Millions were drawn to their radios and televisions on the weekend of Nov. 22, 1963, and some were already questioning the police assessments of the assassination.

In New York were Mark Lane, Harold Weisberg, Sylvia Meagher and Léo Sauvage. In Hominy, Okla., there was Shirley Martin. In Philadelphia, Vincent Salandria and Harold Feldman. Penn Jones Jr. in Midlothian. Mary Ferrell in Dallas. Maggie Field and Raymond Marcus in Los Angeles.

Some were not even Kennedy supporters but became obsessively dedicated to the truth, not to allaying the country's fears. And for those of us who remain skeptical of the official version of events, they were our surrogates, doing what the "mainstream media" should have been doing.

Although the assassination occurred in public with more than 100 testifying eyewitnesses and the actual killing itself filmed, there is still disagreement on the number of shots fired, from what location, who fired them, and, most important, why. Praise From a Future Generation does not attempt to answer any of these questions. What it does, rather, is personalize this once-maligned group of patriotic American dissidents, most of them sons and daughters of immigrants, who saw what they believed was a wrong, and tried to right it.

Their original skepticism arose out of the haste with which the government seemed compelled to get its story out and close the case. Lee Harvey Oswald was identified within minutes and arrested and charged within hours. These events moved Mr. Lane to publish an article in December, assailing the government's "rush to judgment," which became the title of his best-selling book. Ms. Martin immediately drove to Dallas and began interviewing witnesses, as did Mr. Jones, who published his findings in the Midlothian Mirror and later in his book, Forgive My Grief and three succeeding volumes.

The Warren Report was published without an index, prompting Ms. Meagher to compile one. It became invaluable to subsequent investigators and students.

Later, her book Accessories After the Fact established her analytical reputation. Many publishers relied on her to vet books critical of the government.

Others critical of the government's findings built bodies of work tied to their individual expertise.

They became friends, corresponding, sharing their findings, even socializing. But New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's investigation and trial in 1967 divided them. Ms. Meagher, who viewed the Garrison investigation as a travesty, all but severed ties with Garrison supporters, including Mr. Salandria and Mr. Jones.

Their solidarity was sundered, but if not for these dogged doubters, the American public might never have known of the inconsistencies, omissions, deceptions and flawed conclusions many believe they uncovered in the Warren Report.

This is the crux of Praise From a Future Generation, a lucid, well-documented assessment of these citizen sleuths and their compulsive, all-out effort to re-open the case. Its 1,737 citations are based on a bibliography of 212 sources.

As a result of their publications alleging inept police work, official dissembling in Dallas and Washington, and even a cover-up, the group endured scrutiny by the FBI and CIA and insults from politicians and reporters. Some were shadowed and had their mail monitored. They were labeled as self-serving publicity-seekers and members of the lunatic fringe.

But beginning in 1969, as government deceptions involving My Lai, the Pentagon Papers and eventually, Watergate, became known, the public was ready for a new investigation of the Kennedy assassination.

In 1977, the House Select Committee on Assassinations found "a probable conspiracy" but could name no other conspirator.

So the contretemps continue. Readers hoping for a purely objective book to rid us of this quarrelsome conceit that surrounds the JFK assassination will not find it here. It is, though, an objective study of these men and women, their motivating backgrounds, strengths and flaws, successes and debacles.

Despite the praise John Kelin accords them, he never asserts that they, like Watergate bloodhounds, actually sniffed out a conspiracy, governmental or otherwise. Nevertheless can a country that cherishes its freedoms ever have too many inquiries into a president's murder for which there was never a trial?