Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (audiobook) by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Published in 2012 by MacMillan Audio
Duration: 8 hours, 25 minutes
Unabridged
Read by the author, Bill O'Reilly

I was a little reluctant to listen to this audiobook because of the author. Not Martin Dugard. This is the third book I have read or listened to that he has written or co-written and I know he can really tell a story. No, it's Mr. "No Spin Zone" that I cannot stand. Our politics are similar but I just find O'Reilly difficult to stomach.

That being said, I enjoyed this audiobook quite a lot.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
(1917-1963)

O'Reilly narrates Killing Kennedy, which means it's a mixed bag for me. He speaks for a living so he reads it well and knows what phrases and words he wanted to emphasize but, like I said above, a little O'Reilly goes a long way for me. Also, his frequent use of dramatically read foreshadowing that alludes to the date of JFK's assassination got very old very fast.

But, the positives are the way the book is presented. O'Reilly tells the story of JFK from PT 109 forward and gives the reader of the man Kennedy was becoming. JFK's family life, his relationship with his brothers, LBJ and Jackie are explored in great detail and presented in an interesting fashion and really expose Kennedy's good points as well as his considerable failings.

As they tell the story of the Kennedy Administration, O'Reilly and Dugard lay out all of the parties that have been blamed for the assassination: the Cubans, the CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, anti-civil rights crazies and Lee Harvey Oswald. O'Reilly and Dugard acknowledge that these other groups had a grudge against Kennedy but they go with the traditional explanation of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Perhaps the best piece of the book is how well they tell the story of Jackie Kennedy on the day of the assassination. It is a fine piece of writing that brought tears to my eyes at one point (please note, I have not been a particular fan of JFK or of O'Reilly so the fact that a bit of writing read by O'Reilly about JFK brought tears to my eyes speaks volumes about its power).

Well done.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on December 22, 2012

Note: I was provided a copy of this audiobook by the publisher in the hopes of receiving an honest review.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Killing Kennedy.

The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Mutiny, Shipwreck, and Discovery by Martin Dugard

"He chose to live a bold life rather than settle for mediocrity"

Published by Back Bay Books in 2006.


"The only certainty about Columbus is that, for better or worse, he chose to live a bold life rather than settle for mediocrity." (p. 268)

That is how Dugard ends a lively and informative biography of Christopher Columbus. As the title indicates, Dugard focuses on the fourth voyage of Columbus and its successes and mishaps. In order to properly place this voyage in its correct context, he uses the first half of the book to give the reader a fairly comprehensive biography of Columbus, as well as a thorough look at the politics of the day and other voyages of exploration, especially those of the Spanish and Portuguese.

Christopher Columbus
(1451-1506)

Columbus has been a whipping boy for the politically correct crowd for decades now. Dugard does a solid job of putting Columbus's actions in their proper context without becoming an apologist for his actions. Dugard is unabashedly admiring of Columbus's skills as a navigator and his bravery, but he's quite critical of his abilities as a colonial administrator. His narrative would be a wonderful movie except for two things: #1) Columbus is still radioactively politically incorrect; #2) No one would believe it.

It is a fascinating story and I highly recommend this read. However, I cannot give it 5 stars because Dugard does the unthinkable for a writer of any history - he fails to provide any sort of footnotes or endnotes. None. He does provide an extensive bibliography, but that is not good enough. I require my high school students to provide footnotes or endnotes. Dugard should do the same thing.

This book is found on Amazon.com here: The Last Voyage of Columbus.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on August 31, 2007.

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever (audiobook) by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

An interesting history that has been told plenty of times before.

Read by the author, Bill O'Reilly
Duration: 8 hours
Published by Macmillan Audio

Unabridged.

Probably no figure in American history has received more attention than Abraham Lincoln. Political commentator Bill O'Reilly was, in the early 1970s, a high school history teacher. He wrote this book out of a true passion for Abraham Lincoln. It is clearly not a professional work since it does contain many simple mistakes (for instance, he refers to the Oval Office when it was not actually added to the White House until the early 1900s).

I listened to the audio version of Killing Lincoln. To be honest, I was reluctant to listen to it since it is narrated by O'Reilly and I am not a huge fan of his work as a political commentator. In fact, O'Reilly's rather odd style of speech both made the read more interesting.

John Wilkes Booth
(1838-1865)

The book tells the story of the last few days of Lincoln's life, including the flight of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia from the lines of Petersburg, the surrender at Appomattox Court House, the celebrations in Washington, Booth's various plots to kidnap and/or kill Lincoln, the assassination of Lincoln and the manhunt for Booth.

O'Reilly is known for taking stands on issues and defending those points of view loudly and vociferously. He does the same here. The historical figures are simplified: Lincoln is the long-suffering hero, Booth is evil personified (not that I sympathize with Booth, but O'Reilly comes on a little strong). The history is enthusiastic, if not particularly deep. His descriptions are strong and the story is paced quite well. Much to the chagrin of my ever-patient wife, I am a serious student of the Civil War (I personally own more than 100 books on the topic and have read dozens more) and I found the book to be entertaining, well-told and I even learned a couple of new things.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Killing Lincoln.

Reviewed on October 3, 2011.