Customer Reviews:
 a delight May 6, 2008
I read this book over ten years ago when my wife and I were doing a big road trip through the south of the US. We were 'stranded' in New Orleans for a couple of weeks waiting for a cheap hire car return to come up and wiled away the time eating great food and checking out all the amazing things happening there daily.
One of the things we did was go to a film screening of an obscure documentary 'he must have something' on the Shaw case by a local amateur documentary maker. The JFK movie had just come out so it was topical at the time but we had no idea there was any connection between New Orleans and the Kennedy assassination so it was all news to us.
The film was great, a documentary that follows the book closely along similar lines with interviews of witnesses, lawyers, the judge etc. I wish I could get hold of it, but sadly I dont think it has ever been released. Like the book, it doesnt have much to say on the assassination, but a lot to say about the American legal system in the context of Louisiana and New Orleans.
At the screening the filmmaker recommended this book and we bought it later that day. My wife and I spent the next week or so reading it out to each other and we both loved it. We were both practicing lawyers at the time and could really relate as common lawyers from a very similar (but foreign)jurisdiction to the real life drama of the US legal process in action.
I particularly liked the judge in the case, because he was a pretty colourful character in a lot of ways, as many lawyers are, but was despite this highly principled in his execution of his duties and incapable of allowing unsound evidence to be admitted. To my mind the judge and jury were the real heros of the book because they came to the right result in the face of a lot of confusion and pressure.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the jury system and also New Orleans. Lawyers will particularly like it for its gritty and realistic protrayal of the law in action. Also, anyone else who likes a great non fiction read will find plenty to enjoy. I put this up as one of my favourite non fiction books of all time along with others greats like 'The Guns of August', 'Barbarians at the Gates' and 'The Hitler Diaries'. Really first rate.
Fantastic book January 19, 2008
This is the best account of the debacle known as the "Trial of Clay Shaw".
A completely innocent man essentially ruined by a messianic, paranoid, out of control DA known as Jim Garrison. This book is James Kirkwood's firsthand, contemporary account of this sordid affair, and is simply a delight to read. The most important book of this sad chapter in American jurisprudence...
 A JFK Assination Researcher May 8, 2006
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
This book is very well written as you would expect from a well known author and playright such as Mr. Kirkwood, however it is very one sided as anyone who reads this with an open mind will notice. Upon researching this book I came across the information that Mr. Kirkwood wrote this book at the request of a friend to whom the book was dedicated, who was originally requested to do a positive report of the trial by Clay Shaw himself. This neutralized any information I read and made me consider it an interesting work of fiction.
Another great JFK book that's out of print June 8, 2004
3 out of 7 found this review helpful
Author and playwright, James Kirkwood doesn't concern himself with ballistics, badge men and grassy knolls. He's not concerned with whether or not Oswald acted alone, or if he acted at all. In his eye-opening book, "American Grotesque: An Account of the Clay Shaw-Jim Garrison Affair in the City of New Orleans", Kirkwood is a court room witness of the case against Clay Shaw. In the process, he interviews several key players, including Clay Shaw, Jim Garrison, Perry Russo, and Judge Haggerty. The result is quite the opposite of the case as presented in Stone's film "JFK" or Garrison's book, "On the Trail of the Assassins". In Kirkwood's book, the case against Shaw is nothing less than a shame and a shameless persecution of an innocent man. Kirkwood doesn't pretend to hide his allegience to Shaw, but he allows the reader to draw his/her own conclusion. Fortunately, the outrage and sadness he feels about the case is hedged with a lot of humor and good old fashioned sarcasm. His parenthetical comments are brilliant! Unfortunately, this book is out of print. However, try to pick up a used copy here, while they are still available.
The Garrison Case, as it was May 28, 2002
8 out of 15 found this review helpful
James Kirkwood, novelist, exposes the nuttiness of Garrison's chuckleheaded jihad against Clay Shaw. Mr. Shaw, respected, liberal, a gentleman, found himself indicted for conspiracy to kill a president for whom he voted. The nightmare he endured, which left him in near penury, is recounted here. How can such a man endure a trial with witnesses against him who include psychotics, drug addicts, and those who think they have been hypnotised several hundred times by besmirchers of their sex lives? And how can such a man keep his own sanity after such an ordeal? Find out in this excellent book, brilliantly written with humor and pathos. The account given in "On the Trail of the Assassins" by Garrison himself leaves out a few details; this account, written by one who attended the trial daily (unlike Garrison), is detailed and amusing and....well, sane. Buy this for the truth.
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