JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters

 

“By far the most important book yet written on the subject.”—Gaeton Fonzie, former staff investigator, US House Select Committee on Assassinations

 

“A book that could make us stand up and change the world, right now.”—Yoko Ono

 

“A peerless and extraordinary historical contribution.”—Vincent Salandria, author, False Mystery: Essays on the Assassination of JFK

 

“Once in a while a book comes along that both records history and makes it.”—Mark Lane, author, Rush to Judgment

 

“A remarkable story that changed the way I viewed the world.”—James Bradley, author, Flags of Our Fathers

 

“A staggering achievement . . .”—Oliver Stone

 

“James Douglass’ masterpiece, Martyrs to the Unspeakable, is an imperative read. His earlier bestseller, JFK and the Unspeakable, presented an ironclad case that President Kennedy was murdered by the CIA because he turned into a true peacemaker, determined to end the Cold War. This book picks up where he left off. Going beyond the how of the assassinations, he makes crystal clear the case for why.”—Stewart Burns, author, To the Mountaintop: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Sacred Mission to Save America

 

“JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and RFK—each turning against the machinery of war, injustice, and systemic violence—were marked for death by forces that could not afford their visions to prevail. Jim Douglass flawlessly conveys how their deaths were not just isolated tragedies, but coordinated acts of suppression. The Unspeakable is not just who and what killed them, but why we as a society still refuse to acknowledge it.”—Ryan Jones, director, History & Interpretation, National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel

 

“Presents the eminently reasonable, logical, and unchallengeable case that the assassinations of JFK, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, and RFK were all state-sanctioned murders, for which convenient and dramatic scapegoats were provided—scapegoats that precluded any investigations from having to deal with the actual evidence in those cases. They all knew that their lives had been targeted by the National Security State, and yet they courageously persisted in their efforts.”—Douglas Horne, former Chief Analyst for Military Records, Assassination Records Review Board; author, JFK's War With the National Security Establishment

 

“A detailed unveiling of the principalities and powers and an introduction to four saints of resistance. What their lives pronounced, their deaths proclaimed all the more. And if human life is to survive we will need to follow their example.”—Alan Storey, ordained minister, Methodist Church of Southern Africa

 

“Throughout his life James Douglass has combined courageous activism with brave, groundbreaking scholarship. Martyrs to the Unspeakable is his masterpiece. . . . A fascinating must-read book by all who aspire to a better human future.”—Richard Falk, former professor of international law, Princeton University

 

“Amidst our current cultural moment, this weighty tome, from a venerable elder prophet-activist-scribe, is harsh and healing medicine. If governmental principalities took four martyr-witnesses of the 1960s seriously enough to assassinate them, Douglass asserts, then surely we should study them with equal focus—and the dark forces that cut them down.”—Ched Myers, co-director, Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries

 

“Jim Douglass cites a 1965 speech by Robert F. Kennedy, urging action on what he called ‘the most vital issue now facing this nation and the world’—the question of nuclear proliferation and the mounting threat posed by the spread of nuclear weapons. Sixty years later, that most vital issue continues largely to escape the headlines. ‘Can we begin to recover our memory?’ Douglass asks ‘At one second to midnight. Life comes through the deepest darkness’ and it is only by confronting the Unspeakable that the imminent death of humanity can be averted. ‘Now is our time to choose. Now can be grace.’”—Brian Terrell, Catholic Worker

 

“Jim Douglass ventures out on fierce waters, amid great winds, during a time he regards as ‘the heart of darkness.’ Confident that clarity can overcome a chaos of disinformation, Douglass assembles a sea of witnesses to shed light on what led to the assassinations of JFK, Martin, Malcolm, and RFK. As they take profound risks on behalf of nonviolent change, his main characters grapple with changing long-held presuppositions. Writing with compassionate courage, Douglass urges us to do the same. As he has done for decades, Douglass echoes Dr. King’s assessment: the choice before us is between nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation.”—Kathy Kelly, peace activist