Twenty-Six Seconds

A Personal History of the Zapruder Film

By: Alexandra Zapruder

Narrated by: Alexandra Zapruder

The moving, untold family story behind Abraham Zapruder's film footage of the Kennedy assassination and its lasting impact on our world.

Abraham Zapruder didn't know when he ran home to grab his video camera on November 22, 1963 that this single spontaneous decision would change his family's life for generations to come. Originally intended as a home movie of President Kennedy's motorcade, Zapruder's film of the JFK assassination is now shown in every American history class, included in Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit questions, and referenced in novels and films. It is the most famous example of citizen journalism, a precursor to the iconic images of our time, such as the Challenger explosion, the Rodney King beating, and the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers. But few know the complicated legacy of the film itself.

Now Abraham's granddaughter, Alexandra Zapruder, is ready to tell the complete story for the first time. With the help of the Zapruder family's exclusive records, memories, and documents, Zapruder tracks the film's torturous journey through history, all while American society undergoes its own transformation, and a new media-driven consumer culture challenges traditional ideas of privacy, ownership, journalism, and knowledge. Part biography, part family history, and part historical narrative, Zapruder demonstrates how one man's unwitting moment in the spotlight shifted the way politics, culture, and media intersect, bringing about the larger social questions that define our age.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2016 Alexandra Zapruder (P)2016 Hachette Audio

Surprisingly unbelievably captivating

I didn’t expect what I got from this book - which was an amazing context to that day in Dallas and beyond. It is a story like no other, I didn’t want it to end. This is a story that could only happen in America. We have owe a great debt to the Zapruder family and many owe them an apology -especially to the memories of Abraham and Henry who preserved and protected not only the film but the dignity of John F Kennedy in ways that not everyone agreed with - but navigated uncharted terrain with a task no one would ever want to handle with grace. Excellent narration, excellent research, just extremely floored by this story. Brilliant job.

Interesting

Well done history of the film and all of the complications that it has endured over the years. Definitely told from one perspective, but honestly a perspective that has never been heard.

Thank You!

So well done. Tasteful, thoughtful, sensitively done. Thorough historically, factually, and really appreciated the legal insight and analysis scientifically, as well as the perspective from the personal impact on the Zapruder family.

The most detail filled book ever read.

Although the author had a personal involvement in the subject matter of this book, she obviously researched and wrote an unbiased history of a visual record of a sad and traumatic moment .

Outstanding book chronicling story behind the historic Zapruder film

Fascinating from start to finish. I highly recommend listening to this audiobook which was read by the author, making it even more compelling .

A must-read, compelling history of history’s most famous piece of film.

Whatever you think you know about the Zapruder Film, you probably will learn something or even a lot from this book.

The book provides insight into both history and the Zapruder family. It is very well-written and well-narrated by Alexandra Zapruder. Do yourself a favor and listen.

Zapruder Does Her Subject Historical Justice

Would you listen to Twenty-Six Seconds again? Why?

Yes I would, because there is so much information both technical about the regular 8mm filming, as her Grandfather's camera was designed to work, and then there is the family history side which involves how her father, Henry, handled requests for copies of the film while keeping up his own tax law office in Dallas. There is the story of how the government handled the two copies of the film and how LIFE magazine's editor Richard Stolley obtained rights to print frames of the film by treatment Mr. Zapruder with the greatest respect. There is the story of how the National Archives obtained the original Zapruder camera and used it for analysis for the Warren Commission. Then finally there is the story of how the film was given back to the family for $16 million in the late 1990's and how they decided to hand the copyright back into the hands of the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.

There is so much information, well researched and documented by Alexandra, that this book should serve researchers well into the 22nd century and beyond.

What other book might you compare Twenty-Six Seconds to and why?

I can't think of any so well researched, except for Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History" which he researched for twenty years before publishing ten years before his death in 2007.

What does Alexandra Zapruder bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Her raw emotion of her voice, her engagement of relating her memories of her Grandfather and family members.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, but it ran very long. It took about three days with life's responsibilities to be carried out.

Good only for the first hour....

Would you try another book from Alexandra Zapruder and/or Alexandra Zapruder?

Probably not.

If you’ve listened to books by Alexandra Zapruder before, how does this one compare?

First one

What about Alexandra Zapruder’s performance did you like?

She was a good, clear reader.

Any additional comments?

This would be a good book for law students on the topic of copyright issues. After the first hour's insights into Abraham Zapruder and the aftermath of what he went through during and after 11/22/63, the book just bogged down into legal and copyright issues. That was quite disappointing.

An awesome book I had no plans to read.

I've never had any interest in JFK. I had heard of the Zapruder film, But didn't know it was a "home movie". Yet, When I started this book. I couldn't stop.

The Best, Most Compelling Book Imaginable

The protagonist of this excellent book is a few-second section of film. The life it's led over all these years, and all the people, good and bad, who have come into that life are simply fascinating. I couldn't believe how emotionally compelling it is, and how much I was rooting for the film by the end. I still am amazed how good it is. The writing is impeccable and the narrator is superb.