Countdown to Dallas: The Incredible Coincidences, Routines, and Blind “Luck” That Brought John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald Together on November 22, 1963

USA Today columnist Brandus (Under this Roof) debunks conspiracy theories surrounding JFK’s assassination in this persuasive if somewhat ponderous history. Drawing on recently declassified documents, Brandus characterizes Lee Harvey Oswald as a violent, politically extreme, and mentally disturbed man. Revisiting well-known aspects of Oswald’s biography—including his troubled childhood, his desultory service in the Marines, his attempted defection to the Soviet Union—Brandus notes that after being denied citizenship in the U.S.S.R., Oswald returned to America with a young Russian bride, convinced that Cuba was the ideal communist state and deeply angered at President Kennedy’s policies regarding Castro. Brandus relies heavily on FBI surveillance reports and other postassassination investigations to piece together the year leading up to the murder, showing how financial difficulties, turbulence in the marriage, and mental instability pushed Oswald over the edge. Though the mountain of material Brandus wades through slows things down, he builds a well-supported and well-reasoned case that Oswald acted alone. Still, this one’s best-suited to JFK completists. (Apr.)