Written at the family's request between 1964-68, this is one of the most detailed accounts of the JFK case, Although embracing the official perspective - L.H. Oswald the lone killer / no conspiracy - the book is a detailed story of the last days of President Kennedy's life and the next days until the funeral, the deeds of lots of White House staff, the president's family, Dallas people and the touching reaction of American people - the ones which shoudn't have asked what America can do for them, but what THEY can do for America. William Manchester is one of the great non-fiction writers which makes written history as vivid as real life. "The death of a president" is one of his masterpieces - famous enough to be translated into romanian, the language in which I first read it, since it is my mother tongue.

One wonders if an author clever enough to come up with a title as witty and intelligent as Lulu Incognito could ever fail to produce a masterpiece. The answer so far? No.

Kennedy chooses his elegant yet familiar words so carefully, he might well be the Martha Stewart of literary writers. Kennedy, while clearly aspring to grand literary gestures, never truly manages to leave behind his pedestrain persona, and so manages to create works that read like collaborations between John Waters and Barbara Kingsolver.

Tacky? Yes. Faux-intellectual? Certainy. Camp? Oh, without a doubt.

Yet, somehow Kennedy's numerous and painful failings as a writer always seem to mesh, like the tuneless voices of talentless folk singers, into a flawed dissonance that amuses if not inspires.

Buy this book. It's a great laugh and a reliable cure for constipation.

Like all Manchester books, he brings to life a time that was filled with far more intrigue than whether or not Oswald was the lone gunman. On that, he convincingly explains that he was, and rivets the reader with surprisingly interesting minutae on who rode in the motorcade with whom, along with the historical debate of when LBJ became President and whether he should have taken the President's plane back to Washington.

What strikes me as irresponsible is/was Manchester's characterization of Dallas, and seemingly blaming it for the President's assasination. Throughout we have to read of how "radical" right Dallas was, how it was chock full of "John Birchers", and that the city itself was hospitable to right wing murderers. This strikes the reader as a foolish waste when you consider that the killer was the exact opposite, such a communist sympathizer that he lived in the Soviet Union, and tried to seek asylum in Cuba.

For that, the book pales in comparison to other Manchester works in that it's harder to take his historical views seriously given his self-interested, and seemingly paranoid, efforts to discredit the big bad right wing.

William Manchester provides a fascinating account "from the eye of the storm." For the younger generation, for whom Kennedy's assassination is an historic fact rather than a horrible memory, "The Death of a President" invokes the feelings of the time--the promise of the Kennedy presidency, the unthinkability of his untimely death, and the chaos that ensued before order was restored.

Manchester begins by describing the political in-fighting within the Texas Democratic party that prompted the Kennedy-Johnson trip in the first place. Some of the funniest moments in the book (yes, despite the subject, it does evoke a smile now and then) are the efforts that Kennedy aides made to get a reluctant Senator Yarborough to ride with LBJ in the motorcades. The many seemingly inconsequential decisions that ultimately led to the slow-moving motorcade through Dealey Plaza make the reader want to cry out, "No! Put the bubble top! Speak at a different site!" As the book nears the fateful hour, the reader is left with a sense that there's still a chance to avoid this tragedy.

The hours and days immediately after the assassination are equally fascinating. Jackie's wait at Parkland Hospital and her trip home on Air Force One are told with heart-breaking detail. (Lest this aspect seem overly invasive, the reader should note that the book was written with her blessing and cooperation.) The story of how the memorable funeral and Arlington burial came about are fascinating. The tensions between the Kennedy and Johnson aides provide a good lesson in how NOT to act after a tragedy.

If you're only interested in the conspiracy theories, however, this is not the book for you. Manchester wholeheartedly backs the lone gunman hypothesis, and his descriptions of Oswald's movements at this time are hard to swallow in light of the details that have emerged in the decades since the assassination. Since most of the book focuses on the Kennedy family, the Kennedy and Johnson aides, and other political figures, however, this one drawback does not significantly detract from the book.

Like Raymond Kennedy's many out of print books, The Flower of the Republic impresses with the author's ability to assemble shallow, predictable characters and propel them through a trite, contrived plot while creating, like a literary sausage maker, a gristle-sharp melange of pork snouts and cow parts that digests far more easily than the various low-grade ingredients might warrant.

As an author, Kennedy resembles Teddy more than Bobby, and John Jr. more than John. He seems one of the inexplicable authors who never dazzles, rarely impresses, and yet has manufactured something resembling a career despite his lack of talent. Kennedy's characters reflect the author's life of triumphant mediocrity, investing every flaccid word with a frowning, sagging, tragi-comic pathos.

This is another must-read from the Stephen King of his generation.

Mr. Kennedy has written a ho-hum little story, which lurches along like a wind-up toy traversing a shag carpet. The first major flaw is that the author has failed to infuse any semblance of passion into his characters, which are mere caricatures of living beings. They resemble Disney creatures to the extent that they move around and make noises, but seem disturbingly un-life-like. The plot, although well-crafted, with a snappy little surprise ending, lacks a certain element necessary in these things - conviction.

Reading Columbine, it's hard not to imagine that it was written by Stephen King, himself. Kennedy brings the same passion for plot, the same careful word choice, the same intellectual rigor as King at his best. Kennedy mines a series of comfortably familiar cliches in this masterpiece, examining with Disney-esque rhaposodic lyricism the relationship between two young friends in a coming of age story that screams "Turn me into a Lifetime Movie of the Week."

Oprah, have you seen this book? It was Oprah Book Club stuff before there was an Oprah Book Club.

It's been 20 years since I read this book, but many of its images have stuck with me. What I am left with today is the memory of a great sadness and longing, as if I too had lived through such an experience, or as if the book summed up for me much of what we all have lost: that part that never can be ours. Set in a time during and after World War II, in urban Pennsylvania, if I recall correctly, the book follows the psychic history of a young man, the girl next door (literally; and she is truly just a girl when he meets her) and the community of people whose lives they touch. Columbine is just the youngest of a family of sisters who interest the young man; to her, he is at first a picture on the piano, a handsome young man in a uniform, someone she may never know, and someone who may never return. He does return, and they begin a frustrated friendship; he follows her "career" from afar. His interest in her is unfocused; she is both luminous and common. The novel is evocative of time and place, and also of American attitudes at mid-Century. There is a haunted quality to it; the young man surely is haunted. For look, here is a whole book about her, and her place in the wide world.

A portrait of one of the United States' greatest presidents is not only a study of the politics of his administration, but the human himself. This book goes on about his qualities and how he acts. The book outlines a lot about some of the events that took place while he was in office. And I, having not been alive during his rule, found it very boring. I have no idea about half the things they talk about in the book. That is why my opinion may be debatable as others may have more of a background concerning these events. This book was written before he was assassinated. "Portrait of a President" really outlines Kennedy and what he was like, every single detail. If you want to read up about past events, read this book. If you want to read about who he truly was, read this book. If you want to take a nap, read this book.