Libra

Don DeLillo · b. 1936 · USA

Why it matters

Lee Harvey Oswald, reconstructed from the inside out, drifts toward Dallas through a rogue intelligence plot that needs a patsy more than an assassin. DeLillo's documentary-fiction masterwork treats November 22, 1963 as the day America's plots outgrew its citizens.

At a glance

Alternating Oswald and conspirator timelines demand tracking a large historical cast.