'Killing Kennedy' has an engaging style

Two ex-presidents who fell to assassins' bullets are subjects of a best-selling book and a much-anticipated film.

I have to wait for the movie “Lincoln,” but I'll vouch for “Killing Kennedy,” by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard.

Equal parts history, crime story and political intrigue, the book has no startling revelations about John F. Kennedy's public or personal life, nor about his death 49 years ago this month.

But it's written in an engaging style that makes the assassination vivid in the minds of readers, even those too young to answer that proverbial question: Where were you when JFK was shot?

If you like the book, you may be among the people standing in line with me to see Steven Spielberg's “Lincoln,” which recounts that president's struggle to hold the Union together even as he battled members of his own cabinets who opposed freeing the slaves.

The pre-release publicity has it that Daniel Day-Lewis brings Abraham Lincoln back to life for us in a stunning portrayal.