As Johnson explains in free-wheeling prose, today's obit writers are virtual folk heroes with global Internet followings and their own conventions. With care and an ear for gentle humor, Johnson guides her readers through the surprisingly structured, labyrinthine obit scene, pausing to meet the writers while pondering both the essence of our being and why, in the right hands, the life of an average Joe can be just as riveting as the shenanigans of a high-flying playboy. And infinitely more resonant. Savvy J-school professors and their students are advised to take heed. --Kim Hughes

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. A journalist who's written obituaries of Princess Di and Johnny Cash, Johnson counts herself among the obit obsessed, one who subsists on the "tiny pieces of cultural flotsam to profound illuminations of history" gathered from obits from around the world, which she reads online daily—sometimes for hours. Her quirky, accessible book starts at the Sixth Great Obituary Writers' International Conference, where she meets others like herself. Johnson explores this written form like a scholar, delving into the differences between British and American obits, as well as regional differences within this country; she visits Chuck Strum, the New York Times' obituary editor, but also highlights lesser-known papers that offer top-notch obits; she reaffirms life as much as she talks about death. Johnson handles her offbeat topic with an appropriate level of humor, while still respecting the gravity of mortality—traits she admires in the best obit writers, who have "empathy and detachment; sensitivity and bluntness." The book claims that obits "contain the most creative writing in journalism" and that we are currently in the golden age of the obituary. We are also nearing the end of newspapers as we know them, Johnson observes, and so "it seems right that their obits are flourishing." (Mar. 1)
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The contributors whose work has been brought together in this volume include the leading authority on the Secret Service (Vincent Palamara); the most knowledgeable student of the Presidential limousine (Douglas Weldon, J.D.); a leading expert on the medical evidence at Parkland and at Bethesda (Gary Aguilar, M.D.); the single most highly qualified person to ever study this case (David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D.); the Senior Analyst for Military Records for the ARRB (Douglas Horne); a legendary photoanalyst who advised the House Select Committee during its reinvestigation (Jack White); a world-famous philosopher who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950 (Bertrand Russell); a prize-winning director and playwright, who has produced a brilliant chronology (Ira David Wood III); and a philosopher of science who has published more than 20 books and 100 articles in his fields of expertise (James H. Fetzer, Ph.D.).

The evidence presented in this volume demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt:

* that JFK was hit at least four times (once in the back from behind; once in the throat from in front; and twice in the head, once from behind and once from in front);

* that the wound to his throat was caused by a shot that penetrated the limousine windshield, which was subsequently destroyed and replaced by a substitute windshield;

* that the shot to the back was well below the collar, entered only about as far as the second knuckle on your little finger, and evinced no point of exit from the body;

* that no bullet transited the President's neck without hitting any bony structures and exited at the level of his tie, a trajectory that in fact turns out to be anatomically impossible;

* that, as a consequence, no bullet passed through the President and hit the Governor, who was hit by at least one and perhaps as many as two or even three separate shots;

* that, including the shot that missed and injured James Tague, an absolute minimum of six shots had to have been fired during the assassination, where the total was more likely eight, nine, or even ten;

* that at least 59 witnesses reported that the limousine slowed dramatically or came to a complete halt after bullets began to be fired, which supports the conclusion that it slowed dramatically as it came to a complete halt;

* that the first shot to the head was fired from behind and entered in the vicinity of the external occipital protuberance at the back of the head;

* that the second shot to the head was fired from in front and entered in the vicinity of the right temple;

* that the second shot was fired with a frangible or "exploding" bullet that transmitted shockwaves through the brain;

* that the impact of this bullet combined with the weakening of the skull by the first shot to the head caused 1/3 to 1/2 of his brains to be blown out in Dealey Plaza at the time;

* that the massive blow-out to the back of the head was concealed by imposing a "patch" to the right lateral cranial X-ray (of the skull taken from the right side);

* that the brain had to be reconsititued since, once the defect to the skull had been "patched", there was no place for that brain matter to have gone;

* that the brain shown in diagrams and photographs in the National Archives cannot be the brain of John Fitzgerald Kennedy;

* that two brain examinations were conducted, the first of which was with the President's brain, the second with a substitute;

* that the autopsy report was prepared without the benefit of the autopsy photographs, which were removed by the Secret Service;

* that the photographs were subsequently altered and reshot in various ways to conceal evidence of the cause of death;

* that the Zapruder film of the assassination was in the hands of the National Photographic Interpretation Center (NPIC) run by the CIA already the weekend of the assassination;

* that the extant "Zapruder film" has been massively edited to remove evidence of the actual cause of death, including the limousine having been brought to a halt in order to insure that the target would be killed.

The evidence that substantiates these conclusions is abundant and compelling. None of the findings presented here has the status of rumor or speculation. If the American government had wanted the American people to know the truth about the death of their 35th President, it would have been easy to have shown them. Because of its intransigence, fabrication, and manipulation of evidence--which appears to continue to this day--however, the American government has denied, concealed, or ignored evidence of all the kinds that we have discovered. And it is not alone in wanting to keep the truth about the death of JFK from the American people. There are many individuals who, for reasons of their own, do not want you to read this book and to learn the truth. Some may be motivated by vanity, because their own theories have been proven to be wrong; some may be motivated by ignorance, because their own preconceptions blind them to the truth; and some may be motived by money, because they work as operatives for shadowy government agencies. Their attempts to conceal the truth are separate from their motives.

Even a forum of such as this, which might be presumed to be dedicated to open and public discussion or even debate of published work, can be subject to abuse by those who want to deny your access to the truth about the death of JFK by one means or another, typically by making false, distorted, and misleading claims about the content and the quality of books. MURDER IN DEALEY PLAZA, however, satisfies exceptional standards of scholarly research. The conclusions enumerated above are fully substantiated in the chapters of this book. These authors were selected for their expertise with respect to the subjects they addressed. The authors of reader's Reviews are not. So when you see a trash Review suggesting that nine contributors have nothing of value to say, consider its implausbility and judge for yourself. Read the excerpts and prepublication Reviews provided here. You have the right to know the truth about your nation's history. No one should deprive you of that.