Chappaquiddick Tragedy: Kennedy's Second Passenger Revealed Hardcover – March 21, 2016 by Donald Nelson (Pelican Publishing Company)

Sorting Out the Facts Along With the Political Shenanigans and Coverup

Author Donald Nelson has done a commendable job in sorting out the various scenarios relating to the death of Mary Jo Kopechne on Chappaquiddick Island on the night of July 18, 1969. It is clear that Senator Ted Kennedy changed his story a second time which actually made him more culpable. The author relates the name of the third person in the front seat of the car with Mary Jo asleep in the back unbeknownst to Kennedy and his front seat passenger. Inept investigative procedure on Chappaquiddick along with political shenanigans favoring Senator Kennedy made a travesty of the Massachusetts justice system.

The author provides a map of Chappaquiddick Island and the eastern end of Martha's Vineyard and photographs of notables in this story are included throughout the book. I found the inquest chapter in the book hard to follow and hoped the author would provide a summary at the end of the book. Thankfully he did this with the known facts as he sees them in the chapter entitled "Final Thoughts."

There have been a number of books written about what took place on Chappaquiddick Island on July 18, 1969, and author Nelson has done a very commendable job in sorting out this very unfortunate tragedy.