Mini Reviews | Hodge Podge

I feel a potential reviewing slump coming on so obviously the only way to stop it is to write lots of reviews about completely unrelated books. Here's hoping it works!

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed this book - but I am such a sucker for books about cities, city biographies so to speak. I love learning about how massive cities we now take for granted started out sometimes at tiny villages with futures no could have predicted.

The author does a fantastic job pulling together many threads - history, anthropology, archaeology, and our own modern observations. She is an archaeologists, so that level of expertise is welcome as she not only discusses the rise and fall of some major urban centers, but the process of discovering them.

We visit several fantastic locations around the world - Tenochtitlan, Pompeii, Tell Brak, and the like. In these city remains, and others as well, the author explains how over many thousands of years the city as we know it today emerged. As we journey through the ancient world, even through some of the author's own digs in India, we see that the world as we know it today has more in common with these cities of the past than we think. She makes a lot of comparisons between cities now vs then, and delves into the idea of cities impact the people who live there. I found this part particularly interesting; our environment impacts us as much as we impact it.

I also found her take on the future of cities to be of interest. The likelihood of all major cities simply collapsing over time is not necessarily a given. It's true that many cities in the ancient world came to an end at some point and were abandoned, otherwise archeological digs at these locations would not happen. However, for cities to simply end is not all that common. The citizens move elsewhere, taking the influence of their former cities with them when they move on to other cities, and the cycle continues.

Recommended.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I have a fairly good working knowledge of the Kennedys as a whole, but the bulk of my deeper knowledge revolves around Jack, Jackie, and JFK, Jr. I know some about Bobby, but only as he functioned in relation to JFK in the White House years, and then later in regards to his assassination. I was sixteen when JFK Jr. died and was absolutely gutted. Even at that age I remembering wondering how much more one family could take, and that Caroline was now all alone.

Side note: If you are one of those crazies who thinks JFK Jr. secretly survived the plane crash that killed his wife and sister-in-law, and that he would ever in a million years support the former guy and run as his VP, you can kindly fuck all the way off into the sun. A) That would never happen, given the fact that he was a Democrat who many thought could win the party nomination and presidency someday and B) Shame on your for piling more hurt onto Caroline every time you spout this nonsense.

When I came across this book I was delighted, as I am trying to learn more about all of the Kennedys. I am not sure why, and there are many detractors who deride the obsession our nation has with the family, but so many of us still can not look away. Even as the generation after Caroline and JFK Jr. have not managed to capture our attention the way their predecessors did, there are still many who read books such as this, about the eight children of Joe and Rose.

Kathleen, called Kick by her family, was Joe's favorite child and Jack's favorite sister. It is easy to see why. She was adventurous, charming, clever, hilarious. She made her debut into London society in 1938 when Joe was appointed the US Ambassador. London fell in love with Kick as well, as did a specific young man named Billy - William Cavendish, heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire and Chatsworth. They married despite protests of her family over the religious divide, and Joe Jr was the only Kennedy to attend the civil ceremony. Unfortunately a long life together was not in the cards, as Cavendish was killed in action while fighting in Belgium just a few months later. Kick would not live much longer than her husband, dying in a plan crash four years later, at age 28.

Kick was in many ways ahead of her time. She did what she wanted, when she wanted, and saw whomever she wanted - despite threats from her family that she would be cut-off on various occasions. Kick lived her life to the fullest, never minding a bit of scandal that came along with whatever she was up to.

Kick would become the second Kennedy child to die, but certainly not the last. Joe Jr was killed four years earlier in the war, around a month before Cavendish. Her beloved and favorite brother Jack would become the third in 1963, and from out of these family tragedies the so-called Kennedy Curse would emerge.

The author makes good use of sources, relying both on family stories and words by Kick's own in hand in the form of letters she wrote.

I would recommend this one to those with an interest in the Kennedy family dynamics and these 'forgotten' children who have been eclipsed by Jack, Bobby, and Ted.

NetGalley ARC | Before Chappaquiddick: The Untold Story of Mary Jo Kopechne and the Kennedy Brothers

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Like so many others, I have been drawn to the Kennedy family for as long as I can remember. While my grandmother can recall with perfect clarity where she was and what she was doing when JFK was shot, I can do the same in regards to the day that JFK Jr, his wife Carolyn, and her sister/his sister-in-law Lauren were pulled from the ocean.

Admittedly, Teddy is the brother I have always known the least about, and Chappaquiddick is why - though all I have ever known of the story prior to this book is that he left a young woman to die, and they may or may not have been having an affair. It is hard to reconcile that with the decades of work he did in the Senate. I recall having heard more than a few people throughout my lifetime saying they wished it had been Teddy who had died instead of Jack or Bobby. I think that is going a bit far and would never in a million years wish death on my worst enemy.

I discovered this book while browsing NetGalley and read it within one day; I could not put it down. Mary Jo Kopechne became a real person in these pages, and I am grateful to the author for giving Kopechne the proper attention she deserves. As stated before, I have not read anything about Kopechne before, so I do not know how much information is new, and how much is already well-known.

We are given a background of Kopechne's family, going back to the late 1800s. Nothing so details that it drags on, but an overview of the family and how Joe and Gwen Kopechne came to raise their daughter Mary Jo in the 40s and 50s. I feel like this was probably included at all, simply due to their being limited information available about Kopechne's early years and life before politics. Even so, I don't consider it padding, because I found it of interest.

I did not know prior to this that Kopechne actually knew the Kennedy family somewhat well, having worked directly for Bobby's presidential campaign. It was interesting that after Bobby's assassination, the 'Boiler Room Girls' (so-called due to their windowless basement office) did not actually mesh all that well with Teddy's staff. I was under the impression that Kopechne actually was a staffer for Teddy. I now wonder where that belief came from, because I do not recall ever being told as much, or hearing/reading it anywhere. Perhaps it was just an assumption that made sense in my younger brain.

I have found the coverage related to Kopechne to be abhorrent. Reading about the pain and anguish her parents dealt with as they buried their only child, trying in vain to get answers about her death, was difficult. On top of all of that, the hate mail they received is beyond the pale. No one but Teddy derailed his own career, and to blame Kopechne is offensive and demeaning. I find it rather disgusting that people not only thought death by drowning (or suffocation, depending on which theory you believe) was an acceptable punishment for a single woman who was thought to be having an affair with a married man, but THEN those people wrote to her parents making those kinds of statements. Regardless of whether or not they did have an affair (I don't believe so based on this and articles I have sought out since finishing the book), the punishment of death is not at all appropriate and people suggesting otherwise are gross.

As Kopechne graduates from college and moves on to her adult life, the author does an excellent job of weaving the political careers of the Kennedy brothers through the narrative at the same time - without being overwhelming. This is, after all, a book dedicated primarily to the life of Mary Jo Kopechne. It is difficult for anyone to not be overshadowed by the Kennedys, but I think there is a balance here that shows how they eventually came to be in one another's orbits.

Kopechne took a much-needed break from politics following Bobby's murder, something she was devastated by. There is again insinuations from people that she also had an affair with him as well. It is absolutely maddening to me that a young single woman with commitment to various causes and solving the problems plaguing our country can be reduced to something akin to a groupie. (Okay, don't get me wrong, I would totally not have been able to resist advances from Bobby Kennedy, but I am also kind of a terrible person, so...) But as we are reminded throughout the book, this simply does not jive with the person she is repeatedly described as. No one who knew her could have ever believed in either rumor for even a minute.

So what lead Kopechne to be on Chappaquiddick that night? There was a small party, a reunion for the Boiler Room Girls. Details of the party are conflicting, and are probably destined to remain so. Teddy himself insisted he had hardly anything to drink, and others said it was a quieter affair. Neighbors nearby insisted it was raucous and loud until around 1 AM and he nearly called the police.

There are a couple different theories about what happened to even lead Kopechne to be in the car. First, the possibility that she asked Teddy for a ride because he was leaving, and she did not feel well after being out in the sun all day. It is of interest to note her purse and hotel key were left behind at the party. Secondly, there is the idea that Kopechne drank some (and considering she was not a drinker, it would have been easy for her to have become intoxicated quickly), and wound up asleep in the back of Teddy's car. When Teddy got in to leave, he would possibly not have even known she was there. The purse and id of a fellow Boiler Room Girl were found in the car, so some have put forward the idea that there were three people in the car that night. Thirdly, there is the idea that Kopechne herself had been driving and crashed the vehicle after letting Teddy out. This is the least likely to me, as if that had even possibly been the case then surely Teddy would have said so and placed all blame on the deceased victim. He didn't. Instead, he admitted to being the driver, crashing the car, attempting to rescue Kopechne, and then not reporting the accident for ten hours.

Through it all, we get to see the real Mary Jo Kopechne. We see a bright, ambitious, hard-working young woman committed to making this world a better place. That's what drew her to DC in the first place, and to finding a place on Bobby's staff. She was ready to do the work, and push forward to do all the things left undone by JFK's death. Tragically, she would never get the chance. She would suffer, possibly for hours as her oxygen supply dwindled or for minutes as she drowned, and die alone, a promising life cut short.

Unfortunately, we will never really know what happened that night. Teddy's account of what he did immediately following his escape from the car and over the course of the next ten hours doesn't mesh with other facts known about that night. Without a doubt there was some kind of cover-up, but we don't really even know WHAT was covered up. Surely the story is terrible enough. I don't want to believe that THIS is the best version of events they could come up with is something worse actually occurred.

Recommended for those wanting to know more about this specific event, and those with an interest in the Kennedys in general.

Book Review | America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr.

Rating: 2 Stars

John deserves so much better than this. Leeches, all of you, making money off your relationship with him. I wouldn't have read this at all if I had realized ahead of time that he was a "friend" of John's. In the final lines the author states how his heart ached when John died and, "It aches still."

So you wanted to stop the ache by writing a biography of your friend who just wanted to be regular guy, and his intensely private wife? You wanted to toss out your opinions about things, and your supposition, some of which contradicts what other friends have said in the years since Kennedy died?

For example, when talking about getting into a gathering after JFK Jr died: "Now the bigger test: would John's other friends know me? Most of my time with John had been one-on-one, and while I occasionally ran into Randy and others who belonged to his inner circle, the interactions had been brief" (page 398). See what I mean? Leech. You weren't part of the inner circle, so you didn't know him THAT well. I'm not saying those conversations didn't happen, I am sure they did, and that Gillon was known to JFK Jr's friends, but what a way to totally trash the friendship you had - by writing a book about him, and not a terribly nice one at times, without John being able to defend himself or respond to it.

Obviously we know Kennedy could never be a regular guy, the public would never have allowed it, even if his family would have. I think that is ultimately what the 'Kennedy Curse' really is. We placed insanely high expectations on John in particular, given the love the country had for his father. John could never have lived up to that ideal, it simply was not possible. He had his own grief and trauma to work through, losing his dad, and then Bobby, both before the age of ten. One point made me particularly sad, in that John did not remember his father. But he certainly remembered Bobby, who stepped in after JFK's assassination. Maybe that's why he sought out potentially dangerous situations, walking that line between life and death. Death was always around his family, it was practically a companion for most of his life as he lost his mother, then had to prepare to lose his cousin and best friend to cancer as well. It is sadly ironic that John had been preparing the eulogy for his cousin (Anthony) at the time of the crash, and Anthony ended up eulogizing John, then passing away a few weeks later.

Here's a line that especially pissed me off and I immediately decided that this book would be one star: "While I hate to even think about it, John and his passengers experienced a horrifying final few seconds of life as the plane entered a violent, plunging spin that sent them smashing into the ocean at 200 mph" (page 392). Here's a thought, asshole - maybe DON'T THINK ABOUT IT AND DON'T WRITE ABOUT IT.

More speculation on page 393 that bothered me especially: "...John still could have used his radio to ask for help. But John never made radio contact. I think I know why. John enjoyed danger and risk, and he always found a way out. He no doubt realized he was in trouble, but no more trouble than when he camped alone in the wilderness for a week, he strapped himself into his Buckeye, or skied down steep cliffs. Whatever it was that attracted him to danger - a genetic predisposition or a psychological response to the trauma of his childhood, or both - John had supreme confidence in his ability to get himself out of tight jams. If his own skill and determination were not enough, he could count on some other force to protect him...He assumed that this flight would be another challenge that he could conquer. He likely worried more about the embarrassment of a leaked recording of him asking for help than he did about crashing his plane."

One quote I marginally appreciated: "Finally, many people speculate about the impact John might have had if he'd lived, raising the prospect that he might have one day returned to the White House as president. It's possible, but I believe John should be remembered for the authentic life that he lived and not for what he might have become" (page 8).

Ultimately I ended up giving this book a very tenuous two stars because the actual facts, those that are verifiable, were thoroughly researched. It is only when the author inserted himself into the story that things got dicey. It was so much, "Look at me, I was friends with JFK Jr!" The speculation of John's thoughts and actions that were scattered everywhere throughout from the point they met is one of the many reasons that I will not rate this higher than two. A biography like this would have been better off in the hands of someone unbiased either way, someone who was not even remotely close to the story and the life John lived before it ended far too soon. But that's the problem then, isn't it? We all felt like we had a claim, because he grew up in the spotlight, he was ours and we couldn't lose him like we lost his dad. Yet we did anyway. Despite the wealth and privilege his name afforded him, JFK Jr never stood a chance. Let him rest in peace.

(Okay, so I get that I am lumping myself in with an earlier generation, the generations that actually saw him grow up. I was 16 when the plane crash happened, and watched the coverage for days, in tears a lot of the time. By the time it occurred, I was already totally in the thrall of the Kennedy aura. I feel the sentimental protectiveness of him, even though he was already an adult by the time I started learning about his family.)

The Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy: Crime, Conspiracy and Cover-Up - A New Investigation

I received a free digital ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: 4 Stars

Prior to reading this I knew next to nothing about Bobby's assassination, aside from the fact that he was shot in Los Angeles by a man whose last name is the same as his first. I can tell you nearly every last detail of JFK's assassination a few years earlier, but am the exact opposite when it comes to my knowledge of RFK - yet another example of Bobby living in Jack's shadow. Given the timing of the book's release to coincide with the 50th anniversary, now was as good a time as any to start learning.

By nature I am not much into conspiracy theories, but there has always been something about the Kennedy family that has drawn me in. The glitz and glamour, the perfect family photos, lots of easy explanations for the attention they have garnered over the decades. So for me, the idea that two sons from this powerful family just happened to be assassinated within five years of one another, one as president and one as a presidential hopeful...there's something bigger at work. Tragedy befell the family often, but two assassinations, and by random lone gunman? Sorry not sorry, but I don't buy it. Especially after reading this one and exploring Bobby's death, the mishandling of the investigation, and the odd journey of the supposed assassin. That being said, I do not doubt that Sirhan Sirhan shot at Bobby, wounding others surrounding Kennedy as he exited that night. I just don't think he was the only one to do so.

It is clear from the start that the authors put blood, sweat, and tears into this book. The research is there, the pouring over of documents time and time again from the days and weeks and months after Bobby died. Not to mention the uncovering of additional evidence that had, prior to now, been unknown to the public. I also appreciated the fact that the authors took the time to go back and conduct new interviews with relevant people, instead of relying solely on interviews from the time that the assassination happened.

More than anything else, the forensics prove that Sirhan was not the only shooter in the pantry that night. I don't just mean because there were allegedly thirteen shots fired, which were accidentally captured on audio, or 'possible' bullet holes were identified in numerous locations within the pantry signifying that there must have been a second shooter, because how could a gun that could only hold eight bullets make thirteen holes? No, it comes down to the autopsy, plain and simple, as well as eyewitness statements and photographic evidence that Sirhan was in front of Bobby the entire time in the pantry. Not only that, but he was several feet away when he began firing. How is it then, that Thomas Noguchi, LA County's Chief Medical Examiner-Corornor, concluded that Robert F. Kennedy died from a bullet fired into the back of his head? Noguchi's report was detailed and very specific in recounting the fatal shot, determining this based on his expert opinion, that it came from that back of Bobby's head at an upward angle. And even if one were to argue that maybe witnesses are mis-remembering, and Sirhan DID take a shot at Bobby from behind him, the distance calculated swiftly crushes that idea. Noguchi further determined that the fatal shot was fired from no father than three inches away from Bobby's head, perhaps as close to half an inch. Time and again witnesses made statements that Sirhan was in front of Bobby the entire time, and that he never got that close to him. There is simply no way for Sirhan to have fired that shot. Even Paul Schrade, one of Kennedy's aides, believes Sirhan did not assassinate Bobby. Schade was walking behind Bobby into the pantry and has stated to Sirhan directly, as quoted in the book, "You were never behind Bob, nor was Bob's back ever exposed to you."

The book addresses several other points that seem to create the aura of assassination conspiracy and further fan those flames. There is discussion of Sirham being hypnotized or brainwashed, Manchurian Candidate style. Much is also made of witness statements about a man in a gold sweater and the Girl in the Polka Dot Dress. I don't draw more attention to her in jest, she is a very real piece of the puzzle latched onto by so many who claim it was a big murder conspiracy. This is all small potatoes to me when compared to the physical evidence, which might seem to be too dismissive, but the proof is there that Kennedy was killed by someone other than Sirhan. Unfortunately I do not think we will ever be able to answer the questions of 'who' and 'why'.

And perhaps there was no conspiracy to kill Bobby at all, which I know deviates from what I said in the opening paragraph. Perhaps a cover-up became mandatory when the investigators realized that the evidence they were recovering from the scene did not fit their initial assumptions and statements about Sirhan acting alone. Maybe they did destroy evidence and bully witnesses into recanting. But for what reason? The investigators didn't want to look incompetent? They did not want to bungle the case and have a re-play of the investigation surrounding Jack's assassination just five years earlier, where so many doubted then and still do today that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone? Unfortunately for those in power, whatever their reasons for the cover-up, that is exactly what happened anyway. Fifty years later, it is more than clear that there were two shooters that night. I don't think anyone is denying that Sirhan was in the pantry, that he had a gun, or that he fired it. He simply was not the only one.

Not too long ago Robert F. Kennedy, Jr met with Sirhan in prison, for several hours, presumably discussing every last detail of that night. RFK Jr came away from that time spent believing that the man before him had not murdered his father. Surely that alone merits re-opening the investigation.

Jackie After O: One Remarkable Year When Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Defied Expectations and Rediscovered Her Dreams

Rating: 3 Stars

First things first, if you have read other reviews of this book - I must have had a newer edition than others. I noticed a few people mentioned historical inaccuracies with dates. No big deal, just little things like the date of Kennedy's assassination *sarcasm*. The copy I read did speak of the assassination with the correct date of November 22nd, while others stated their copies said November 23rd. To me that is a pretty big deal and not something that can be easily dismissed. This date is a defining moment for so many, not least of all the very subject that the author was writing about. I was wary of other information I might come across, and often found myself checking many dates when mentioned. I did not find any other inaccuracies, but I may have also missed some.

I feel like I have a working knowledge of the Kennedy family and of Jackie, but I have yet to read anything solely dedicated to discussing her life. I was hoping to find that here, given the title, but got something a bit different. I learned quite a few new things about Jackie in the end, though it was not all I expected.

I made a note very early on of how much space was being dedicated to to the back story of Jackie and JFK, how they met, etc. I know very little of the early years of their courtship and marriage, so while I was expecting far more about Jackie's life AFTER her two marriages, I could still appreciate this aspect of the story. I did feel like this was necessary also, in order to show Jackie's career ambitions before marrying JFK, thus tying it to her life after Onassis died. The problem with this necessary thing though, is that in connecting Jackie's previous life to this 'Year After O', it essentially becomes a biography of her life, albeit a surface-skimming one. So much time is spent on her life prior to 1975, that essentially, the 'After O' part does not start until about 55%. The book itself, epilogue included, then ends at 83%. So, despite the title, less than 30% of the book is actually devoted to Jackie's life in that year after she became a widow for a second time. The rest then consists of notes and bibliography.

Every time I read something about Jackie, I feel a true connection to her and I think she is someone I would have liked to have known. Her love of the arts, reading, photography, and so on, are all things I hold in high esteem. When I first learned of her spearheading the efforts to save Grand Central Station, I knew we were kindred spirits. I have a special place in my heart for these beautiful old train stations (it still bums me out that Penn Station could not be saved, what a loss!) and am so glad she was able to help save this one.

I appreciated the use of Jackie's own letters, so we can be sure the words we are reading are hers. If you have read previous reviews of mine, you might know I am not a fan of re-creating conversations for manuscripts, unless the conversation was recorded and/or written down word-for-word. There are too many possible errors or misinterpretations and I don't like it. That did occur a few times with the book, which I did not care for.

Whether you know a lot about Jackie or not, I feel like there is some value with this text. It is by no means perfect, but I can appreciate what it tried to do, in looking at a very specific time in Jackie's life. The problem with trying this, is that so much of what happened in Jackie's past up to this point made her into the person she was, and it is almost impossible to tell the story of her later years without connecting to the early years.

"In many ways, she was at her best under the worst circumstances."

I don't now if any other statement could better describe Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America

Rating: 4 Stars

"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

Perhaps among the most recognized speeches in history, Kennedy's inaugural words were viewed by many as the dawn of a new era filled with optimism, with a stunning young family now living at one of the most famous addresses in the world.

This book details the week prior to Kennedy speaking those very words, and we are given of glimpse of how his mind worked as he wrote and re-wrote, added to and changed his speech. This was all-consuming for him and Kennedy was determined to make it the best of his career. Papa Joe did not help matters much, constantly telling Jack that he had already wasted his best speech prior to this - but Jack never took the bait and would keep his inaugural address a secret even from the family patriarch. Kennedy wanted his words to reflect the changing of the times and usher in an era of hope in the bleak Cold War landscape. I think we might consider him a success, seeing as how this speech and the Gettysburg Address are the most well-known speeches in the history of American politics.

Before the prologue we are treated to Kennedy's address in its entirety and even 56 years on they hold their own weight. I can read the words and hear them inside my head in JFK's voice. I have seen footage of the address, but never in its entirety. It is not a long speech, but it is powerful. Reading about all the work that went into it makes the speech even grander. I never knew before that there was such hubbub over the speech to begin with, or arguments/misremembering about how much Kennedy wrote himself vs how much his speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, contributed. The author makes a very important point early on, that "...The issue of whether Kennedy composed his own inaugural address, or simply delivered Sorensen's beautiful words, is not some arcane historical footnote. The speech is generally acknowledged to have been the greatest oration of any twentieth-century American politician" (page 9). This speech was a big deal, and still is. It marked the moment in time when America was moving forward into this state of being, and the myth Kennedy was creating was a big part of that. If it were to turn out that Kennedy did not write it, one can only imagine how devastating that would be. Luckily, it would seem that according to the author and evidence we have in the form of Kennedy's secretary's shorthand notes, Kennedy did in fact dictate to her, "...the most immortal and poetic passages of his inaugural address" (page 13).

(As a side note, I am also currently reading Kennedy's 'Profiles in Courage' and I never knew there was also controversy as to how much of that book he wrote himself as well. People seem to forget that Kennedy was one of the most highly educated presidents we'd had up to that point, so why couldn't he have written it himself?)

Beyond the prologue and debate over who wrote which parts and whether the most important and memorable passages were from Kennedy's brain or Sorensen's, the book is broken up into chapters that detail every day leading up to his delivery of the address. We see not only Kennedy's work on the speech, but the physical work he put into his own appearance (I firmly believe he would have eventually died of skin cancer had he not been assassinated). This was key to pushing the myth of the Kennedy mystique - to always appear youthful and carefree - especially following the administration of Eisenhower. Despite the fact that we now know of the myriad of health problems that Kennedy suffered from nearly all his adult life, on that blustery, cold day in January, he looked to be a picture of perfect health. despite the cold, Kennedy did not even wear an overcoat, though much later it would be reported that he stayed warm due to the long underwear he wore beneath his clothing. Image was everything to the Kennedys.

As with most other Kennedy books, this one too touches on some of the Kennedy/Johnson friction. I do not know enough yet about the two men and their politics to understand why there was such aggravation or why Bobby and LBJ especially did not get along. I guess I don't yet understand why LBJ was the VP if the Kennedys could not stand him, or if that was even true, and so on. Every other book I have read about Kennedy so far as mentioned this at least in specific situations and there is much I have yet to understand about this dynamic between the president and vice president.

I was mildly creeped out by the extent of Evelyn Lincoln's devotion to Kennedy, though perhaps it is not entirely fair based on one author's assertions - or maybe it is, who knows. But she kept many of his papers and such, some of which could only have been retrieved from the garbage after he had tossed them out. So, kind of creepy. But at the same time, anything a president wrote could have been historical so perhaps we should also thank her for preserving what she did.

Overall, as with many books about the Kennedy family, I really like this one. It was not sensational, as some books about the family tend to be, and stays focused on the speech and Kennedy's preparations for it in those final ten days before addressing the nation. Definitely recommended for anyone with an interest in Kennedy, the speech, or US history in general.

Two quotes that amused me:

Page 142: "Neither Evelyn Lincoln's appointment book nor the newspapers tell us how long Kennedy stayed at Mahoney's party. We only now he woke up at 6:45 AM on January 19th to the roar of a motorcycle, threw open his second-floor bedroom window, and shouted down, "How about a little more quiet on my last day as a private citizen!"

Page 182: "Grudged and politics go together. Still, so many of the VIPs at the Kennedy inauguration had such a long and contentious history of slights and rivalries that had their thoughts been vocalized, the air would have crackled with a Babel of competing voices, like dozens of broadcasts jammed onto a single shortwave radio band."