Now he endeavors to set the record straight about November 22, 1963 in Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (WW Norton). And he goes into painstaking detail; the main text is a staggering 1,510 pages-the first chapter, "Four Days in November," is 319 pages, long enough to be a book of its own-and the source notes and end notes are so long they're not in the book itself but on an accompanying disc (and no, I didn't manage to read the entire book before writing this).

Like the good prosecutor he is, he lays out all the facts (and then some) in the book's first part, "Matters of Fact: What Happened," then dissects the opposite view in the second part, "Delusions of Conspiracy: What Did Not Happen."

Bugliosi gets very exasperated with conspiracy theorists, calling them "crackpots" and their ideas "goofy." His outrage actually provides a welcome dose of levity, as when he critiques Oliver Stone's JFK. Sixty pages into the chapter, he says, "If the reader is not already completely disgusted by, and revolted with, Oliver Stone and his movie, I can't imagine why not," before continuing to drive the point home for another 30 pages. "Will there be other books as stunningly empty as this one?" he says about the conspiracy book Ultimate Sacrifice. "I, of course, am powerless to prevent this continuing nonsense."

Bugliosi leaves no stone unturned, even tracking down Oswald's widow Marina, who grudgingly speaks to him. It turns out she is a conspiracy theorist herself, who thinks anti-Castro Cubans committed the murder and "the CIA covered it up." Reading Tim Weiner's Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Doubleday) might make her change that latter assessment. It's an alternately fascinating and depressing look at the antics of the agency; fascinating to see just how inept the people running it were (and are), and depressing because we're all footing the bill.

The agency grew out of our WWII intelligence organization, the Office of Strategic Services, one of whose plans towards the war's end was to use bats to fly bombs into Japan. Things didn't get much better under the CIA. A detention center like we have at Guantanamo Bay is nothing new; we had one back in the '50s in Panama, where "special interrogation" techniques were developed for use on suspected double agents. It was certainly in keeping with an organization mindset that devoted much energy, and more money, on planning espionage and staging coups instead of spending time actually gathering intelligence.

The reason for having a CIA in the first place was to prevent an attack like Pearl Harbor from happening again, and the events of September 11, 2001, show how well that mission was accomplished (though there are those who feel a conspiracy was involved with 9/11 as well... hmmm... calling Vincent Bugliosi!). Weiner has spoken with dozens of people affiliated with the CIA, and drawn on innumerable documents, infusing the story with the kind of anecdotes that make his book a real-life spy thriller that's stranger than fiction could ever be.

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As a fan of musicals, it was exciting to see the debuts of two shows now headed for Broadway: Young Frankenstein and Lone Star Love. You probably heard much about the first, due to Mel Brooks's involvement; the second is an updating of Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor to late 1800's Texas. If these two shows attain the success of Hairspray (which also debuted here), will Seattle become a new off-Broadway launch pad? I'd say Frankenstein has a better chance for success, due to the clever songs and impressive special effects. Lone Star Love's claim to fame is that it stars Randy Quaid, who has fun with his part; I also liked Ramona Keller's feisty maid. I'll be most interested to see what the New York critics have to say.

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Ran into the esteemed publisher of this fine publication at Vermillion the other week, a new gallery/wine bar owned and operated by Diana Adams, who previously ran the Aftermath gallery. We drank, chatted, nibbled on goodies provided by Mr. Mayer, and enjoyed the current show (Jim Riswold's "Bad People Have To Eat Too," featuring depictions of dictator-themed foods, which closed 9/30). There's lots of display space, and a cozy room at the back for imbibing; I'm certainly looking forward to future shows. The venue is handily located at 1508 11th Ave. on Capitol Hill, so once you've finished shopping at the Value Village across the street, why not drop in? Info: vermillionseattle.com, 206-709-9797.