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The Umbrella Man and Other Stories: What We Talk About When We Talk About the JFK Assassination
Dallas, 22 November 1963. The main event is supposed to be downtown, on Main Street. News footage shows office workers leaning out of windows, peering at the motorcade through a blizzard of ticker tape. On the sidewalks, the crowds are fifty deep, a wall of noise and celebration. Everyone thinks this is the place to be.
A few blocks away, in Dealey Plaza, the air is different. There is no ticker tape here. The crowds are thin. The only person filming is a dressmaker balanced on a concrete plinth. In this quiet corner, there's a man opening an umbrella even though it isn't raining, a construction worker in a hard hat who claims he was sent here by God, three tramps who stand on the verge of becoming suspects, an unidentified witness known only as the Babushka Lady, and many more.
This is not a book about conspiracies or a lone gunman. This is a book about memory, about how we construct our shared history, and about what happens when your life is defined by a single, fleeting moment. It's about a group of real people who opted out of the main event before John F. Kennedy was assassinated, only to find themselves accidental witnesses to the most scrutinised six seconds of the twentieth century.
A few blocks away, in Dealey Plaza, the air is different. There is no ticker tape here. The crowds are thin. The only person filming is a dressmaker balanced on a concrete plinth. In this quiet corner, there's a man opening an umbrella even though it isn't raining, a construction worker in a hard hat who claims he was sent here by God, three tramps who stand on the verge of becoming suspects, an unidentified witness known only as the Babushka Lady, and many more.
This is not a book about conspiracies or a lone gunman. This is a book about memory, about how we construct our shared history, and about what happens when your life is defined by a single, fleeting moment. It's about a group of real people who opted out of the main event before John F. Kennedy was assassinated, only to find themselves accidental witnesses to the most scrutinised six seconds of the twentieth century.
- GenresNonfiction
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 28, 2026
I heard about this book on a podcast the author was talking about it
What makes this book special is how real it feels. It doesn’t read like a typical history book. Instead, it shares honest memories from people who were actually there. The stories feel natural—sometimes emotional, sometimes even a bit funny. You don’t just read about the past, you feel like you’re hearing it from the people who lived it.
One of the best things about the book is its tone. It’s interesting and easy to read, with some warm and even funny moments. The humour doesn’t take away from the serious event—it just makes the people and their stories feel more real. They remember small, strange, and sometimes awkward details, which makes everything feel genuine.
The Umbrella Man and Other Stories isn’t just about the assassination—it’s about how people remember it and how it stayed with them. How being there at that moment then shaped their life. It’s a simple, engaging, and refreshing read
What makes this book special is how real it feels. It doesn’t read like a typical history book. Instead, it shares honest memories from people who were actually there. The stories feel natural—sometimes emotional, sometimes even a bit funny. You don’t just read about the past, you feel like you’re hearing it from the people who lived it.
One of the best things about the book is its tone. It’s interesting and easy to read, with some warm and even funny moments. The humour doesn’t take away from the serious event—it just makes the people and their stories feel more real. They remember small, strange, and sometimes awkward details, which makes everything feel genuine.
The Umbrella Man and Other Stories isn’t just about the assassination—it’s about how people remember it and how it stayed with them. How being there at that moment then shaped their life. It’s a simple, engaging, and refreshing read
May 8, 2026
Absolutely outstanding and highly recommended. Not a subject where you’d expect a smile a page, but the ratio can’t be that far off. Loved it.
May 11, 2026
This is a sensational read. I literally could not put it down. Martin Fitzgerald has perfectly and eloquently tapped into a completely fresh take on the events in Dallas on November 22nd 1963. Gone are the hackneyed investigations into who killed JKF, why and from which location. These questions are of little interest to the author, despite being a self confessed enthusiast on the subject who attends conventions in random stately homes. Martin knows, just like anyone with even the slightest interest in the Kennedy assassination, that these questions and potential answers are dull, repetitive and ultimately unanswerable.
Instead, this book brilliantly focuses on the lives of the random individuals who eschewed the main parade on Main Street and found themselves unwittingly a part of history by heading down to Dealey Plaza on that fateful day. This is their story. They had their unique reasons to be there, away from the throng, with some subsequently becoming key players in the many conspiracy theories, while others disappearing altogether. Who were they, what became of them, and what do their stories tell us about memory, trauma and lived experience?
This book is fascinating, accessible, funny, frequently surprising, deeply personal and at times moving account of the author's relationship with that most mercurial of tragedies which helped shape the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. If you're a JFK nut, passing enthusiast or know absolutely nothing about this other than a bloke got shot, this book is a must read. Get it now, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Instead, this book brilliantly focuses on the lives of the random individuals who eschewed the main parade on Main Street and found themselves unwittingly a part of history by heading down to Dealey Plaza on that fateful day. This is their story. They had their unique reasons to be there, away from the throng, with some subsequently becoming key players in the many conspiracy theories, while others disappearing altogether. Who were they, what became of them, and what do their stories tell us about memory, trauma and lived experience?
This book is fascinating, accessible, funny, frequently surprising, deeply personal and at times moving account of the author's relationship with that most mercurial of tragedies which helped shape the second half of the twentieth century and beyond. If you're a JFK nut, passing enthusiast or know absolutely nothing about this other than a bloke got shot, this book is a must read. Get it now, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Review of advance copy
This was an interesting and well written book. It is different to other assassination books I have read as it doesn't try to persuade you whether the assassination was carried out as a result of a conspiracy or solely through the actions of Lee Harvey Oswald. Instead the author examines, meets or tells the story of those who happened to be in the 'wrong place at the wrong' time i.e. Dealey Plaza when the shots were fired. He also meets people involved in researching the assassination or with some involvement with museums relating to the assassination.
I enjoyed it very much. Each chapter deals with a different meeting or witness. Easy to read and informative. Definitely recommend.
I enjoyed it very much. Each chapter deals with a different meeting or witness. Easy to read and informative. Definitely recommend.
Review of advance copy received from Author
Ostensibly a book about the JFK Assassination but actually much more than that. Charming, surprising, funny and thought-provoking, this is, at it's core, a very affirming book about human stories; individually and collectively, on a very short timescale (say, six seconds) or on a much longer one (for instance, sixty-three years).
Equally enjoyable if you have got your mind made up about who-dunnit already, if you don't care one way or the other, or if, like me, if you just want to read about a man with an umbrella, another one who forgot to take his camera to work, a woman dressed in lots of layers and a girl dressed in blue, or three (wait, make that four) bums all dressed in rags.
Equally enjoyable if you have got your mind made up about who-dunnit already, if you don't care one way or the other, or if, like me, if you just want to read about a man with an umbrella, another one who forgot to take his camera to work, a woman dressed in lots of layers and a girl dressed in blue, or three (wait, make that four) bums all dressed in rags.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews