End of Days audiobook

Five things about End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson1. As I writer I do not know how I would feel about someone saying this about me, but Swanson is the master of the assassination book. Given that I am somehow drawn to read about both Lincoln and Kennedy's assassinations I would think I would take it as a complement as a writer. I read Swanson's book on the Lincoln assassination a few years ago. Actually I read it when my wife and I were on our honeymoon. At the same time that I was reading about the Lincoln assassination she was reading The Devil Wears Prada. No doubt psychologists would have something insightful to say about our marriage based our honeymoon reading choices.2. I really appreciated the lack of mythologizing in the book. Kennedy's life and death have been so overly dramatized at this point, due in large part to the efforts of Jackie Kennedy, that it was good to read a well-written book that focused more on the actually story than the mythical implications of the story.3. It is always interesting to think about what a book makes me Google. End of Days had me researching the name Inga Arvad. JFK's propensity for illicit affairs is well-known. I did not know one of them during WW2 included a woman who might have been a Nazi spy.4. As I mentioned earlier my views on the perpetrators of the Kennedy assassination have shifted as I have grown older. I loved the fact that Swanson decided to tell a story without trying to throw up a yield sign every time it was possible that something could have pointed to a conspiracy. As I read the book I was struck by how much incompetence (Secret Service, Dallas Police Department) can look like a conspiracy. Here is Swanson's own summary of his beliefs about a conspiracy from the book's epilogue:Some of the theories rely on falsified evidence. Others are based on lies. Some theorists believe the same master conspiracy behind the Kennedy assassination controls other important and nefarious events in American life, including other subsequent assassinations. But all of the theories have one thing in common. They reject the proven role that chance, luck, randomness, coincidence, or mistake have played in human history for thousands of years. To them, there are no accidents in life. Everything that happens can be explained by conspiracy. Just as the conspiracy theorists have questioned everything about the assassination, so must a reader question their writings with equal skepticism. Today we know much more about the assassination of President Kennedy than the members of the Warren Commission did. More information and sophisticated advances in science and technology have illuminated the crime and its evidence in new ways. No one, after all these years, has yet disproved the key conclusion of the Warren Commission: Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin and he acted alone. Indeed, in the future —fifty or one hundred years from now— it is more likely that the discovery of any new evidence, along with further scientific advances, will only strengthen the case against Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone gunman.*5. There was one particular place in the book that was a bit of a tearjerker, and it is probably a good place to end. It is easy to think about someone like Kennedy and to remember everything but that he was a father to young children. Robert McNamara was the Secretary of Defense under JFK. After the assassination Jackie Kennedy and her children moved out of the White House. McNamara and his wife had been close to the Kennedy family which led to this story from the book:On December 11, 1963, the McNamaras sent over a gift to Jackie at the Harriman house. It was an oil painting of the president by the artist Charles Fox. When Jackie unwrapped it, she was shocked. She did not want it. It was not an issue of whether or not she liked it. She could not bear to look at it. It was too painful. She sent a handwritten note asking forgiveness for declining a gift “from the man in his cabinet who gave the most (as much as Jack’s own brother Bobby gave)” to JFK. Jackie explained : “I am in a strange locking of horns where I am sure the Secretary of Defense and his wife can outwit me. PLEASE I don’t want you to give anything more for Jack— you gave him all— and my consolation is that he will be remembered as great— because of Bob McNamara.” Jackie confided that she could not even bear to display photographs of her husband. “The only photograph I have here of Jack is where his back is turned.” She did not hang the oil painting. The picture was on the floor, “propped up against the wall at the little study outside my bedroom. Tonight John came out of my bedroom with a lollipop in his mouth. The picture I love was right in his way— and he took the lollipop out and kissed the picture and said Goodnight Daddy.” That broke her heart. Jackie warned the secretary of defense, “Mr. Fox may find sugary imprints he never painted in, on that picture, but you see why we could never bear to have it near us— it brings to the surface too many things.” Jackie suggested that the McNamaras take back the painting and donate it to the Kennedy Library several years down the road, after the institution was built. “So if you wish to give it to the Library and keep it till then, it would be such an honor— but what I would love most of all— is if both of you who have given so much would give nothing more— except your friendship always.”***Swanson, James L. (2013-11-12). End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (pp. 296-297). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.**Swanson, James L. (2013-11-12). End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy (pp. 274-275). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

When I began this book on the JFK assassination, I leaned more toward the conspiracy theories than the lone gunman theory. It’s not that I’m all that informed on any of the particular theories, but my reasoning was two-fold. First, revenge never struck me as a strong enough motive for Jack Ruby to have killed Oswald. Shutting him up seemed much more likely. Second – and I came to this conclusion in part from Swanson's previous book, Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer – since John Wilkes Booth killed Lincoln as part of a larger conspiracy, it’s not so outlandish to think that something similar could have happened to Kennedy. But as Swanson states several times in this book, Lee Harvey Oswald was not John Wilkes Booth. He didn’t even plan an escape route.So after reading this book, I am almost completely convinced that Oswald was a lone gunman. Swanson paints the picture of a psychopath, and in this day and age of school shootings, it’s naïve to think that one man couldn’t have done it alone. The assassins of Garfield and McKinley were also lone gunmen, as was John Hinckley Jr. A single individual can wreak a tremendous amount of damage.On that same note, my conclusion that “revenge is not a strong enough motive” was similarly naïve. The public cries for revenge all the time. The way Swanson portrays it, the hatred for Oswald was about equal to the hatred of Osama bin Ladden after 9/11. The police station holding him got plenty of death threats.So all in all, the book was excellent. Just like Manhunt, it was page-turning history. The Oswald sections were the most interesting, but the sections about Jackie gave me a new appreciation for her, too. “Camelot” may have been her invention, but one thing is clear, JFK’s assassination was a terrible blow to the country, and we never will know how different the world might have been had he lived.

I am a Kennedy assassination junkie--I want to admit that up front. I read this book in a few hours and stayed up to 2 a.m. to do it. Swanson focuses on the lead-up to the assassination by alternating the lives of JFK and Oswald day by day. The details of the actual event and its aftermath are concrete and interesting. He only deals with the conspiracy theories at the very end with a few paragraphs. To me, the book through its clear narration of events, shows where the problems lie--the shots themselves, the lack of a Dallas autopsy, Oswald's apparent lack of motive, murder of Tippet, capture, and murder by Dallas police carelessness or intent. For me, the questions are still unanswered, so the assassination is endlessly interesting.

Anyone who knows me from the "old days"—IUP days—knows that I could always be called upon to espouse the latest theory on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In those days, books like Six Seconds in Dallas or They've Killed the President lined my book shelves. I've since come to the following conclusions about the assassination:• Lee Harvey Oswald probably acted alone.• There are no secrets in our society. If, in 50 years, no other gunman has been identified, then it's probably because none exist.• Even so, the Warren Commission was flawed in the research, technique and conclusions.So, it was with some hesitancy that I picked up End of Days. I first previewed it in iBooks and ran across these words that sealed the deal for me:This book attempts to re-create a moment when time stopped. It seeks to recapture how Americans lived through this tragedy and to resurrect the mood and emotions of those unforgettable days between President John F. Kennedy's murder and his funeral... our misguided modern–day obsessions with exotic, multiple, and contradictory conspiracy theories involving tales of grassy knolls, umbrella men, magic bullets, second gunmen, Oswald impostors, doctored films, fraudulent photographs, and all–powerful government cover–ups has caused us to lose the emotional connection to the events of November 1963. We have strayed too far from the human truths of that day. A wife lost her husband. Two children lost their father. A nation lost a president... the death of one man caused a nation to weep. Half a century later, Americans refuse to forget him. We mourn him still.Years ago, I read a book by Jim Bishop, The Day Lincoln Died, which avoided speculation about conspiracies, etc. and just told the story of that day; the human side of that drama. This book does the same.I remember feeling a strange sadness while reading (pp. 60–63) about the Kennedy's plans after the Texas trip...JohnJohn's birthday party, a dinner party on Monday the 25th, Thanksgiving. Swanson successfully captures the anticipation we all felt (and still feel) about what would have happened if he had lived?The author makes an assertion that is certainly interesting, especially if true. The author quotes Marina, on the night before the assassination: "'He (Oswald) suggested that we rent an apartment. He was tired of living alone.'" Marina, even after bargaining with Oswald to get a washing machine, said "no"—the author thinks that if she had said "yes" that Oswald would have changed his mind about killing Kennedy, saying, "If Oswald was not reconsidering killing Kennedy, he would have had no reason to find a better apartment or purchase a washing machine." Interesting proposition—so, is it Marina's fault?The narrative on the shooting is riveting and suspenseful—quite an accomplishment, given that everyone knows the outcome. I found myself hoping for a missed third shot, even though I knew it's history.The fact that Lee Harvey Oswald was a loser is evident throughout the book—I think this is the genesis of our obsession with assassination theories. We have trouble believing that a loser, like Oswald, could, all by himself, take the life of our "King" of "Camelot." That "such an inconsequential man as Oswald could change history in such a monumental way." The author does not delve into the assassination theories, other than to debunk them, writing, "They reject the proven role that chance, luck, randomness, coincidence, or mistake have played in human history for thousands of years. To them, there are no accidents in life. Everything that happens can be explained by conspiracy."Why did Oswald kill Kennedy? The author speculates that "...in the end, perhaps the reason is much simpler and more fundamental and lies beyond rational human understanding: Lee Harvey Oswald was evil...(and) he taunts us still, defying us to solve the mystery of the why that he left behind."The Dallas police, in a classic case of trying to please everyone and therefore pleasing none, bungled the handling of Oswald. Dallas law enforcement, afraid that the country was assigning "collective guilt" to Dallas for the assassination, treated the press with unheard of courtesy and access. Jack Ruby, a two-bit nightclub owner and Kennedy admirer, used the police's goodwill and media-sensitiveness to his advantage, killing Oswald as he was being transferred from one jail to another. When announced to the waiting crowd that Oswald had been shot and was on his way to Parkland hospital, there were "howls of delight outside the county jail...it was hard to not take pleasure in the knowledge that John Kennedy's murderer has suffered a kind of Old Testament or western vigilante justice for his great crime." Nevertheless, "most of the American people wanted Oswald to survive this day...(they) wanted answers. Who was he? How did he do it? Why did he do it? If Lee Harvey Oswald died, he would take his secrets to the grave."Amazing, the Dallas police, while possessing seasoned investigators and interrogators, did not tape any of the interviews with Oswald. What were they thinking? This man just killed the president and they didn't record their interviews with him?The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, is as compelling as any drama written by William Shakespeare. It is the great American tragedy.A year after the assassination, Jackie summed up the feelings of so many Americans when she said, "...so now, he is a legend when he would have preferred to be a man."James Swanson wanted this book to "re-create a moment when time stopped. It seeks to recapture how Americans lived through this tragedy..." I think Mr. Swanson has done this with aplomb. This is our modern day Death of a President told with the clarity that 50 years brings. But in the end, Kennedy is still "a legend when he would have preferred to be a man."

This is the third book I've read by Mr. Swanson. He writes in a simple and readily enjoyable style. This is a good book for younger readers to introduce them to this dark period in American history. If there is any fault it is in the lack of depth. If you are a conspiracy theorist you will want to skip this book.

The author James L. Swanson wrote one of my favorite history books -- Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer -- so I thought I'd tackle his book about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The author/researcher gives this horrible day, November 22, 1963, the same thorough, detailed examination of this sad moment that changed American history that he gave to Lincoln's assassination and the search for John Wilkes Booth.Those looking for conspiracy theories or suppositions about the assassination likely will be disappointed because this is strictly a minute-by-minute account of the day. He offers the details of JFK's schedule from the moment he lands in Texas to the president's sad return to the White House in an American flag-draped coffin, accompanied by his devoted wife. He gives equal time to Oswald's movements through Dallas, including his preparations and his fateful trip to the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository and on to his own murder by Jack Ruby. Those of us who lived through that American tragedy will never forget where we were or what we were doing when we heard the news; that fateful moment was followed by several days glued to our black-and-white television sets, culminating in the beautiful but sad funeral. So, this book will be a reminder of each step at each hour of each day. For those who were not yet born or were too young to remember, this is a great place to start learning about the assassination. Some may find it dry; I found it extremely well-written, well-researched, and thoroughly detailed. It is important to know about this impactful day and this book is a good place to begin acquiring that knowledge.

First, I'll share that I'm biased because I am a complete fangirl of James L. Swanson. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a book conference and could hardly contain myself (I even have a picture). Now I'm walking back to read everything he's written because I started with his compelling YA / young readers versions of some of his most popular books. So, this was one of them. Second, I was born on November 22nd. And I've always felt some sort of affinity to JFK sharing this infamous date. If I could have ignored every duty I had and ignore everyone to read it in one sitting, I would have. Did I come close to shunning every duty in order to read this riveting tale? Absolutely. And here's the kicker-- I know the general story, right? Everyone does. But Swanson is the most epic history storytellers by delivering the research in narrative format. ... I teared up twice while reading the book. I also spent a lot of time nodding. Then sometimes puzzled because Swanson adeptly shares the facts. Then I become awestruck. He literally wrote two chapters-- several dozen pages about 10 seconds and it was the shortest and longest in equal measure. His words are powerful and his presentation is skilled.

Swanson may be the world's first assassination writer. He wrote a couple of good books on the Lincoln assassination (Including Bloody Times - which discusses the events surrounding Lincoln's funeral and the chase for Jefferson Davis - also reviewed).Swanson has a penchant for detail and in this book he looks in detail at the events leading up to Dallas and the events after. If you are looking for a conspiracy theorist - he is not for you. But if you want a clear and focussed discussion of the events that happened in November 1963 - this book is the perfect companion. You will learn a lot more about both Kennedy and Oswald but also the other key players in this drama.

James Swanson captures the attention of the reader with every page. In "End of Days: The assassination of John F. Kennedy", Swanson retells each minute of the the death and subsequent events in vivid detail. What happened on 1963 has forever changed history. Swanson retells the story fifty years later and shows the impact it has had to this day. Eight months before the death of Lincoln, a man by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald purchased a rifle and had attempted to assassinate General Walker. He missed, but nobody other than his wife knew. He and his family then moved to Texas, where Oswald got a job at the Texas School Book Depository. Several months later, the Kennedy made a decision to campaign in Texas. While driving through Texas, three shots were fired from the Texas Book Book Depository. The first missed. The second hits Kennedy in the back and the third goes through his head. Kennedy was rushed to the hospital, with his wife at his side the entire time, but never survived. Not too long after, a cop was killed in the city. Oswald was suspect to both crimes. For two days, he was interrogated, but denied any claims that he owned a rifle or had killed Kennedy or the cop. While transporting him, another cop shot him and he died. Oswald never confessed that he did it, but the evidence against him far surpasses any other conspiracy to this day. Swanson retells the story of Oswald assassinating the president with precision. He alternates between several acts, making it feel like a scripted movie and an overall compelling read. However, it must be noted that the story he tells is what the Warren Commission concluded, that Oswald was the single killer of Kennedy. He makes little mention of the many conspiracies that have been conspired (which I have little knowledge of). The only concern with his approach in retelling the story is that it takes some creative freedom with the facts and characters thoughts. Although this decision helps to tell a more gripping story, it glorifies the horror of the event and the assassin. Towards the end on the book, Swanson asks, why did Oswald assassinate John F. Kennedy? He lists several reasons, but the most telling one is this: “perhaps the reason is much simpler and more fundamental and lies beyond rational human understanding: Lee Harvey Oswald was evil.” I would recommend this book because it gives a good overview of the death and legacy of John F. Kennedy. It makes us pause and think, are we any different than Oswald?

James Swanson captures the attention of the reader with every page. In End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy, Swanson retells each minute of the the death and subsequent events in vivid detail. What happened on 1963 has forever changed history. Swanson retells the story fifty years later and shows the impact it has had to this day. Eight months before the death of Lincoln, a man by the name of Lee Harvey Oswald purchased a rifle and had attempted to assassinate General Walker. He missed, but nobody other than his wife knew. He and his family then moved to Texas, where Oswald got a job at the Texas Book Depository. Several months later, the Kennedy made a decision to campaign in Texas. While driving through Texas, three shots were fired from the Texas Book Depository. The first missed. The second hits Kennedy in the back and the third goes through his head. Kennedy was rushed to the hospital, with his wife at his side the entire time, but never survived. Not too long after, a cop was killed in the city. Oswald was suspect to both crimes. For two days, he was interrogated, but denied any claims that he owned a rifle or had killed Kennedy or the cop. While transporting him, another cop shot him and he died. Oswald never confessed that he did it, but the evidence against him far surpasses any other conspiracy to this day.Swanson retells the story of Oswald assassinating the president with precision. He alternates between several acts, making it feel like a scripted movie and an overall compelling read. He only makes little mention of the many conspiracies that have been conspired (which I have little knowledge of). The only concern with his approach in retelling the story, is that it takes some creative freedom with the facts. Although this decision helps to tell a more gripping story, it glorifies the horror of the event and the assassin. Towards the end of the book, Swanson asks, why did Oswald assassinate John F. Kennedy? He lists several reasons, but the most telling is this: “perhaps the reason is much simpler and more fundamental and lies beyond rational human understanding: Lee Harvey Oswald was evil.”I would recommend this book because it gives a good overview of the death and legacy of John F. Kennedy. It makes us pause and think, are we any different than Oswald?

I was not alive at the time of JFK’s assassination so I appreciated End of Days by James Swanson who wrote with the goal to recreate that moment and especially to show what that moment meant for people at the time. I found it interesting how much people liked having a young, movie star-like president and first lady especially in light of our present and last president being in their 70’s and not having much going for them in the looks department! One would expect today’s culture, which probably worships youth and good looks even more now than it did then, would choose younger candidates.It gave a little general and background information about JFK and Jackie but it left me wanting to know more about them, Jackie especially. I can’t imagine having a husband killed so gruesomely in my arms.He only briefly mentions the alternative theories about how/why JFK was killed, but I thought this observation was helpful: “[A]ll of the theories have one thing in common. They reject the proven role that chance, luck, randomness, coincidence, or mistake have played in human history for thousands of years. To them, there are no accidents in life. Everything that happens can be explained by conspiracy. Just as the conspiracy theorists have questioned everything about the assassination, so much a reader question their writings with equal skepticism.” If you weren't around in 1963, I would consider reading it. It was an easy to read, engaging and even suspenseful book. I was especially surprised by the beginning. I had no idea.

For those of us old enough, November 22, 1963 is burned into our memories just as 9/11 is to a much younger generation.This book is filled with facts and few theories. It presents day-by-day and sometimes, hour-by-hour, detail of both Lee Harvey Oswald and President Kennedy. The reader will learn of Oswald’s actions six weeks before, two days before, and the morning of, 22 November 1963 that could have made a difference to the outcome of the day. Also presented are the actions of the Secret Service and the Dallas Police Department that would present fodder for conspiracy theorists to this day. Mr. Swanson’s research presents Mrs. Kennedy and her actions following the shooting in a clear and eye-opening way. He presents information on how Mrs. Kennedy took control of the details of the funeral, and the way the American people view the Kennedy years. This volume is very easy to read. Mr. Swanson’s writing allows the reader an “as-you-are-there” view of events. I recommend this to high school and college students and adults. This book is a valuable addition to the Kennedy Assassination library. ***CAUTION TO PARENTS – The assassination of President Kennedy was extremely violent and gory. This work does not hold anything back – the violence, blood or medical observations.

Although I am fascinated by biographies, especially those on President Lincoln and President Kennedy, and have read Posner's "Case Closed," Fuhrman's "A Simple Case of Murder, and Vincent Bugliosi's massive "Reclaiming History" (not the subsequently released shortened version), and Manchester's classic "The Death of a President," Swanson's "The End of Days" taught me things about President Kennedy's assassination that I never knew. Most especially, Swanson's book deals with the emotional components of November 22, 1963, both on the macro national level, and on the micro level, with great insight into the feelings of the President's widow, Jacqueline Kennedy. These touching insights set this book apart from the other works I have read on the assassination. While I prefer to focus on President Kennedy's life, not his death, anyone interested in the story of our 35th President should not overlook this book. I highly recommend reading Posner and Bugliosi in addition to Swanson, but I found this volume extremely compelling. I was unable to put this book down, and read it over a two day period. I strongly suggest that this not be the only book one reads on President Kennedy, nor the only book one should read about his assassination. I nevertheless believe that this powerful book is one not to be missed.

James Swanson begins by telling us that anyone over the age of 60 can tell you exactly where he or she was on 11/22/63 when the learned that Kennedy had been shot. I was in Sister Bernadette Marie's English class.Swanson's retelling of that weekend's events doesn't add new material to my clear recollection, but it does bring back the memory of four days that for my generation marked a dividing point in history.For those younger than 60, I highly recommend this clear retelling of that weekend. There is no conspiracy theory speculation, just the objective facts that have been generally agreed on.One interesting aspect of this history is the appallingly​ ineptitude​ of the Dallas police force.

This was my first book about the Kennedy Assassination, and I enjoyed it. I had previously read the author's book Manhunt, and really loved that one. Overall, Swanson writes a really engaging book. The first half of the book I loved and would rate 5 stars, however after the assassination Swanson seems a little aimless in his account. This may be due to JFK's assassination not having a dramatic ending and courtroom drama like Lincoln's did, but I feel he could have found an interesting angle to keep my attention.I cannot comment about the accuracy of the book, or compare it against other Kennedy assassination books but I would recommend it.

This is an amazing telling of these events— there are no conspiracy theories here, just the events as they happened. Those of us who lived through this will be reminded and maybe learn something new. Those who did not live through this can still re-live because of the way the book is written— chronologically. It is a faithful telling of a tragedy and captures not only the assassination itself but also the times in which it occurred.

Great overview of one of the most iconic events of the the 20th century. There is just enough detail here to understand fully what transpired, without getting lost in the numerous pieces of information.The overarching story is told in simplified, almost newspaper-style writing. For a deeper dive Bugliosi's "Four Days in November" (aka "Parkland") is excellent. This is about 700 pages. The even deeper version is "Reclaiming History" at more than double (I have not read this version).

Good straight up story of the JFK assassination and the murder of police officer J. D. Tippit. No conspiracy theories, no speculation about Lee Oswald's motivation just the story of the four days in November 1963 and of LHO's earlier assassination attempt to kill General Edwin Walker which is where the story begins.