about the book
With cameras rolling, just about everyone in the world saw President John F. Kennedy shot to death as it happened on November 22, 1963. Even if you weren’t old enough to watch, the event has been showed and told over and over. But it has never been recounted in quite the way Swanson does in his newest book. He turns this devastating historical event into a nail-biting crime mystery that takes the reader to that grassy knoll in Dallas’s Dealey Plaza.
James draws you into John’s early life, his background, and his courtship of Jackie. He recounts the action-packed escapades of John’s naval service, his insightful years in Congress, and his breath-taking defeat of Richard Nixon in 1960. You are there as President Kennedy strides into the oval office the first time, and stand beside his staff in the tense hours as he proves himself by skillfully handling the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In the meantime, you also watch as Lee Harvey Oswald grows into the man he is to become, getting to know his character and his ideologies, discovering the tragic connections that tie Oswald and Kennedy together. In a gripping minute-by-minute recounting, you are there as Oswald perches atop the Texas Schoolbook Depository and the presidential motorcade winds is way closer and closer to Dealey Plaza.
Filled with photos and stills from the infamous Zapruder film, you will see the exact route the president took, the details of the plaza, and where all the important individuals were at the exact moment. The author does not hold back on either the horrific images or the details. The moment will take your breath away.
Looking at the aftermath of the assassination, James discusses all the theories and explains how a single bullet could have wounded both the president and Governor Connally. In the end, you will realize just what President John. F. Kennedy’s death meant to the whole world.
about the author
Imagine opening a gift on your tenth birthday. As you rip off the wrapping paper, you discover an etching inside. Seriously…an etching?!?
But for James Swanson, that odd gift from his journalist grandmother changed his whole life. The etching portrayed the Derringer that John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate President Lincoln. It was framed with a portion of a newspaper article written the day after Lincoln died. For James, that odd gift started a lifetime fascination with Lincoln.
The reason his grandmother gave him the etching? James Swanson was born on Lincoln’s birthday! Years later, that odd gift led to his award-winning and best-selling first book for young readers, Chasing Lincoln’s Killer.
James studied history at the University of Chicago and went on to earn a law degree from the University of California. James worked at a number of think tanks and held several government posts, including clerking for Douglas H. Ginsburg, acting as special assistant in the Office of Legal Counsel for the Department of Justice, and working with the U.S. International Trade Commission. James has written about U.S. history, the Constitution, and popular culture. He is the founder and editor of the annually revised First Amendment Law Handbook.
Besides being fascinated with Lincoln, James has done tons of research on the conspiracy theories surrounding President Kennedy’s death. He feels the emphasis on those theories overshadowed the true impact of Kennedy’s death. “A wife lost her husband, two children lost their father and a nation lost its president. What really happened is even more incredible, more thrilling and more tragic than any of these unproven theories. …It’s a great American tragedy. A young president murdered at the height of his power… The assassination…was the worst thing to happen to America …since the murder of Lincoln 98 years before. They’re bookends to one long tragic tale of loss and sadness.”
Still a practicing attorney, James lives in Washington DC with his wife and two sons.
Sources:
Author interview : Bio.
Author biography : Illinois Authors
Author page : Scholastic
Author interview : Press & Guide
Also by James Swanson:
Bloody Times : The Funeral of Abraham Lincoln and the Manhunt for Jefferson Davis. Collins Publishers. 2011.
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer. Scholastic. 2009.
read more!
Assassination and Its Aftermath : How a Photograph Reassured a Shocked Nation by Don Nardo
This book examines the immediate aftermath of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and how the historic picture of Lyndon B. Johnson being sworn into office on Air Force One helped to reassure the nation that their government could operate smoothly after such a crisis.
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
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