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No More Silence: An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy
No More Silence is the first oral history of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, from eyewitness accounts through the police reactions, investigations, and aftermath. Based on in-depth interviews conducted in Dallas, it features narratives of forty-nine key eyewitnesses, police officers, deputy sheriffs, and government officials. Here—in many cases for the first time—participants are allowed to speak for themselves without interpretation, editing, or rewording to fit some preconceived speculation. Unlike the testimony given in the Warren Commission volumes, the contributors openly state their opinions regarding conspiracy and cover-ups.
Of particular interest are the fascinating stories from the Dallas Police Department—few of the policemen have come forward with their stories until now. No More Silence humanizes those involved in the events in Dallas in 1963 and includes photographs of the participants around the time of the assassination and as they appear today.
Was there a conspiracy in the assassination of President Kennedy? No More Silence gives readers the best perspective yet on the subject, allowing them to sift through the evidence and draw their own conclusions.
Of particular interest are the fascinating stories from the Dallas Police Department—few of the policemen have come forward with their stories until now. No More Silence humanizes those involved in the events in Dallas in 1963 and includes photographs of the participants around the time of the assassination and as they appear today.
Was there a conspiracy in the assassination of President Kennedy? No More Silence gives readers the best perspective yet on the subject, allowing them to sift through the evidence and draw their own conclusions.
- GenresNonfiction
648 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 21, 2022
Full of Great Memories
No matter what side of the JFK assassination a reader believes, there are a lot of stories in this book that are very enlightening.
Two things that really made this book stand out it is strictly from Dallas witnesses, police and judicial figures.
The second great feature is the author does not interject himself into the narrative with a Q&A style format. The subjects are allowed free form expression of their own memory of events.
This book was a page turner no matter of the reader’s opinion an the subject.
Bottom line: we are sixty years in from the event and there still remains a lack of consensus on the event.
Great work by the author.
No matter what side of the JFK assassination a reader believes, there are a lot of stories in this book that are very enlightening.
Two things that really made this book stand out it is strictly from Dallas witnesses, police and judicial figures.
The second great feature is the author does not interject himself into the narrative with a Q&A style format. The subjects are allowed free form expression of their own memory of events.
This book was a page turner no matter of the reader’s opinion an the subject.
Bottom line: we are sixty years in from the event and there still remains a lack of consensus on the event.
Great work by the author.
July 25, 2015
I've read a few books on the Kennedy Assassination and watched many hours of programming on the same topic on The History Channel and other networks. There are two things that make "No More Silence" a compelling must-read. First, author Larry Sneed really has no special agenda. He simply interviewed dozens of witnesses in the 80s and 90s and allowed them to tell their stories. Second, the 555-page book is filled with hundreds of small details that are like golden nuggets to JFK assassination aficionados.
"No More Silence" begins with 122 pages of the most fascinating interviews - the Dealey Plaza eyewitnesses. While many of us know the story of what occurred in Dallas that day, Sneed's witnesses breathe life into the events like I've never read before. Each story is compelling and breathtaking, to the point where this section is truly a page-turner. While I read this section, I Googled each eyewitness and often found iconic photographs of them that had been in the public eye ever since 1963. It was very interesting to put names and stories behind the faces. (I did this in other sections as well AND followed some of the events on Google Earth.)
In the next section, the police assigned to the parade route discuss the what they saw and heard in great detail. "No More Silence" contains a lot of nuance and descriptions of events that I was not aware of, and that most other books on the assassination simply don't have time to cover. Likewise, it tends to get very repetitive, with common motifs like the number of shots fired that day, or what they sounded like. I also liked the fact that the police are often very candid in their interviews, taking the time to criticize and/or praise other police, the Secret Service, and the FBI.
The third section is with the detectives and investigators who were directly involved in finding and capturing Oswald within 90 minutes after he fired the fatal shots. There are several tense descriptions of Oswald's arrest at the Texas Theater and his demeanor and comments while in captivity. The events truly unfold like a murder mystery, but what is truly interesting is that most of the detectives say that the assassination is no longer a mystery at all. Even though many others feel differently. Most of them say that, with the evidence, they think Oswald would have easily been convicted -- although a few point out that conspiracy theorists feel that much of the evidence was planted. On that topic, nearly every law enforcement person stated that the conspiracy theorists get much of the story wrong and are simply out to create enough controversy to sell a lot of books. Their comments are often very opinionated, but always human and honest.
The final section deals with the Oswald transfer and his subsequent murder. While this section has a lot of interesting details, it is probably the most repetitive and also includes comments that seem off topic. That said, I still learned a lot about what happened on 11/24/63 and Jack Ruby.
"No More Silence" begins with 122 pages of the most fascinating interviews - the Dealey Plaza eyewitnesses. While many of us know the story of what occurred in Dallas that day, Sneed's witnesses breathe life into the events like I've never read before. Each story is compelling and breathtaking, to the point where this section is truly a page-turner. While I read this section, I Googled each eyewitness and often found iconic photographs of them that had been in the public eye ever since 1963. It was very interesting to put names and stories behind the faces. (I did this in other sections as well AND followed some of the events on Google Earth.)
In the next section, the police assigned to the parade route discuss the what they saw and heard in great detail. "No More Silence" contains a lot of nuance and descriptions of events that I was not aware of, and that most other books on the assassination simply don't have time to cover. Likewise, it tends to get very repetitive, with common motifs like the number of shots fired that day, or what they sounded like. I also liked the fact that the police are often very candid in their interviews, taking the time to criticize and/or praise other police, the Secret Service, and the FBI.
The third section is with the detectives and investigators who were directly involved in finding and capturing Oswald within 90 minutes after he fired the fatal shots. There are several tense descriptions of Oswald's arrest at the Texas Theater and his demeanor and comments while in captivity. The events truly unfold like a murder mystery, but what is truly interesting is that most of the detectives say that the assassination is no longer a mystery at all. Even though many others feel differently. Most of them say that, with the evidence, they think Oswald would have easily been convicted -- although a few point out that conspiracy theorists feel that much of the evidence was planted. On that topic, nearly every law enforcement person stated that the conspiracy theorists get much of the story wrong and are simply out to create enough controversy to sell a lot of books. Their comments are often very opinionated, but always human and honest.
The final section deals with the Oswald transfer and his subsequent murder. While this section has a lot of interesting details, it is probably the most repetitive and also includes comments that seem off topic. That said, I still learned a lot about what happened on 11/24/63 and Jack Ruby.
May 6, 2015
In Larry Sneed's Acknowledgements he writes, "One must be prepared to face ridicule, sarcasm, and sometimes worse, especially when dealing with a topic which frequently attracts UFO buffs among others." He could have used the term 'conspiracy buffs'.
'No More Silence:An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy' (1998) should not face ridicule, sarcasm or anything worse, as Sneed has simply reproduced just under fifty interviews of participants or witnesses of the assassination events in Dallas '63.
Apart from the Introduction and Epilogue the text of this book is solely from these interviews. The voices come from members of the press, Dealey Plaza witnesses, Police Officers, FBI agents, Postal Inspector Harry D. Holmes, Dallas Sheriff's Dept., and Asst. D.A. Wm F. Alexander. The majority of the five hundred plus pages are covered by the accounts from officers from the Dallas Police Dept.
A valuable historical record of the opinions and recollections of many bit players of the tragedy. The book also contains many black and white photographic portraits that put faces to the names, as well as providing short biographies of all the contributors.
'No More Silence:An Oral History of the Assassination of President Kennedy' (1998) should not face ridicule, sarcasm or anything worse, as Sneed has simply reproduced just under fifty interviews of participants or witnesses of the assassination events in Dallas '63.
Apart from the Introduction and Epilogue the text of this book is solely from these interviews. The voices come from members of the press, Dealey Plaza witnesses, Police Officers, FBI agents, Postal Inspector Harry D. Holmes, Dallas Sheriff's Dept., and Asst. D.A. Wm F. Alexander. The majority of the five hundred plus pages are covered by the accounts from officers from the Dallas Police Dept.
A valuable historical record of the opinions and recollections of many bit players of the tragedy. The book also contains many black and white photographic portraits that put faces to the names, as well as providing short biographies of all the contributors.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews