James B. WellsJAMES B. WELLS is a retired criminology and criminal justice professor in the School of Justice Studies in the College of Justice, Safety, and Military Science at Eastern Kentucky University, and is the recipient of the 2025 Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences John Howard Award, an award given intermittently, upon significant demand, to recognize an individual who has made significant and sustained contributions to the practice of corrections. A former carpenter, soldier, and correctional officer in a super-maximum-security prison and later as a researcher/planner assisting architects in prison design, he has multiple degrees, including an M.S. in Criminal Justice, a Ph.D. in Research, and an MFA in Creative Writing. He’s authored or co-authored over sixty-five books, chapters, articles, and essays, as well as over a hundred and fifty research reports for various local, state, and federal agencies. Recent essays from his research and memoir work appear or are forthcoming in Collateral Journal, About Place Journal, Wild Roof Journal, Military Experience and the Arts, The Wrath-Bearing Tree, Shift, Proud to be: Writing by American Warriors, Trajectory Journal, and From Pen to Page III: More Writings from the Bluegrass Writers Coalition.
His investigative memoir about his father's still CIA-classified death in Vietnam in 1965, titled Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, will be launched on Father's Day weekend, 2025. Links to publications, presentations, trailers, social media, blog, and other information can be found at https://jamesbwells.com. James enjoys spending much of his leisure time with his spouse on their Lexington, Kentucky farm located on the palisades of the Kentucky River, where he is an organic gardener and beekeeper.
Tomorrow, I will revisit with some key characters from my investigative memoir at one of the actual scenes where incredible revelations from “Because: A CA Coverup and A Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew” were brought to light. Join us at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Versailles, KY, located at 210 N. […]
How do you resolve the unresolvable? How do you find peace with what is known and unknown? Can a soul reach out for help and be rescued? This evening at 7:00 pm at 1000 Tates Creek Road, Lexington, KY, I will be in conversation with a key character from the closing chapters of my investigative […]
Despite the simultaneous occurrence of a large book festival and protest marches in Lexington and nearby cities, Brenda and I were delighted to see around 100 people attend the book launch and post-launch reception of Because: A CIA Cover-Up and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew. We are especially grateful to our […]
When it rains it pours! I just found out this morning that my interview with Tom Martin and his program Eastern Standard about my investigative memoir Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew will air on WEKU 88.9 FM at 1 pm and 8 pm today, and 6 […]
I’m thrilled to see a review of my investigative memoir, Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew, by Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) book critic Suzanne Van Atten as the feature story in the online edition of the AJC’s Arts & Entertainment section this morning. It will also appear […]
Since the death of my father was an early casualty of the Vietnam War and attracted a lot of media attention, including the article below in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution (AJC), I contacted the AJC Book Critic Suzanne Van Atten, to see if she would be interested in reviewing my book as part of her column […]
There’s a lot of buzz in the media about the Father’s Day weekend launch of my investigative memoir Because: A CIA Coverup and a Son’s Odyssey to Find the Father He Never Knew. Here’s an example. Jane Turner, a famous FBI Whistleblower, hosts this popular podcast. I’ll announce the date of its airing as soon […]
I never intended for my investigative memoir about my father’s still CIA-classified death in Vietnam to take on a spiritual theme…but it did. As a consequence, some churches have expressed a willingness to know more about my book and discuss it with their congregations and others. Feel free to contact me at because@jamesbwells.com if you think your […]
Whistleblowing Fact 898: If my father was a wartime whistleblower, which now seems certain, it occurred to me that the missing pieces of what happened to him may lie not in enemy actions but in allied retaliation. As a result, I turned to a popular whistleblowing theory and its ancillary theoretical model explaining retaliation against […]
Whistleblowing Fact 897: A partial listing of whistleblower characteristics my father “possessed included being strong-willed, stubbornly committed, and obsessed about a personal belief. He also had a proactive personality, which allowed him to be more willing to go against social conventions. Like many whistleblowers, he possessed high levels of moral judgment and felt more inclined to […]
James B. Wells