A Cruel and Shocking Act is an in-depth look of the aftermath of the J.F.K. assassination - Philip Shenon provides us with as much as it seems possible on the people, commissions, and agencies involved. This was my first foray into this particular subject (About two years previous to this, I read 20 Years in the Secret Service: My Life with Five Presidents by Rufus W. Youngblood, the secret service agent that dove on top of Lyndon B. Johnson during the assassination, so his memoir inevitably touched on the topic and I believe prompted me to add this book to my reading list.)

This is one of those events in U.S. history that regardless of what you seek out, you are going to know things about just by growing up here. I learned about the Single/Magic Bullet Theory in a high school class, there were many pop culture references to "the grassy knoll," and would say I probably had a loose grasp of the overall events; and was aware that there were a lot of conspiracy theories surrounding it.

This book provided a linear timeline of the events and then a deep analysis of how all the people involved ended up handling them. The answers to most of the questions proffered by this report seem to be along the lines, "It may not be possible to know." If you would like to learn the details of multiple bureaucracies and individuals completely bungling the collection of evidence and interviewing of witnesses (whether for well-meaning or selfish reasoning), this is the gift that keeps on giving. If this book does answer one question, it surely explains just why there would be so many conspiracy theories developed.