Abraham Zapruder didn't know when he began filming President Kennedy's motorcade on November 22, 1963 that his home movie would change not only his family's life but American culture and history, as well. Now his granddaughter tells the whole story of the Zapruder Film for the first time. With the help of personal family records, previously sealed archival sources, and interviews, she traces the film's complex journey through history, considering its impact on her family and the public realms of the media, courts, Federal government, and the arts community. Part biography, part family history, and part historical narrative, Zapruder tells how 26 seconds of film changed a family and raised some of the most important social, cultural, and moral questions of our time.

Review

Written and narrated by Abraham Zapruder's granddaughter, Alexandra, Twenty-Six Seconds is part biography, part memoir, part historical nonfiction. Her last name was made famous years before she was born and yet she writes with the clear eye of a spectator and the heart of a grandchild. She peels the layers of this story within a story delicately, but with unflinching honesty. With genuine emotion and eloquent dialogue, Alexandra delivers a wholly engrossing listening experience that captivates from the second you press play.

By chance and coincidence, Abraham Zapruder captured on film the most significant event of modern time with his 8mm Bell & Howell camera. His biggest concern was how the film would be handled. He tried to put the responsibilities of ownership with a respected company he believed would act with decency and integrity. After twelve years of dealing with the film and all that goes with it, Life sold it back to the Zapruder Family for one dollar. Where it remained until via arbitration the family sold the one-of-a-kind historical artifact to the government for sixteen million dollars. In 2000 the family donated the last of their photographs, copies of the film and copyrights to the 6th Floor Museum. This ended their legal connection to the assassination but not their personal tumultuous relationship with the film. Like a circle, it is unending. Her grandfather described it this way "a wound that leaves residual pain even after it heals."

The Zapruder film is barely twenty-six seconds and measures six feet in length. The 483 frames have been studied by the greatest minds, as well as, armchair conspiracy theorists. It has been dissected and analyzed for what is shows and what it does not. The Warren Commission relied heavily upon the film as evidence of a lone gunman. Subsequent government inquiries did not concur, citing the high probability Oswald acted as part of a conspiracy. Fifty years later, with all our technology, we are no closer to a definitive answer. Society continues to be shocked and fascinated by the film. It has found an audience in the art world, the entertainment industry and in written publications. The "Zapruder Film" has been woven into the cultural fabric of our nation. It's even found a place in Pop-culture. Slang terms like zaprudered are part of the vernacular. (zaprudered - watching something over and over intently analyzing it.) Now a new generation has instant access via Google and YouTube. The film can be viewed and shared around the world instantaneously with no thought whatsoever of ethics, morals, and exploitation. I dare say, Mr. Zapruder would be heartbroken.

Alexandra writes of her grandfather through a long, loving lens as only a granddaughter could. Her narration is filled with emotion conveyed through authentic voice inflections and expert pacing. Twenty-Six Seconds IS a personal history of the Zapruder Film. Alexandra has delivered a meticulously researched, well-organized novel that is informative, interesting, and entertaining. I enjoyed this book from the first CD to the last. It was often an emotional journey that had me smiling one chapter, near tears the next. I also felt my blood pressure climb more than once when the media attacked Mr. Zapruder for selling the film. I especially enjoyed Alexandra's retelling of the arbitration hearing which was almost comical. The government was unprepared and ill-equipped. They seemed unable (or unwilling) to quantify the film as one would a VanGoh...if there were only one VanGoh that is.

This is nonfiction at its finest! If you are interested in the Kennedy assassination, on any side of this complex historical event --whether you are a staunch supporter of the Warren Report or you find yourself on the outer limit of the most convoluted conspiracy theory ...you will enjoy this book. Highly recommend!

Gallery (click each to open new link)

President Kennedy's brother, Attorney General, Robert Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara were shown three potential burial plots at Arlington National Cemetery. They were shown: one near the mast of the USS Maine, one at Dewey Circle, and the third on the slope below Arlington House (Custis-Lee mansion). They agreed the third was the easiest accessed and the most appropriate. But, of course, the final decision was Mrs. Kennedy's. After viewing the three, she agreed and nodded her approval of the site. 

When McNamara and Robert Kennedy returned to the cemetery to oversee the survey of the area, they walked up to Arlington House. The two were talking with Paul Fugua, a Park Service employee and he recounted a story about President Kennedy's visit to Custis-Lee Mansion back on March 3rd. The President was accompanied by Charlie Bartlett and at the end of their visit "the president remarked that the view of Washington, D.C., was so magnificent he could stay forever -- a statement which seemed to confirm their selection of the grave site."

Happy Listening!

RJ 

Twenty-Six Seconds by Alexandra Zapruder
is also available in the following formats