640 pages | 29th October, 2013 | Non-fiction | Political Science; American History
A groundbreaking, explosive account of the Kennedy assassination that will rewrite the history of the 20th century’s most controversial murder investigation
The questions have haunted our nation for half a century: Was the President killed by a single gunman? Was Lee Harvey Oswald part of a conspiracy? Did the Warren Commission discover the whole truth of what happened on November 22, 1963?
Philip Shenon, a veteran investigative journalist who spent most of his career at The New York Times, finally provides many of the answers. Though A Cruel and Shocking Act began as Shenon’s attempt to write the first insider’s history of the Warren Commission, it quickly became something much larger and more important when he discovered startling information that was withheld from the Warren Commission by the CIA, FBI and others in power in Washington. Shenon shows how the commission’s ten-month investigation was doomed to fail because the man leading it – Chief Justice Earl Warren – was more committed to protecting the Kennedy family than getting to the full truth about what happened on that tragic day. A taut, page-turning narrative, Shenon’s book features some of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century—Bobby Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Chief Justice Warren, CIA spymasters Allen Dulles and Richard Helms, as well as the CIA’s treacherous “molehunter,” James Jesus Angleton.
Based on hundreds of interviews and unprecedented access to the surviving commission staffers and many other key players, Philip Shenon’s authoritative, scrupulously researched book will forever change the way we think about the Kennedy assassination and about the deeply flawed investigation that followed.
A Washington Post Notable Nonfiction Book of 2013
"A Cruel and Shocking Act has authority, is tantalizingly readable and is convincing in its claim that the Warren Commission was unable or unwilling to uncover the total truth. [Shenon's] work, I submit, is the one to read."
The Wall Street Journal
"Engrossing reporting… [A Cruel and Shocking Act] raises significant questions."
The New York Times
"Jaw-dropping scenes involving the destruction and manipulation of evidence... A persuasive, deeply researched account… A compelling read."
The Washington Post
"Magnificent… An incredible book."
Bob Schieffer, CBS News
"Sober and powerful… Shenon, a former New York Times reporter, affords the reader access to the behind-the-scenes deliberations and dynamics that shaped a historic inquiry into a national trauma."
Publishers Weekly
Philip Shenon was a reporter for The New York Times for more than 20 years, serving as both a Washington and foreign correspondent. He is the author of one book on the Kennedy assassination and one on the 9/11 Commission. He lives in Washington, DC.
US: Henry Holt and Co.