Profiles in Courage

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Summary: Great profiles that present character of a forgotten age.
Review: Joh F. Kennedy's Pulitzer Prize winning Profiles In Courage is not an in-depth historical text, true, and it should not be read that way. If any reader was and is expecting to find fascinating, long biographies of the eight men in this book, then they should alter their expectations. Rather, readers should use these profiles as a precursor to major biographies that are fatter and thicker with more detail.Whether Kennedy or his speechwriter wrote this book is irrevelent to me, but what he did when he wrote this book was to narrow it down to a very slim margin of what courage is. What is it? How do people -- especially people in politics -- get courage? What circumstance or circumstances in their lives imbued that very important characteristic into their belief system when serving the public at large? What Kennedy does is explore those key moments in the lives of these men that could have been responsible for the attainment of that trait. Kennedy's style of writing is gripping, immediate and has colorful tints of personality to it. For a quick and accurate historical/biographical fix, Profiles in Couage does the job quite nicely.

Rating:
Summary: Essential and Truly Pulitzer Material
Review: Kennedy was a great president and this wonderful book was well-deserving of the Pulitzer it earned. I am amazed and surprised at some of the readers who gave this book a low rating.... This book won a Pulitzer! And deserved it!

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Summary: Plagarism by any other name...
Review: There is now ample historical evidence that JFK did not write this book- instead, it was ghost-written by JFK's speechwriters instead. On the merits, the book itself is mediocre history, and would not be in print but for the fact that it bears the ex-President's name. For serious students of history, pass it up. For those who would read the book to learn something about JFK's personality or writing style, pass it up, too...He may not have read it all himself.

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Summary: The editors missed this one!!
Review: John F. Kennedy might have been a good president, but he was not a good writer. He had good intentions when he wrote this book, yet the way it was written made it a three snoozer on my scale. When he was writing this book he forgot that a audience needs to be grabbed, not put into a never ending slumber. I think that even the senators profiled were put to sleep. I have had many generations of my family be put into intesive care because of loss of brain matter from this book. The ninth grade class of many schools has fallen victim to this book. The "editors" of this novel must have been put to sleep also to let this book get onto the market, as well as the critics of many organizations. I do, however, recommend this novel for the chronic insominac, for this is surely the best cure for this disease. This book ranks up there with watching golf and synchronized swimming. I fear for the sanity of the next unfortunate soul that this book comes in contact with. For your sake read the cliff's notes, provided by amazon.com the online book store. :)

Rating:
Summary: Long, Drawnout, and Repetative!
Review: I would not recomend this book to a fellow student because I felt that it was not very amusing. Though the individual stories I found to be entertaning, only due to the fact that they are historical, the book was too drawnout. It seemed that the same thing occured in each of the courageous men's lives, they would stand up for what they belived to be right and then be disowned by their party. This was inspiring in the first story, and in the second, but when I got to the fifth story it became monotonous.

Rating:
Summary: Very infomative but it put me to sleep.
Review: This book has a lot of facts and information but is very boring to read. I am not kidding when I say that it put me to sleep, it really did. As a ninth grade student, I would not recommend this book. However, if you like history (and boring books) this book is for you. If I were a history teacher I probably wouldn't make my students read it.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing, Confusing, Confusing
Review: Well this was the most confusing book I ever read. The idea of what JFK tried to do was good but the actual book was way too drawn out and unclearly wriiten. To read this book you have to drink many cups of coffee so that you wouldn't fall asleep from bordum. I only recomend this book if you are interested in politics and if you have the time to read this book carefully so that you would understand what JFK is talking about.

Rating:
Summary: A historical book that doesn't hold your interest.
Review: Even though I wasn't around during President Kennedy's term in office, I've always heard that he was a terrific President. However, he wasn't a writer. This book is heavy on the facts, but too light on interesting sections. Most of the Senators highlighted in this book seem to have done practically the same couragous acts at different times. Also, those acts were woven around dates and names that seemed to take away from the story. If you are a big history-buff, I would highly recommend this book. However, if you're looking for an enjoyable pleasure book, I would recommend you look somewhere else.

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Summary: It has stayed with me for years, deeply effected me.
Review: I read this book years ago and it has provided me with a glimmer of hope in the current dismal political atmosphere. I'm buying a copy for each of my children. I found it touching and inspiring. Not only does it humanize history, it is history.

Rating:
Summary: Never again......
Review: Alright, now I'm not going to say that this was the worst book i ever read... because it wasn't, but it definately was not one of the better ones. Yea it was well written and had a very good point to get across... but it just wasn't one of those books that kids would enjoy reading.