This was truly a wonderful book. The writer really gives you personal account of the "comeback" of Nixon. There were a lot of details that I am sure most Americans do not know as Nixon basically fell off the radar screen until his death. This book gave you some much personal information that I put it down and have a new appreciation for what he went through. I would suggest reading this book right after 'The Final Days", the two books work very well together. There is also an interesting section in "Shadow" about Clinton and his speak at Nixon's funeral. This is a very interesting book and if you are interested in his life of just American politics I am sure you will also find the book interesting.

An excellent book for those at least slightly familiar with all the ins and outs of the Nixon story. Many stories and anecdotes that are rare and memorable involving Nixon and everyone around him. I highly reccomend this book.

I came close not to buying this book in a second hand book store. I read Anson's views on Richard Nixon, and found them not very objective, so when I saw this book about the Vietnam War I was not sure. The book is very readable, and Anson makes sure to detail his own weaknesses in the book, especially his rocky marriage and use of drugs and alcohol. He details his coverage of the war. Also details his views on the Cambodian government and their Vietnamese massacres. He is sypathetic to the NVA, even though several of his friends were killed by them. His personal stories are the best in detailing the corruption of Cambodian and South Vietnamese governments.

A memoir detailing the experiences of an idealistic young war correspondent in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Running the dangerous roads of 1970 Cambodia in pursuit of both news and personal fame, the author allows his readers a special insight into his soul. Anson's accounts of the deaths of his friends and colleagues, as well as the details of his own capture and detention by revolutionary forces, are remarkably vivid and painful to read, but at the same time filled with a special sense of black humor. No emotion, no matter how unflattering, is hidden from the reader. The author would certainly not be surprised to learn that the attitudes of US Embassy bureaucrats toward the death and disappearance of these same journalists was no different twenty years later than it was during the course of the war.

Why "Appointment In Dallas" was put back into print in the wake of Oliver Stone's film "JFK" and this wasn't is a mystery that demands investigation, for this is one of the best books on the JFK assassination ever written. It gets a less than perfect rating because author Robert Sam Anson spends several chapters speculating on the possible involvement of the FBI, the CIA, the Mafia, pro-Castro Cubans and anti-Castro Cubans, which is interesting but, until the case is officially reopened, only a secondary-at-best issue; and because he really misses the boat in his interpretation of some photos of a man who is supposed to be Lee Harvey Oswald but, admittedly, isn't. According to Anson, the Warren Commission said they were taken in Russia, and he accepts this, even though they are all backgroundless headshots, and construes them as being evidence that the real Oswald never went to Russia. Read closely and you'll see where Anson admits that there are photos of the real Oswald clearly taken in Russia, which destroys that theory. The good stuff here, though, is Anson analyzing the evidence, from eyewitness testimony to the autopsy photos and reports to the ballistics to the famous Zapruder film. Fascinating reading here, especially where he compares Warren Report passages and their "footnotes" to what is actually said at the referenced material in the "Hearings" volumes. According to Anson, one such note indicates an exhibit that never existed! His own sources, however, are meticulously documented. If you are new to the world of JFK assassination research, then try to find a copy of this book, for it is the definitive primer. Bantam, please bring this back out, I beg you!

As a fact witness with personal knowledge of Eddie's experience in Europe and my own interview with Anson, I can confirm that Anson was far more interested in marketing his book than discovering, let alone understanding the facts.

David W. Nance, Esq.

Best Intentions by Robert Sam Anson is an engaging and sensitive invistigation into why Edmund Perry, a black Exeter student who received a scholarship to Stanford, died in a dubious encounter with a police man. Anson traces Perry's stories from his years attending primary school in Harlem to his unsteady times at Exeter, a high class boarding school. Anson then crafts the Perry's story into a comprehensive and clear examination of race and education in America and the challenges that face black students. For those interested in education, race, or sociology, I would recommend this piece. It certainly isn't a cover-to-cover read, but it stimulates quite well.

I read Best Intentions several years ago and to this day, I cite the book as a major reason I decided to be a writer. Compelling and thorough, the book unfolds like a detective story, as we learn more and more about the life and times of Edmund Perry, the book's tragic subject. After learning about Perry's plight, Anson spent years researching this book and that exhaustive investigation comes through on every page.

Perry, an exceedingly intelligent young man, came from a poor family and Harlem and earned a full scholarship to Exeter Academy, one of America's most elite preperatory schools. Making a long story ferociously short, Perry returned to his neighborhood during his senior year at Exeter. During the visit, Perry was shot by an off-duty police officer who claimed that Perry tried to mug him. We learn all of this in the opening pages, the rest is a moving, poignant story, artfully told.