Reclaiming Parkland

First topic message reminder :

Jim DiEugenio requested that I post the cover to his new book "Reclaiming Parkland" on the forum. Looks pretty nice to me.

Will do!

The book could stand on the merits of the new material on CIA penetration of Hollywood alone.  But so many of the chapters on Bugliosi are of such superior quality that it is hard to say what is best about the book. I remember finishing chapter 5 just before arriving in Pittsburgh and having exactly the same thoughts as those expressed by McBride: not many books on the evidence can be compared to Accessories after the Fact, and this is the first in a long time to deserve such a comparison.  I think I may even have said so to Jim when I met him for the first time in person there.  I also agree that it is a shame the Mexico City chapter got cut.  It is not simply a rehash of the already fine chapter in Destiny Betrayed.

Martin Hay wrote:Superb book in every sense.

I'll say it is.

James DiEugenio wrote:They eliminated the whole chapter on Mexico City which I thought was one of the best chapters in the book.

Why the hell they did that escapes me, Jim. Out of all the chapters in the book, I thought the chapter on Hollywood and the CIA was probably the best.

James DiEugenio wrote:By the way, Oliver really likes it a lot.

Because it goes after Bugliosi I think.

Someone told me on his Facebook page he lists it second to the Douglass book.

And martin, when you get done, go to Hasan's review, because at the end, there is a link to the expurgated pages.  They cut about 55 pages out.  And they are all good.  They eliminated the whole chapter on Mexico City which I thought was one of the best chapters in the book.

There's reason enough for me and Lee to go independent with our book right there. Not that it won't need editing down for the trade edition... but I'd rather have some control of that than leave it bean counters...

I think it was a combination of fear and money.

Since they did at as a hard cover, it was more expensive.  Since they announced it at 26 bucks, they wanted to keep it at that.  And since the Mexico City chapter was long and dealt more with the plot than Oswald's defense, they cut it.

The other two parts were pure fear of a lawsuit.  Except, truth is an absolute defense.  Everything i wrote about Hanks and Bugliosi was noted.

But for sure Marty look those up after you are done.

James DiEugenio wrote:I think it was a combination of fear and money.

Since they did at as a hard cover, it was more expensive.  Since they announced it at 26 bucks, they wanted to keep it at that.  And since the Mexico City chapter was long and dealt more with the plot than Oswald's defense, they cut it.

The other two parts were pure fear of a lawsuit.  Except, truth is an absolute defense.  Everything i wrote about Hanks and Bugliosi was noted.

But for sure Marty look those up after you are done.

Well, I still think that's bullshit, Jim. I loved the way you went after Bugliosi. For one thing, he had no problem making a shit load of money off the murders of seven people by the Manson "family", but he bitches about conspiracy theorists making money off the assassination. What a hypocrite!

It's a shame that those chapters were cut, but I'm glad they're still accessible in PDF form at the link Jim gave.  I was chatting recently with the editor of Chris Lightbown's JFK book (which has been put back a year or more) and sent him the chapter on Mexico City for reference.

Oliver Stone's comments about RECLAIMING PARKLAND are below.

Oliver Stone's Facebook page, November 15th 2013 -

"Here is a link to HuffingtonPost, a review Zach Sklar and I did of James DiEugenio’s “Destiny Betrayed (updated).” It’s a brilliant book. So is his “Reclaiming Parkland,” which really does a job on Bugliosi’s overrated 2000-page prosecutorial defense of the WC."

Stone's Facebook page, November 16th 2013 -

"For those of you who asked for the details of my suggested reading list on JFK at the ArcLight screening the other night, here again are the suggestions.

1. “JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters” by James W. Douglass (Touchstone, 2008).

2. “Reclaiming Parkland” by James DiEugenio (Skyhorse Publishing, 2013). In this book I’m talking specifically about where Jim does an incr...edibly efficient job of deconstructing the 2000 plus page Vincent Bugliosi defense of the WC in “Reclaiming History.” Bugliosi comes across as a shrill prosecutor insulting anyone who believes in anything other than the Warren Commission as insane. Truly Bugliosi seems the one who’s nuts to me.

3. Also read James DiEugenio’s “Destiny Betrayed,” (Skyhorse updated 2012).

4. “The Last Investigation: What Insiders Know about the Assassination of JFK” by Gaeton Fonzi (Skyhorse, 1993), which revealed the inner workings of of the HSAC in 1979, which effectively overruled the WC.

5. “Breach of Trust: How the Warren Commission Failed the Nation And Why” by Gerald McKnight (University Press of Kansas, 2005) shows how U.S. security agencies hijacked the Warren Investigation.

6. “Our Man in Mexico: Winston Scott and the Hidden History of the CIA” by Jefferson Morley (University Press of Kansas, 2008). Morley is a stalwart, runs JFKfacts.org

7. “Oswald and the CIA” by John Newman (Skyhorse,1995). Wonderful early investigation, still a classic. Newman consulted with us during the making of the film.

8. “Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years” by David Talbot (Free Press, 2007). What Robert Kennedy was thinking about his brother’s death. Based on over 150 interviews with Kennedy relatives and insiders.

9. Coming out shortly is Robert Groden’s “Absolute Proof.”

Additionally, there are other excellent works from Mark Lane, Cyril Wecht, Josiah “Tink” Thompson, Gary Aguilar, and Joan Mellen’s “A Farewell to Justice” (Skyhorse, 2005). As well as many other great sources that I haven’t listed, but for brevity’s sake…"