KT

One Perspective w/ Lots of Research

Revisado: 10-02-19

After several years of negative comments and reviews from other top researchers, I figured if all of them have the same problems, I'd better read "...Mastermind...".
Talking points. They make my spidey sense tingle.
In any event, I expected a Roger Stone-type book. I got one that is deeply researched and, IMHO, very well-written.
I havent had time to double-check the research. It covers some well-trodden paths, but finds new research that can alter or broaden those paths.
There is a lot here that changes known assassination perception as well as much I've never seen relating to LBJs early life, his congressional career and his vice- and post-presidential life.
If you have made up your mind and have determined that Johnson was just what he seemed, a passionate patriot who was attempting to fulfill the lost Kennedy agenda; a conflicted man, trapped in a quagmire he didnt devise and hounded from office by an aggressive counterculture, there are two ways for you to deal with this book.
You can delete it from your wishlist or return it. It'll just piss you off and you won't get far.
OTOH
if, in light of recent events, you can see how one person, lets say a President, could abuse the office and it's power. You can see how an American president could alter the future of the American state and the very trajectory, not only of that country but the trajectory of the of the world, well, reading this book may be painful. However, you may see how a skillful and powerful politician with the people skills and massive and narcissism with a Bi-Polar aspect could have done all that.

If you always felt that LBJ had any hand in the assassination pre-planning or a post-execution cover-up, this book will fill-in blank spaces.

You need to keep your critical thinking and objectivity close. I cant tell you now and I may never know how accurate it really is. It certainly reveals LBJ's dark side, explains a lot about why it was there.

It also will remind every reader why history is littered with empires whose fall began with castle intrigue, abuse of power and leaders with endless ambition and high functioning madness.

I do believe this book deserves much more study and recognition than it ever received.

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A Brilliant Read

Revisado: 09-15-19

This book is probably thought of as a WWI aviation thriller--which it is, for sure. It is also an incredible study of a highly functional alcoholic and a great supporting cast of complex characters in a most highly charged situation.

So well written that a reader almost forgets the larger tableau of the Great War. Sides blue and although a fair, studied portrait of German cultural makeup is a part of the development, the reader must see it all through the eyes of the main character. The disturbing prism of the peculiarly flawed eyes keeps the reader from ever seeing this protagonist as archetypical 19 year old growing up too quickly.

One of my favorite characters ever, Bruno Stachel has been a part of my life since 1968.

I cannot recommend this novel highly enough and will always highly admire Jack. D. Hunter.
I also have not heard an audio book performed by a single reader that I rate higher than Grover Gardner's strong interpretation of Hunfer.

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Enthralling WWI Aviation History

Revisado: 09-14-19

In order to understand a war a century old, it help if authors get as close to the first-hand stories and documentation. Unfortunately most books written with such meticulous eye to original source docs all too often arrives on your shelf as dry as the musty pages upon which it is based.

Samuel Haynes did not fall into the academic style of history as well researched as this usually do.

This is beautifully written account of the allied expediditionary air forces of the Great War, with the strongest coverage being that of the US AEF and earlier Escadrille Lafayette.

The tales may be less well written than I think, and if so, the reason would be the incredibly well performed Sean Runnette. I do look forward to more of his work from opening to the final an inevitable summing up, Runnettes tone and his and author Hynes ability to put a reader into the midst of WWI, whether in the gas-soaked, castor oil smells of a pursuit plane, to Headquarters or simply quarters, provide a read that is emotive and enthralling as any overall coverage of the Allied side of the air that I've read.

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