By James W Douglass. Published by Orbis Books 50th Anniversary Edition, 2023. (USD 35). Reviewed by Jim McAloon

Sixty years after he was murdered, John F Kennedy still exerts a fascination. James Douglass is a renowned thinker and practitioner of non-violence. Douglass’s argument is that by 1963 Kennedy had abandoned Cold War orthodoxies, was planning to withdraw from Vietnam and was on the verge of negotiating peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union. This was a grave threat to the military-industrial complex, which launched an elaborate and successful plot to kill Kennedy. The identified assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was a patsy and Kennedy a martyr to peace.

In key aspects I found the book unconvincing. Douglass’s Kennedy is a one-dimensional hero, and Kennedy’s turn to peace has been dealt with by other, more nuanced works. Douglass piles on piece after piece of evidence, but it’s all one-way, and a refusal to accept the argument is proof that the conspiracy is so mind-blowing that most people can’t face it.

Douglass seems unable to accept that an unhinged loner could have been responsible – but such individuals made attempts on the lives of other political figures in following years. The question which the book raises in my mind is, at what point does a healthy scepticism about the political and economic establishment lead down rabbit holes?