The Two Faces of Lee Harvey Oswald

by Glenn B. Fleming

Of all the millions of words written in anger or certainty regarding arguably the greatest murder mystery of all time, the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, one testimony remains glaringly absent. The deposition of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, was silenced by Jack Ruby's bullet before he could tell his story to a shocked and grieving world. The Two Faces of Lee Harvey Oswald is a unique work. No other book in the public domain concentrates on Lee Oswald's point of view; a young man caught up by, then hopelessly trapped in, history. From the moment of his return from the Soviet Union, Oswald became tangled in a web of intrigue, deception and murder. And yet, no amount of speculation or rumour mongering can lend history in general and Oswald in particular, his own words. "I'm just a patsy!" Oswald screamed, as he was led along a corridor in the Dallas Police Building, shortly after his arrest that fateful weekend. We will never truly know how innocent, or guilty, Oswald was. But his memory deserves a hearing. The most accurate hearing possible.

Genres: Biography, True Crime, Nonfiction

343 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[Carlton Phelps]

Who did shoot JFK

I found this book to be a who done it. You go into the book thinking of course Oswald did the shooting. But as you read your mind may start to wondering, maybe not.
It reads as a historical fiction, facts and accounts that may or may not have happened just so.
Then at the end of the book you find a list of people who have died, that were involved in the investigation and people who planned the murder of JFK. Some within days of the murder.
Very interesting to say the least.

[Mike]

This is a good book if you want to know more about Lee Harvey Oswald.

[Rachel]

This was not what I wanted it to be. It was a lot of theory and assumption and he gets a lot wrong (like the myth that Oswald had a low IQ). Don't even get me started on how badly this work needed an editor. I believe it was a free Kindle book, but it still wasn't worth my time.

[sheryl]

The Two Faces of Lee Harvey Oswald

Good book, though I don't think they used spell check! My job is a proof reader so I found it frustrating reading so my errors.

[Zoë]

It was an ok book. How much of it was real? Its hard to tell. Ok they knew Oswald was in new Orleans but how do they know what happened if no one spoke about it? Took me ages to read because i got bored

[J McEvoy]

Fleming's take on Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of President Kennedy has quite a lot going for it. The book takes the form of a dramatic narrative, mostly in the third person, but there is some insight into Oswald's thinking, or rather his ignorance of what was going down around him. Ultimately Fleming identifies Oswald as a low-level intelligence operative - an agent provocateur who contracted out to the FBI, CIA and military intelligence, to carry out low-grade espionage work; such as discrediting the Fair Play for Cuba Committee in New Orleans. There is no direct contact with intelligence agencies in the book, merely hints, such as Oswald's occasional references to his contact, "Bishop" - long thought to be the CIA's David Atlee Philips.

If the author doesn't draw all the plot threads together, it's because he portrays Oswald as ignorant of how it played out on the day, which kind of defeats the purpose of the book - there is no big reveal to Oswald and hence to the reader. But it does contain some interesting speculation about Oswald's relations with Ruby, Ferrie and Shaw - this was the core group which Oswald penetrated on the instructions of his intelligence handlers, the real purpose being to provide himself as a patsy to the group, a role for which he fitted the bill admirably and of which he was completely unaware. The book ends with a claim which I hadn't heard before - that there exists a long "suppressed" FBI memo stating that a pistol wrapped in brown paper was found in Dealey Plaza after the assassination.

[Carol Mcgrath]

A very interesting theory.

This is a well written and researched book. It tells of Harvey working for the CIA and meeting with Ruby, Ferrie and others down in Cuba before the assassination. It tells of hi we he was the scapegoat and while in custody kept hoping that someone would realize t g eye made a mistake and he was a CIA operative. It leaves the I impression that he had nothing to do with the shooting but was set up only to be killed by Ruby two days later. This book leaves you with questions as to Harvey's involvement in the Kennedy assassination. I recommend this book if you want a different perspective on the assassination.

[Connie Lewis]

The latest in a series of conspiracy theories regarding the JFK assassination. The author has an uncanny ability to know every thought Lee Harvey Oswald had during the time leading up to and following the assassination of President Kennedy, culminating with Oswald's own shooting at the hands of Jack Ruby. The book ends with a long list of people who have died following the events of Nov 1962. I finished this book only because I had started it and not because of any riveting facts that were being imparted.

[Faith Wood]

I found this an interesting perspective on what might have happened in respect of the Lee Harvey Oswald case. The author did a great job of culling some of the research and files from the past to unearth a plausible story line for the unfortunate Mr Oswald. Was he framed for the murder of JFK? Was it an inside job with the CIA? You be the judge. This was a great read!

[Lisa Jackson]

Interesting!

This was an interesting read, although a bit confusing at times. Always like different takes on the assassination and this is the first I've read on LHO.

[Bullman]

A great viewpoint

This book was very well written. I enjoyed the viewpoint the author gave us. This book really makes you think about what truly happened.

[Tina Ambury]

Not what I expected and quite uninspiring