Marina and Lee
The Tormented Love and Fatal Obsession Behind Lee Harvey Oswald's Assassination of John F. Kennedy
by Priscilla Johnson McMillan
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Pub Date Aug 06 2013 | Archive Date Oct 31 2013
Steerforth Press | Steerforth
Description
“It is not at all easy to describe the power of Marina and Lee . . . It is far better than any other book about Kennedy . . . Other books about the Kennedy assassination are all smoke and no fire. Marina and Lee burns.” —New York Times Book Review
Marina and Lee is an indispensable account of one of America’s most traumatic events and a classic work of narrative history. In her meticulous—at times even moment by moment—account of Oswald’s progress toward the assassination of JFK, Priscilla Johnson McMillan takes us inside Oswald’s fevered mind and his manic marriage. Only a few weeks after the birth of their second child, Oswald’s wife, Marina, hears of Kennedy’s death and discovers that Lee's rifle is missing from the garage where it was stored. She knows that her husband has killed the President.
McMillan came to the story with a unique knowledge of the two main characters. In the 1950s, she worked for Kennedy and had known him well for a time. Later, working in Moscow as a journalist, she interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald during his attempt to defect to the Soviet Union. When she heard his name again on November 22, 1963, she said, “My God! I know that boy!”
Marina and Lee was written with the complete and exclusive cooperation of Oswald’s Russian-born wife, Marina Prusakova, whom McMillan debriefed for seven months in the immediate aftermath of the President’s assassination and her husband’s nationally televised execution at the hands of Jack Ruby. The truth is far more compelling, and unsettling, than the most imaginative conspiracy theory. Marina and Lee is a human drama that is outrageous, heartbreaking, tragic, fascinating—and real.
Advance Praise
"More than three decades after its initial publication, Marina and Lee remains the single best book ever written about the Kennedy assassination. No one has managed to weave the psychological, political and fateful strands of this crime with the power and perspicacity displayed here by Priscilla McMillan. This is a book that will leave you deeply shaken and continually haunted." — Thomas Mallon, author of Mrs. Paine's Garage and A Book of One's Own
"McMillan achieves with art what the Warren Commission failed to do with its report. She makes us see . . . It is not at all easy to describe the power of Marina and Lee . . . It is far better than any other book about Kennedy . . . Other books about the Kennedy assassination are all smoke and no fire. Marina and Lee burns."— New York Times Book Review
"Because Priscilla McMillan is a superb narrator and a superior scholar, her book has all the power of a first-class novel, and all the austerity of excellent scholarship. It is even more than that. It answers . . . the questions: Did Lee Harvey Oswald murder John Kennedy, was he alone in the act, and why did he do it? . . . The answers are all there, and they all make sense." — Chicago Tribune
"McMillan has done us the service of pointing out just how deeply the enemy lives within us. One closes her book pondering the odds that America has a sociological victim like Oswald on every block. Compared to this, the conspiracy question looks incidental. The question is not how many assassins can dance on the head of a pin, but what makes one dance, given a particularly ugly set of human circumstances at birth?" — The New Republic
“Fully as persuasive as the conspiracy lore that has preceded it…[McMillan] has a novelist’s sense of when to dramatize, through dialogue and the use of exact detail, the crucial twists and turns of domestic life . . . Priscilla McMillan’s extraordinary book makes the necessary and subtle connection between private frailties and their power to change the history of the world.” — The Atlantic Monthly
“Richly detailed and absorbing….Marina and Lee may be the closest we will ever get to understanding the mind of John F. Kennedy’s assassin.” — Newsday
“A fascinating and richly detailed portrait of the man involved in one of the most terrible moments in American history.” — The Springfield News-Leader
“A woman of intelligence, compassion and understanding, McMillan has written a magnificent book about a man, who, as the world views such things, deserves to be hated. Yet, without shifting anything from the tragedy or placing blame anywhere, she brings insights to the Oswalds and others involved . . . this book on Oswald may be the best of all . . . There’s a lot of heart —Lee’s, Marina’s and Priscilla’s — in it.” — The Charlotte Observer
“Pulls at the emotions in such a way as to leave the intellect in turmoil.” — Asbury Park Evening Press
“McMillan has skillfully and vividly captured Lee Harvey Oswald, the man.” — The Sacramento Bee
“The first comprehensive work of its type that attempts to deal with the life and thoughts of the alleged assassin . . . a fascinating book, highly readable, and very frankly hard to put down . . . entertaining, informative, well written and well documented.” — The State (Columbia, SC)
“The finest, most insightful, and most carefully researched study of Oswald to date . . . To read Marina and Lee is to be awash in alternate waves of depression and fascination while recognizing that powerful intelligence has reconstructed one of the truly sad and terrible stories of our time.” — The Providence Journal
“Not only admirable as a piece of writing but a valuable historical document . . . The fruit of all [McMillan’s] devoted labor reads almost like a Dostoyevsky novel which treads the threshold of insanity . . . a deeply impressive book, penetrating the smokescreen of argument and speculation . . . the writing is stamped on every page with the sense of truth.” — The Age
“An eminently human book” — The Cleveland Press
“A painstakingly detailed piece of work, a marvel of research” — SoHo Weekly News
“Marina and Lee, one of the finest books yet written about a still painful subject, stands as a tragic account of a relationship ultimately destroyed by politics. It is required reading for anyone interested in what went on in the mind of the man accused of murdering a president.” — The Milwaukee Journal
“Not likely to be surpassed . . . a compelling story told with a mature authority. Without detracting from the horror of the act, it forces us to confront the human face of the assassin.” — New York Post
Marketing Plan
Widespread review mailing. By reissuing this title in the summer, we anticipate it will be included and considered in reviews in the fall of new books tied to the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781586422165 |
| PRICE | $39.95 (USD) |
Average rating from 1 member
Featured Reviews
Darian B, Reviewer
"Marina and Lee", by Priscilla Johnson McMillan, is without a doubt the the best book available on the mind and personality of Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President John Kennedy.
McMillian's excellent book sheds considerable light on who Lee Oswald was, how he developed into the man he became, how he thought, how he acted, what drove his actions, how he interacted with his wife and others, his ambitions, and ultimately, his final days before he entered the Texas Schoolbook Depository on November 22, 1963. Although McMillian focuses her attention on both Marina and Lee Oswald, (the book is essentially the recollections of Marina Oswald) the reader's attention is of course focused on learning what Lee Oswald was like as a person, and what forces drove him to act as he did. The reader obtains a very sympathetic viewpoint of Marina, which is natural considering the narrative is from Marina's point-of-view. However, the book strives for day-to-day historical accuracy, and the personalities of both Marina and Lee are presented warts and all. I believe it to be an accurate portrayal of both persons.
McMillian, an American writer living in the Soviet Union, interviewed Lee Oswald in the USSR, when he defected there in 1959. She also extensively interviewed Oswald's wife Marina after the assassination. From these in-depth interviews, she is able to piece together the intensely and tragically flawed personality of Lee Oswald, and she ultimately builds to the conclusion that Oswald killed Kennedy on 11-22-63.
Folks, this is a MUST-READ if you have interest in the Kennedy assassination, for it is the only book of its kind that lends intricate insight into the mind of Lee Oswald, helping the reader to understand the depravity of conscious that Oswald possessed. You will be amazed at the depth of insights McMillian provides the reader in regards to Oswald! After reading this book, one can come to understand that Oswald was most capable of politically-movitated killing, and must be the prime candidate for the assassination of President Kennedy.
The book will grab you in the first chapter and hold your interest to the last chapter. I guarantee that after reading it, you will begin to understand how Oswald was capable of shooting President Kennedy, and how his intense drive to "be someone" led to his ultimate act.
Get this book!
