Killing Kennedy

Recently, I’ve started to put more audiobooks into my life. I haven’t been reading as many non-fiction books as I would like, so I decided to read Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Kennedy as an audiobook. It was really good and I learned a lot.

If you’re not familiar with O’Reilly’s Killing series, he takes a topic and writes all about the events that lead to the person’s death. The books are written in a narrative style, so they’re fairly entertaining. In the past, I’ve read Killing Lincoln, Killing Reagan, and Killing the Rising Sun.

Killing Kennedy starts off during World War II, where Kennedy is first tested as a leader. After his boat sinks, he saves the people on his crew through quick thinking, a lot of swimming, and a little bit of luck. If it wasn’t for this incident (and the death of his older brother), we might not have ever heard much from the Kennedys.

Most of the book focuses on the time when Kennedy was president. O’Reilly discusses some of the major events of his time in office, such as the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile crisis. The book also discusses Kennedy’s personal life, including his dalliances outside of his marriage to Jackie, the loss of his child Patrick, and his love for his children. It also covers some of the major social movements of the time, such as the civil rights movement.

Of course, since this is a Killing book, Kennedy has to die sometime. We’re introduced to the character of Lee Harvey Oswald long before he makes his fateful shots. Killing Kennedy follows Oswald from his days in the Soviet Union, where he meets his wife Marina, all the way through his death at the hands of Jack Ruby.

Although there are conspiracy theories surrounding Kennedy’s death, O’Reilly makes no judgement about them one way or another. Just as he does in Killing Lincoln, O’Reilly states the facts and lets you come to your own conclusions. He goes into a lot of detail about what happened that morning, including Jackie’s reaction and what some people noticed prior to the shooting.

If you’ve ever wondered about Kennedy’s time in office or about his assassination, Killing Kennedy is a great book. I highly recommend it and will be reading more books in the Killing series in the future.