERE's a coincidence that bears explaining, because both Ruth and Michael, now in their early-70s, still have plenty to answer for. They sure didn't tell Mallon anything other than what they WANT people to hear, and he was oh-so-agreeable to participate in that subtle subterfuge.