Sometime back around 1980 i was told ""Farewell America" is one of the few books not allowed to pass thru U.S. Customs." You can't imagine what a shock it was to hear this, for someone who was indoctrinated -excuse me- educated in the public school system. So i called my local Customs office and i was told, yes there are certain books not allowed into this country.
Earlier this year, i picked up a paperback edition at the local Barnes & Noble.
Does anyone know why this book (the origins of which are shrouded in mystery) is suddenly allowed to be read by U.S. citizens?
Another minor mystery: When this book was still banned, i found a copy in the public library system. I have no idea how a banned book gets into the library system, but this book (hardback) had had a section of photograph pages. Those pages had been cut out but i could see a remnant in the spine. I couldn't count them but this was more than 1 or 2 pages, this had substantial width.
I spoke with a bookstore owner who had a lot of experience in handling this book; he told me there was no edition published with a section of photos.
(I have read Mr. Hinckle's account of his experiences with this book.)
I would be most interested in hearing from anyone who can shed some light on this.
Regards,
R. D.
Full Version: Farewell America - now it's permissable?
Hello Randy...
Hardback copies of Farewell America were notorious for binding problems. I'm certain that was the problem with the library copy.
There's a lot of info on the internet; I believe William Turner wrote a chapter about Farewell America in his book Rearview Mirror. Hardback copies have been available for many years from The Last Hurrah Bookstore, ABE Books, and occasionally eBay.
I'm certain there is good information lurking somewhere in this Forum's archives. What did you think of Farewell America after reading it?
Mike Hogan
Hardback copies of Farewell America were notorious for binding problems. I'm certain that was the problem with the library copy.
There's a lot of info on the internet; I believe William Turner wrote a chapter about Farewell America in his book Rearview Mirror. Hardback copies have been available for many years from The Last Hurrah Bookstore, ABE Books, and occasionally eBay.
I'm certain there is good information lurking somewhere in this Forum's archives. What did you think of Farewell America after reading it?
Mike Hogan
AMAZON $17.95
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in Europe in 1968, this is a once-notorious, now-dated look at John Kennedy's assassination and an excoriation of the American scene in its aftermath. Turner (Rearview Mirror, etc.) explains in his introduction that the book was first published under mysterious circumstances and was "aimed at advancing the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy," but its U.S. distribution was rapidly curtailed after RFK's death. The authors ("James Hepburn" is a pseudonym) conducted clandestine research among KGB and Interpol agents and French petroleum espionage specialists and relied on a rare, unmodified print of the famed Zapruder film. The book seethes with aggrieved passion in defending the Kennedys and their ideals, and seeks to defrock the "lone gunman" theory of JFK's assassination. Most of the text is a damning jeremiad, portraying pre-1964 America as a vicious, discriminatory oligarchy controlled by alliances of Big Steel and Big Oil, the military and organized crime, which all had reason to fear JFK's proposed reforms. According to "Hepburn," these interests combined with ultra-right-wing paramilitary groups like the Minutemen and Cuban exile groups to plan the assassination. Chapters discussing the assassination itself will be grimly convincing to some readers, with excellent analyses of the Secret Service's failures and the ambiguous roles played by the CIA and FBI during this tumultuous era. This is a pungent historical document, but its conspiracy theory is familiar by now, and its information has been surpassed by more recent studies such as Murder in Dealey Plaza, edited by James Fetzer.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ed Tatro, JFK assassination expert
Penmarin Books deserves high praise for allowing Farewell America to reach a new and expanded audience.
Book Description
Originally published in 1968 in France under the title L’Amerique Brule (America Is Burning), Farewell America quickly became a best-seller in Europe in eleven languages. It was the inside story of the assassination of President John Kennedy. Although borrowing heavily from published critics of the Warren Commission Report, the book describes the roots of the Cold War, the linkage between large corporate and banking interests, the ever-growing American intelligence apparatus, and the international petroleum cartels that were lined up with a bevy of military brass and Mafia chieftains against JFK.
A combination of these powerful interests called "The Committee" coordinated all aspects of the murder, from setting the time and place of the shooting to the recruitment of the gunmen and the coverup of the conspiracy afterward. The bottom line was that enemies of JFK collaborated with the CIA to erase the perceived threat to their interests by John and Robert Kennedy.
Heady stuff for 1968. So incendiary, in fact, that importation of the book through Canada was squelched, allegedly at the instigation of the FBI. Farewell America wasn’t just another book about the assassination conspiracy; it bristled with restricted information about U.S. intelligence agencies, the White House, global business, and military and political affairs that had to have come from a knowlegdeable source, in this case, French intelligence. It also represented the surreptitious intrusion by those in French government circles into American politics, namely, the 1968 presidential elections.
About the Author
Herve Lamarre, the publisher of the original edition of Farewell America, admitted that the author of record, James Hepburn, was fictitious and that the true sources included Andre Ducret of the Surete; Interpol; and, among others in French intelligence, Philippe Vasjoly, the chief French petroleum agent in the United States. William Turner is an authority on the Kennedy assassinations, the FBI and the CIA, and the author of nine books, including his recent memoirs, Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails.
>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in Europe in 1968, this is a once-notorious, now-dated look at John Kennedy's assassination and an excoriation of the American scene in its aftermath. Turner (Rearview Mirror, etc.) explains in his introduction that the book was first published under mysterious circumstances and was "aimed at advancing the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy," but its U.S. distribution was rapidly curtailed after RFK's death. The authors ("James Hepburn" is a pseudonym) conducted clandestine research among KGB and Interpol agents and French petroleum espionage specialists and relied on a rare, unmodified print of the famed Zapruder film. The book seethes with aggrieved passion in defending the Kennedys and their ideals, and seeks to defrock the "lone gunman" theory of JFK's assassination. Most of the text is a damning jeremiad, portraying pre-1964 America as a vicious, discriminatory oligarchy controlled by alliances of Big Steel and Big Oil, the military and organized crime, which all had reason to fear JFK's proposed reforms. According to "Hepburn," these interests combined with ultra-right-wing paramilitary groups like the Minutemen and Cuban exile groups to plan the assassination. Chapters discussing the assassination itself will be grimly convincing to some readers, with excellent analyses of the Secret Service's failures and the ambiguous roles played by the CIA and FBI during this tumultuous era. This is a pungent historical document, but its conspiracy theory is familiar by now, and its information has been surpassed by more recent studies such as Murder in Dealey Plaza, edited by James Fetzer.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ed Tatro, JFK assassination expert
Penmarin Books deserves high praise for allowing Farewell America to reach a new and expanded audience.
Book Description
Originally published in 1968 in France under the title L’Amerique Brule (America Is Burning), Farewell America quickly became a best-seller in Europe in eleven languages. It was the inside story of the assassination of President John Kennedy. Although borrowing heavily from published critics of the Warren Commission Report, the book describes the roots of the Cold War, the linkage between large corporate and banking interests, the ever-growing American intelligence apparatus, and the international petroleum cartels that were lined up with a bevy of military brass and Mafia chieftains against JFK.
A combination of these powerful interests called "The Committee" coordinated all aspects of the murder, from setting the time and place of the shooting to the recruitment of the gunmen and the coverup of the conspiracy afterward. The bottom line was that enemies of JFK collaborated with the CIA to erase the perceived threat to their interests by John and Robert Kennedy.
Heady stuff for 1968. So incendiary, in fact, that importation of the book through Canada was squelched, allegedly at the instigation of the FBI. Farewell America wasn’t just another book about the assassination conspiracy; it bristled with restricted information about U.S. intelligence agencies, the White House, global business, and military and political affairs that had to have come from a knowlegdeable source, in this case, French intelligence. It also represented the surreptitious intrusion by those in French government circles into American politics, namely, the 1968 presidential elections.
About the Author
Herve Lamarre, the publisher of the original edition of Farewell America, admitted that the author of record, James Hepburn, was fictitious and that the true sources included Andre Ducret of the Surete; Interpol; and, among others in French intelligence, Philippe Vasjoly, the chief French petroleum agent in the United States. William Turner is an authority on the Kennedy assassinations, the FBI and the CIA, and the author of nine books, including his recent memoirs, Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails.
>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>
Don't know about the photo issue, but the writing can be read online:
http://www.jfk-online.com/farewell01.html
http://www.jfk-online.com/farewell01.html
QUOTE (Shanet Clark @ May 26 2006, 03:49 AM) 
AMAZON $17.95
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in Europe in 1968, this is a once-notorious, now-dated look at John Kennedy's assassination and an excoriation of the American scene in its aftermath. Turner (Rearview Mirror, etc.) explains in his introduction that the book was first published under mysterious circumstances and was "aimed at advancing the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy," but its U.S. distribution was rapidly curtailed after RFK's death. The authors ("James Hepburn" is a pseudonym) conducted clandestine research among KGB and Interpol agents and French petroleum espionage specialists and relied on a rare, unmodified print of the famed Zapruder film. The book seethes with aggrieved passion in defending the Kennedys and their ideals, and seeks to defrock the "lone gunman" theory of JFK's assassination. Most of the text is a damning jeremiad, portraying pre-1964 America as a vicious, discriminatory oligarchy controlled by alliances of Big Steel and Big Oil, the military and organized crime, which all had reason to fear JFK's proposed reforms. According to "Hepburn," these interests combined with ultra-right-wing paramilitary groups like the Minutemen and Cuban exile groups to plan the assassination. Chapters discussing the assassination itself will be grimly convincing to some readers, with excellent analyses of the Secret Service's failures and the ambiguous roles played by the CIA and FBI during this tumultuous era. This is a pungent historical document, but its conspiracy theory is familiar by now, and its information has been surpassed by more recent studies such as Murder in Dealey Plaza, edited by James Fetzer.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ed Tatro, JFK assassination expert
Penmarin Books deserves high praise for allowing Farewell America to reach a new and expanded audience.
Book Description
Originally published in 1968 in France under the title L’Amerique Brule (America Is Burning), Farewell America quickly became a best-seller in Europe in eleven languages. It was the inside story of the assassination of President John Kennedy. Although borrowing heavily from published critics of the Warren Commission Report, the book describes the roots of the Cold War, the linkage between large corporate and banking interests, the ever-growing American intelligence apparatus, and the international petroleum cartels that were lined up with a bevy of military brass and Mafia chieftains against JFK.
A combination of these powerful interests called "The Committee" coordinated all aspects of the murder, from setting the time and place of the shooting to the recruitment of the gunmen and the coverup of the conspiracy afterward. The bottom line was that enemies of JFK collaborated with the CIA to erase the perceived threat to their interests by John and Robert Kennedy.
Heady stuff for 1968. So incendiary, in fact, that importation of the book through Canada was squelched, allegedly at the instigation of the FBI. Farewell America wasn’t just another book about the assassination conspiracy; it bristled with restricted information about U.S. intelligence agencies, the White House, global business, and military and political affairs that had to have come from a knowlegdeable source, in this case, French intelligence. It also represented the surreptitious intrusion by those in French government circles into American politics, namely, the 1968 presidential elections.
About the Author
Herve Lamarre, the publisher of the original edition of Farewell America, admitted that the author of record, James Hepburn, was fictitious and that the true sources included Andre Ducret of the Surete; Interpol; and, among others in French intelligence, Philippe Vasjoly, the chief French petroleum agent in the United States. William Turner is an authority on the Kennedy assassinations, the FBI and the CIA, and the author of nine books, including his recent memoirs, Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails.
>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Originally published in Europe in 1968, this is a once-notorious, now-dated look at John Kennedy's assassination and an excoriation of the American scene in its aftermath. Turner (Rearview Mirror, etc.) explains in his introduction that the book was first published under mysterious circumstances and was "aimed at advancing the 1968 presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy," but its U.S. distribution was rapidly curtailed after RFK's death. The authors ("James Hepburn" is a pseudonym) conducted clandestine research among KGB and Interpol agents and French petroleum espionage specialists and relied on a rare, unmodified print of the famed Zapruder film. The book seethes with aggrieved passion in defending the Kennedys and their ideals, and seeks to defrock the "lone gunman" theory of JFK's assassination. Most of the text is a damning jeremiad, portraying pre-1964 America as a vicious, discriminatory oligarchy controlled by alliances of Big Steel and Big Oil, the military and organized crime, which all had reason to fear JFK's proposed reforms. According to "Hepburn," these interests combined with ultra-right-wing paramilitary groups like the Minutemen and Cuban exile groups to plan the assassination. Chapters discussing the assassination itself will be grimly convincing to some readers, with excellent analyses of the Secret Service's failures and the ambiguous roles played by the CIA and FBI during this tumultuous era. This is a pungent historical document, but its conspiracy theory is familiar by now, and its information has been surpassed by more recent studies such as Murder in Dealey Plaza, edited by James Fetzer.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Ed Tatro, JFK assassination expert
Penmarin Books deserves high praise for allowing Farewell America to reach a new and expanded audience.
Book Description
Originally published in 1968 in France under the title L’Amerique Brule (America Is Burning), Farewell America quickly became a best-seller in Europe in eleven languages. It was the inside story of the assassination of President John Kennedy. Although borrowing heavily from published critics of the Warren Commission Report, the book describes the roots of the Cold War, the linkage between large corporate and banking interests, the ever-growing American intelligence apparatus, and the international petroleum cartels that were lined up with a bevy of military brass and Mafia chieftains against JFK.
A combination of these powerful interests called "The Committee" coordinated all aspects of the murder, from setting the time and place of the shooting to the recruitment of the gunmen and the coverup of the conspiracy afterward. The bottom line was that enemies of JFK collaborated with the CIA to erase the perceived threat to their interests by John and Robert Kennedy.
Heady stuff for 1968. So incendiary, in fact, that importation of the book through Canada was squelched, allegedly at the instigation of the FBI. Farewell America wasn’t just another book about the assassination conspiracy; it bristled with restricted information about U.S. intelligence agencies, the White House, global business, and military and political affairs that had to have come from a knowlegdeable source, in this case, French intelligence. It also represented the surreptitious intrusion by those in French government circles into American politics, namely, the 1968 presidential elections.
About the Author
Herve Lamarre, the publisher of the original edition of Farewell America, admitted that the author of record, James Hepburn, was fictitious and that the true sources included Andre Ducret of the Surete; Interpol; and, among others in French intelligence, Philippe Vasjoly, the chief French petroleum agent in the United States. William Turner is an authority on the Kennedy assassinations, the FBI and the CIA, and the author of nine books, including his recent memoirs, Rearview Mirror: Looking Back at the FBI, the CIA and Other Tails.
>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >>>
The following message was forwarded to me by Hal Lockwood, the
publisher of Penmarin Books, which published the new edition of Farewell
America. He requested that I post it on the forum:
To All Concerned:
Our publishing house, Penmarin Books (www.penmarin.com) published several
works by William Turner, including Rearview Mirror:Looking back at the FBI, the
CIA and Other Tails, his memoirs. As one reader commented, Turner devoted
a chapter to Farewell America. As his publisher, I was fascinated by the story
of its creation (by members of Interpol and French Intelligence under a pseudonym
in the mid-'60s) and the embargo of a shipment of the English edition in Canada
by the RCMP. I obtained an original edition in hard copy from Bill and read it
cover to cover.
It was all that it promised...and then some. Not to be held back because it was
repressed--and in fact driven to finally publish the book here in the U.S.--I agreed
to publish it, with Bill's chapter as introduction and history of its creation, purpose,
publication, and suppression. We took pages from the original work, scanned them,
added Bill's introduction, and new frontmatter, and published it in facsimile. We
did due diligence as far as Frontier Publishing, the nominal Swiss publisher, and
James Hepburn, the ostensible author and copyright holder, were concerned. We
found no copyright restrictions and went ahead and published Farewell America
in paperback.
It is available on Amazon, in most bookstores, and directly from our Web site,
www.penmarin.com.
Incidentally, the hard copy original edition we received had no photos.
Hal Lockwood
Publisher
Penmarin Books
QUOTE (Randy Downs @ May 26 2006, 01:42 AM)
Sometime back around 1980 i was told ""Farewell America" is one of the few books not allowed to pass thru U.S. Customs." You can't imagine what a shock it was to hear this, for someone who was indoctrinated -excuse me- educated in the public school system. So i called my local Customs office and i was told, yes there are certain books not allowed into this country.
Earlier this year, i picked up a paperback edition at the local Barnes & Noble.
Does anyone know why this book (the origins of which are shrouded in mystery) is suddenly allowed to be read by U.S. citizens?
Another minor mystery: When this book was still banned, i found a copy in the public library system. I have no idea how a banned book gets into the library system, but this book (hardback) had had a section of photograph pages. Those pages had been cut out but i could see a remnant in the spine. I couldn't count them but this was more than 1 or 2 pages, this had substantial width.
I spoke with a bookstore owner who had a lot of experience in handling this book; he told me there was no edition published with a section of photos.
(I have read Mr. Hinckle's account of his experiences with this book.)
I would be most interested in hearing from anyone who can shed some light on this.
Regards,
R. D.
Earlier this year, i picked up a paperback edition at the local Barnes & Noble.
Does anyone know why this book (the origins of which are shrouded in mystery) is suddenly allowed to be read by U.S. citizens?
Another minor mystery: When this book was still banned, i found a copy in the public library system. I have no idea how a banned book gets into the library system, but this book (hardback) had had a section of photograph pages. Those pages had been cut out but i could see a remnant in the spine. I couldn't count them but this was more than 1 or 2 pages, this had substantial width.
I spoke with a bookstore owner who had a lot of experience in handling this book; he told me there was no edition published with a section of photos.
(I have read Mr. Hinckle's account of his experiences with this book.)
I would be most interested in hearing from anyone who can shed some light on this.
Regards,
R. D.
I have a copy of the original edition of this book and it include no photographs. However it does have a drawing that shows the positions of the 4 shooters (pages 356-57)
Well, i'm going to have to check my settings here; i didn't think anybody had responded so i've just read these today.
Michael, yes the binding was terrible, my book didn't make it thru the first read. I eventualy had the entire thing 3-hole punched and put in a binder.
I never heard of Turner's book, Rearview Mirror. I read an older work of his, If Life Gives You Lemons; which was about his time with Ramparts Magazine. His account there of obtaining Farewell America was quite interesting and kind of cloak-and-dagger.
Bill, i'm most grateful for your post and the information you provided from Hal Lockwood. That was fascinating and i just loved it. Thank you.
I cannot offer up any explanation for this, either sinister or innocuous. I can only tell you what i saw. I'm sure we're all familiar with books that contain a section of photographs. You simply cannot confuse or mistake the regular paper with the slick, thicker photograph pages (sorry, i forget the word for that type of paper).
I had to make a special request from the library and it was a reference book so i wasn't allowed to take it, but there was a remnant of slick, photographic paper roughly a bit less than 1/4 of an inch in size (the book practicly fell open to that gap) clearly cut out (smooth edges, not rough). It was definately the right book. However the binding wasn't falling apart. And while i've only seen about a dozen copies, they all look the same on the outside, but that one didn't.
Regards,
Randy
Michael, yes the binding was terrible, my book didn't make it thru the first read. I eventualy had the entire thing 3-hole punched and put in a binder.
I never heard of Turner's book, Rearview Mirror. I read an older work of his, If Life Gives You Lemons; which was about his time with Ramparts Magazine. His account there of obtaining Farewell America was quite interesting and kind of cloak-and-dagger.
Bill, i'm most grateful for your post and the information you provided from Hal Lockwood. That was fascinating and i just loved it. Thank you.
I cannot offer up any explanation for this, either sinister or innocuous. I can only tell you what i saw. I'm sure we're all familiar with books that contain a section of photographs. You simply cannot confuse or mistake the regular paper with the slick, thicker photograph pages (sorry, i forget the word for that type of paper).
I had to make a special request from the library and it was a reference book so i wasn't allowed to take it, but there was a remnant of slick, photographic paper roughly a bit less than 1/4 of an inch in size (the book practicly fell open to that gap) clearly cut out (smooth edges, not rough). It was definately the right book. However the binding wasn't falling apart. And while i've only seen about a dozen copies, they all look the same on the outside, but that one didn't.
Regards,
Randy
QUOTE (John Simkin @ May 27 2006, 06:50 AM)
QUOTE (Randy Downs @ May 26 2006, 01:42 AM)
Sometime back around 1980 i was told ""Farewell America" is one of the few books not allowed to pass thru U.S. Customs." You can't imagine what a shock it was to hear this, for someone who was indoctrinated -excuse me- educated in the public school system. So i called my local Customs office and i was told, yes there are certain books not allowed into this country.
Earlier this year, i picked up a paperback edition at the local Barnes & Noble.
Does anyone know why this book (the origins of which are shrouded in mystery) is suddenly allowed to be read by U.S. citizens?
Another minor mystery: When this book was still banned, i found a copy in the public library system. I have no idea how a banned book gets into the library system, but this book (hardback) had had a section of photograph pages. Those pages had been cut out but i could see a remnant in the spine. I couldn't count them but this was more than 1 or 2 pages, this had substantial width.
I spoke with a bookstore owner who had a lot of experience in handling this book; he told me there was no edition published with a section of photos.
(I have read Mr. Hinckle's account of his experiences with this book.)
I would be most interested in hearing from anyone who can shed some light on this.
Regards,
R. D.
I have a copy of the original edition of this book and it include no photographs. However it does have a drawing that shows the positions of the 4 shooters (pages 356-57)
The FAREWELL AMERICA diagram of shots.
Jack
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