Crimes and Cover-ups in American Politics: 1776–1963

"The individual readers will question much of Crimes and Cover-Ups, agree with other parts, and think hard about the points raised."

The little real scholarship on such topics as American organized crime, political conspiracies, serial killers etc. treat these topics as if first existing in the 1920s or later. Donald Jeffries, author of a book on conspiracies beginning with the Kennedy assassination, offers an answer to "the corruption did not didn't start on November 22, 1963."

Crimes and Cover-Ups offers one person's view of truth vs. public perception in, at times, a thesis on the dodgy aspects of America's past. Jeffries starts with the historical basics of widespread public misunderstandings. It happens from a lack of access to knowledge and the illiteracy of the public.

The author then argues against the "disinformation" used to support "the anti-conspiracy mindset." Often legitimate but uncomfortable questions about such matters as the Lincoln Assassination unfortunately go ignored because of poorly researched sensationalist books.

The subsequent chapters of the book chronologically discusses the effects of "the cultural overlords who drive public opinion in America" and the significance of many "forgotten figures in American history." Does the author see that as cause or parallel to the modern "intense campaign to diminish the reputations of the Founding Fathers"?

Subsequent chapters at least touch on major public controversies such as the Whisky Rebellion, the War with Mexico, World War I, and much more. Much of the book covers the Lincoln presidency and how, the author claims, few historians "have been willing to honestly delve into the circumstances surrounding his death."

The book challenges America's "court historians" on many points. Jeffries notes of the Civil War, for example, "there was surprisingly little effort expended by the stop statesman of the era to avoid the unnecessary bloodbath" and elsewhere that the powers running this country lack "the trappings of intelligence, or even competence."

The individual readers will question much of Crimes and Cover-Ups, agree with other parts, and think hard about the points raised. Balance in this book really only comes from the author attacking all sides from somewhere that floats around the middle.

The American public needs debates inspired by the works of Zinn, Leigh, and Jeffries, and as publicly as possible, not as one ideology vs. another, but as done here, one to all. We need to understand the parts that make up the whole.