Famed patriarch Joseph Kennedy Sr.'s granddaughter, Amanda Smith (she is the daughter of Jean Kennedy Smith) did an extraordinary job of collecting missives written by various family members over a period of nearly half a century. The years 1914-1961 are meticulously laid out in militarily neat precision; it is through these letters that readers glean insights into the dynamics of a famous family.

My favorite parts in the book were the letters to, by and about the late Senator Robert Kennedy. Third son and seventh child of patriarch Joseph Kennedy, readers are treated to witness his growth and development, almost from the beginning. A composition he wrote at age 13 describing himself and his preferences is enlightening. One can smile at the boy who strove to keep up with his older siblings revisited in the man who achieved leadership status. From all accounts, Robert Kennedy was a diligent worker; the boy who sought to make himself heard by his siblings and by Joe, Sr. became the man who served as the voice for many. In adult life his voice was one that was very much heard and resounded throughout history. In reading this, it was impossible not to cheer his progress and feel encouraged by what he accomplished in his lifetime.

This is a delightful "peek behind the curtain" into the dynamics of generations of Kennedys.

I loved it.

What a nice surprise to see a book about the Kennedy family based on fact. Smith's choice of letters help the reader visualize Joseph Kennedy as father, businessman, and ambassador. These letters are as historically important as they are touching. Smith's work has given us first hand accounts of many great historical events of the 20th century. This book will prove to be an important resource for biographers as well as a wonderful gift to Smith's own family. Highly recommend.

I have read countless books on the Kennedys and I've got to say this is, by far, one of the most valuable books I've read.

Amanda Smith, who is Joseph P. Kennedy's grandaughter, did a phenomenal job gathering correspondences between Joe Kennedy and family members, dignitaries, colleagues and friends during the years of 1914-1961. The manner in which Smith compiled the letters allows for a smooth and enjoyable read of the book.

I am quite impressed (and thankful!) that Smith meticulously documented and made footnotes of the individuals who were either the recipient or author of a letter or are mentioned in the correspondence - as it provides the reader with a much better understanding of the context of the letter.

I've always had a strong appreciation and interest in reading original documents and writings. Amanda Smith truly did a fantastic job editing the letters and showing a new side of Joe Kennedy which I never saw before.

Definately well worth the cost of the book and most certainly recommended with the highest regard for those who enjoy reading about the Kennedys, political science, or correspondences.

This is a great book about a Texan who refused to compromise with big oil, big banks, and big business - the forces that shaped politics in Texas in the 50s and 60s - and was still elected to the US Senate. In the Senate he devoted his career to "putting the jam jar on the lower shelf," so that the little people could reach it. He came from populist East Texas and remained true to the Populist tradition long after it had died in the rest of the country. Dr. Cox has made use of Yarborough's personal papers and his public papers to tell the lively story of an American who had the courage to go against the grain. The book is well-written and is essential for anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding of natiuon politics in the '60s.

Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, with Senator Ralph W. Yarborough riding shotgun in a limousine through the streets of Dallas on November 22, 1963 were both ordered by a secret service agent to hit the deck. History-altering shots were being fired at the motorcade into the lead car carrying President John F. Kennedy, Governor John Connally and their wives. Together they arrived at Parkland Hospital where they witnessed the horrific scene of the bodies of President Kennedy and Governor Connally being wheeled inside.

After the assassination, stories about how Yarborough and "refused" to ride with Johnson the day prior due to their ongoing "feud" became legendary. This feud among these giants of Texas Democratic politics of the 1960's--Yarborough, Johnson and Connally--serves as the fuel to power Dr. Patrick Cox's compelling story. Cox deftly applies his storytelling skills, honed as a former Texas newspaper editor, to weave a taut and fascinating tale of Yarborough and the other giants before and after the assassination.

Known in the U.S. Senate as "Mr. Education", Yarborough's fingerprints can be found on such landmark Great Society legislation as the Higher Education Act, the National Science Foundation, Head Start, Job Corps, Vista and many others. But Ralph Yarborough:The People's Senator is more than an academic treatise about the legislative accomplishments of Ralph Yarborough. He was a profile in political courage, the only southern senator from either party to vote for all the major civil rights bills from 1957 to 1970, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This reader is left to conclude that LBJ's fall in 1968 and Yarborough's political defeat in 1970 market a turning point in American history. With protests over Civil Rights and Vietnam dividing America, Republicans began hacking away at the "ills" of the Great Society. Yet, the lynchpins of the Great Society and much of Ralph Yarborough's contribution still survive and thrive.

This book was a delight to read from start to finish. For political junkies this is pure 100% oxygen. But the novice should enjoy the ride as well. In Ralph Yarborough: The People's Senator, Patrick Cox has unearthed a giant of the 1960's and breathed life into a great American. Ralph Yarborough deserves our attention and appreciation.

My only regret about this book is that it didn't get published while Yarborough was still alive to enjoy it.
Yarborough was LBJ's peer & frequent rival but they buried the hatchet when JFK was killed and, together, created a massive record in civil rights, education and the environment. To understand the legacy of the 60's it is essential to understand Yarborough. It is doubtful that there will ever be a more thorough or more readable treatment of Yarborough's amazing roller coaster career than this one. Highly recommended.

... If you do get a chance to read it... you will be amazed at the detailed characters built up by the long, uninterrupted monologues.

There isn't a plot as such, its set in the early 70's and involves a group of 6 unrelated characters explaining their lives in the setting of a bar, looking back at the sixties and what it meant for them. The characters include a frustrated model obsessed with becoming a 'marilyn' like figure and a young alchoholic who works in underground theatre.

Brilliant to read - and I think even better to see on stage, its a pity it hasn't been more widely acclaimed.

Especially good if you have any auditions coming up because every scene is its own self contained monologue, and incredably naturalistic considering the monologue format.

If you love M.F.K. Fisher (and her writing, of course), don't miss this collection of her letters, compiled and edited by her sister, Norah Barr, and her long-time assistant, Marsha Moran. M.F.K. Fisher's books are a feast of words and ideas, and her letters are no exception. It's easy to see how she used letters to warm up to her other writing, and to think out loud. And what she might only allude to in one of her books is often explained in more detail in a letter to her close friend Lawrence Powell, or to her Aunt Grace, or to her sister Norah, known affectionately as Noni. Mary Frances' letters give us some answers to our many questions about her personal life. For instance, what really went wrong between her and her first husband, Al Fisher? How did she handle the pretense surrounding the birth of her daughter Anne? Who was her life's truest love? These and other questions are answered, although the answers may surprise you....

One of many striking things about her letters is that in them she is always herself, at turns loving, irreverent, bitchy, confident. Another is that, when read chronologically, the letters give us a good look at Mary Frances' feelings about the aging process, and her own part in it. Through her letters we feel a sense of her awareness and hope, even as she is inconvenienced by the infirmities of age; we can see that her spirit remains youthful and unscarred, and this gives us hope for ourselves.

Yes, many questions have been answered for me after reading M.F.K. Fisher's letters, yet many questions remain. I'm glad I don't know everything there is to know about her; I treasure her complexity and the fact that she cannot easily be explained, even by herself! The letters collected here will be read for years to come in an attempt to understand the whys and hows of her life. The book will continue to offer us a great deal of satisfaction, and definitely another chance to feast at the table of her life.

Her letters say many things to many people, but above all, they say it honestly.

No other Kennedy book that I've read (and I've read 'em all, I think) gives the in-depth yet balanced coverage found here with regard to the war years. This book covers ALL aspects of the Kennedy family during WWII. Renehan has included not just PT-109, but also Kick Kennedy Hartington's unique story of love and loss and redeption, and one of the most brilliant studies of Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. ever penned. What is more, the portrait of Ambassador Kennedy and his appeasement (what amounted very nearly to pro-Nazi lobbying at Whitehall and in DC) is both stunning and frightening. Renehan has done a great deal in the way of original research, using heretofore unavailable letters and diaries, and interviewing a number of Jack and Joe and Kick's surviving contemporaries (those few that still survive). I found this book to be a VERY good read, and I recommend it highly.

I picked this book up Sunday morning after reading a rave review (written by former RI governor Bruce Sundlun, who is a vet of WWII) in THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL. Nearly three-quarters of the way through, I find it delivers a refreshing and engagingly-written view of the Kennedy family during those troubled and tragic days of war. PT 109 forms only a tiny slice of the really epic story Renehan tells here. There is also Joe Jr.'s troubled life and martyrdom. There is Kathleen Kennedy's troubled coming of age and her young (nearly instantaneous) widowhood. And there is the disaster of JPK Sr.'s years at the Court of St. James's. I respectfully disagree with those who say Renehan has not done much in the way of original resarch. The sections on JPK Sr.'s ambassadorship, for example, seem (from a glance at the footnotes) to be thoroughly grounded in diplomatic correspondence at the FDR Library and in the Cordell Hull Papers, etc. Likewise Renehan has done fresh interviews with vets of the Solomons campaign, etc., etc. Renehan even interviewed the last surviving member of the PT-109 crew, who died last summer.

I came away impressed with Mr. Renehan's prose-style, which engages one immediately and makes one sail through the book. This is, as they say, a "real page-turner." I also came away impressed with the many new sources Renehan has unearthed: aged contemporaries of Joe Kennedy Jr. and Jack who have yielded a great trove of previously-unpublished tales. But the story doesn't stop with Jack and PT-109 or Joe Jr. blowing up with his Liberator bomber over the British coast. No, Mr. Renehan also digs deep into previously unpublished correspondence between the old man, Ambassador Kennedy, and Secretary of State Cordell Hull to document the Ambassador's power-play with Hull and FDR over Chamberlain's policies of appeasement. Mr. Renehan further renders the touching, tragic story of Kick Kennedy and her brief marriage to Billy Hartington in quite a tender and wonderful manner. This book is neither hagiography nor character-assasination. Renehan is not the Kennedys' prosecutor, nor is he their lawyer. He is just a first-class historian, digging up great new information and telling the story straight, as it ought to be told. I recommend THE KENNEDYS AT WAR very highly.

The story of JPK's life is just as sordid as you have been led to believe. As another reviewer here says, Mass. voters should read this before continuing to sustain this political dynasty. Maybe they just don't care how corrupt their "public servants" are. I was aware of JPK's ties to organized crime and the lucrative bootlegging business he ran in the 20's, but this book relates a great deal of info on how he engaged in insider trading and stock pools before laws were passed to make these activities illegal. Ironic that JPK was the first SEC chairman. The prose here is typical newspaper journalist fare: it's written so that people with a typical substandard American education can read it without too much trouble. The author also helpfully explains events about which any American citizen ought to be at least a little bit knowledgeable. I haven't read the Whalen book on JPK (1964) to compare the writing; it can't be much worse than in this book. However, this book may have the advantage of including facts that have come to light in the last 30 years.

This book truly reflects the character of Joe Kennedy: ambitious, ruthless, and charismatic. To really understand Jack and Bobby Kennedy, one has to understand their old man. His influence on their lives was indelible, and in many ways, tragic. But I think the author could have done a better job of bringing out the fact that even Joe Kennedy's children saw his flaws and often remarked privately that they didn't agree with him. Bobby Kennedy was a true friend to Israel in his latter years (remember why he was shot to death), and yet his father was virulently anti-semitic.

Kessler puts forth a most direct and cards-on-the-table account of Joseph as the patriarch and architect of today's most powerful political family. Its an interesting account of how Joe bullied his children to do as he wanted when he wanted; Joe Jr died in WWII, so he decided it was Jack that was going into politics and become the first Catholic President of the United States, something that Joe Sr had failed at. This book goes to dispel the illusion effectively, and rightfully, that the Kennedy Clan was a model family for the annals of American History. I highly recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the history of the Kennedy Clan.

It is a wonderful idea to make available recordings of great speeches. I hope we have more of this in the future.
In the case of older speeches, the selection is very good, considering the restraints of time, and the readers are uniformly excellent.
As for the modern speeches, it is a marvel of technology that we can hear these speeches as delivered. It is incredible that we can hear the voice of William Jennings Bryan. I can listen to Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" a thousand times and never tire of it! How I wish I could listen to the voice of Patrick Henry! But this selection is too heavily weighted to the modern, and many of those do not deserve billing as the GREATEST speeches of ALL TIME. Also, some of the modern speeches which are included are abridged, e.g. Reagan is cut off in the middle of a sentence, while lengthy and undeserving speeches are played out in their entirety.
Also, with only a few exceptions, the selection is almost entirely American. It is hard to understand why Jimmy Carter's lengthy speech on energy policy is included, while Pericles' funeral oration is not; or why only a small portion of a single Winston Churchill speech is included; why while Bill Clinton's complete 1993 pulpit address, in excess of 20 minutes, is included.
It would be helpful if the complete list of speeches were available to online buyers, as it would be to shoppers in a brick and mortar store.

I have listened to this collection twice now, both times with pleasure. Hearing the acutal voices of Amelia Earhart, Rev. Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Neil Armstrong made a deeper connection than simply reading their words. The collection showcases different subjects and many times contrasts opposing viewpoints of the ideas. This volume is a fantastic introduction to the moving ideals and sometimes sad truths that have influenced Western Civilization.

If you want to read about Jack Kennedy and his dad, with a little more information about Joe Jr., then this is a book for you. Mr. Leamer never delivers the promise his title suggests. This is not to say the book fails to be interesting, but it paints a rather incomplete picture of the Kennedy history. He spends a great deal of time on Joe Sr, and goes through a fairly deep analysis of the relationship between Joe Jr. and John, but we se only fleeting glimpses of Ted as he runs for senate. We only see detail on Bobby when he becomes his brothers AG. We never see the depth of information on Bobby, who played such a significant part in JFK's life.

The book also fails to give a complete picture of any of the men by failing to explaing the relationship that occurred with Rose. We are shown that she tolerated her husband's indiscretions, but we see hardly any interplay with her sons at all. Any decent psychologist will tell you that you can't understand a man without understanding his relationship with his mother. We never see it at all.

Although I found the information delivered to be interesting, I also found it to be quite one-sided, as though it had been written by a strong fan. It gave a good amount of information into the events the Kennedy men lived (and died) through, yet left out much of the day to day information that would have filled out the image. Bottom line; interesting read, but not a detailed analysis...not by a long shot.

I read The Kennedy Women a few years ago and found it to be one of the most impressive biographical works that I had ever encountered. I was most impressed with Leamer's ability to fully chart the lives of so many diverdse characters.

I eagerly awaited the Kennedy Men. If I had not read his previous work, this probably would have seemed better. I felt that the Kennedy Women had a broader scope dealing with a longer (and earlier!) time frame and more individuals. This started, really with Joe Kennedy and didn't focus on too many others. A very minor complaint, is that the Kennedy women had a comrehensive time line in the beginning. It would have been useful to include one here as well.

Otherwise, this is an extaordinarily well rearched volume. What I enjoyed most was the conversational approach taken by Leamer. It is a pleasure to read. I wish that the final chapter "Requiem for a President" was slightly more detailed, but this was a chance to learn not about invididuals, but about complex family relationships and bonds.

I am glad that I read it and look forward to volume 2!

When the next Kennedy tragedy or triumph occurs, make sure this book "The Kennedy Men" is nearby, because it anticipates today what will probably become headlines tomorrow. The author Laurence Leamer tells the real truth about the accomplishments and the failures of the Kennedy family and their charismatic male leaders. This is an accurate and well-researched account of the power-driven Kennedy men, beginning with the Patriach, Joe Kennedy whose leachery and treachery in business, politics, and sex has never been more accurately researched than in this work. Leamer exposes new, shocking and valuable information about John F. Kennedy, his Presidency, and his brothers Joe Jr.,Bobby and Ted. We learn that JFK ordered napalm to be dropped on Cuban citizens during the Bay of Pigs invasion. Few Americans know how extensively JFK taped personal and telephone conversations until Leamer describes them in detail the conversations. This book documents how sorely afflicted JFK was by medication, injury, and emotional stress. By the time the bullets strike JFK in Dallas, the reader sighs with relief that the President is finally out of lifelong physical pain and severe emotional stress, and sexual dysfunction. Leamer shows the bad and the good in the Kennedy clan, much of it unreported or uninterpreted before. Secret files from the CIA, FBI, and Secret Service files are revealed in this book to document both the acheivements and glory of Camelot. Every glamorous accomplishment and detail about JFK, Jackie and Kennedy family members is well researched in these pages, just as are the dirty little secrets of petty jealousies and passions that racked the Kennedy men as they live out their spectacular lives of high drama as America's unofficial royal family. Open this book to any page and be hooked into one of the best told and most fully researched biographical histories about the Kennedy men you can find. You will need it for tomorrow's headlines!

Back in AD 1964, the sordid details of Joe Kennedy's life were kept secret. So what you have here is a very incomplete picture. But, if you want to understand his stock trading or his ambassadorship to Great Britain, then this book is for you. But compared to Kearns-Goodwin and Kessler, this is very lop-sided.

oddly, you may be surprised about the kennedy's of massachusetts when you finish Whalen's work. It is possible that many have been quick to judge the family in a negative manner. Whalen, however, certainly points out Joseph Kennedy's very wonderful points including love of his family and gracious help for mankind. His charity for a man who wandered into his office off of the streets of Boston having just lost his son-and Mr. Kennedy buying the man a suit and paying for the funeral of that son-is particularly touching. Also of great interest to anyone interested in making a buck is how Mr. Kennedy made so much money in so many different arenas-sold out and took his profit on to the next venture-a sixth sense he had for making big money! author whalen points out this was almost always the case except his keeping ownership of Chicago's Merchandise Mart in the Kennedy name up, I believe, until currently-1998. Buy this work and then be prepared to not put it down for 48! ! hrs.! Of added interest was a historical look at how Joseph Kennedy got into B grade motion picture producing in Hollywood in the early days.