Rating: 
Summary: Clear-eyed, Honest, and Riveting portrait...
Review: I'm not sure what some of the reviewers were talking about when they bashed this book. This book, while slimmer than other bios about the Kennedys, rises to the top because of it's balance. Thomas clearly admires his subject, but never romanticizes his subject. He is honest, straight forward, and tells some amazing tales. The book is riveting from page 1. I've always always admired RFK. After Thomas' book, I can genuinely call him one of my heroes.
Rating:
Summary: Clear-eyed, Honest, and Riveting portrait...
Review: I'm not sure what some of the reviewers were talking about when they bashed this book. This book, while slimmer than other bios about the Kennedys, rises to the top because of it's balance. Thomas clearly admires his subject, but never romanticizes his subject. He is honest, straight forward, and tells some amazing tales. The book is riveting from page 1. I've always always admired RFK. After Thomas' book, I can genuinely call him one of my heroes.
Rating:
Summary: Just very interesting.
Review: I've just completed Evan Thomas's book on RFK and I thought it was immensely readable and very interesting. I chose the book because of recommendations I read on Amazon. While I love good biographies, I wasn't looking for on on Robert Kennedy but the descriptions of the writing by Thomas compelled me to buy this book. As far as interesting and readable biographies go this was as interesting as Katherine Graham's autobiography of a few years back. If you think about it, RFK (no matter what your opinion of him) was near the center of every major event during the early 60's. From the Bay of Pigs fiasco to the Cuban Missle Crises, from the beginnings of the civil rights movement to the war on poverty, from the McCarthy hearings to the federal investigation into organized crime, RFK played a part in shaping history. A facinating book on the man and the times.
Rating:
Summary: An Exeptionally Well Written Look at RFK
Review: In the pages of history, Robert F. Kennedy will forever live in his brother's shadow. While comparing the Kennedy brothers is unfair to their unique individual characteristics, Evan Thomas has written a staggering biography of Robert. We may never fully understand the complexities of the former Attorney General, but he can get a better idea of who he was. The writing of Evan Thomas is a refreshing demonstration of how a well researched, focused, yet unbiased journalism should read.The Prologue gives a very summarized preview of Robert Kennedy's life. The quotes and major events are in this chapter. As the reader, I appreciate the preview of what I am about the read. Even in this portion of the book, Thomas wastes no time on frivilous details. The story begins in Robert's childhood as the forgotten Kennedy son. The Runt, as his father calls him, lives in the shadow of his brothers Joseph Jr. and John. Because his two older brothers are seemingly annointed for greatness by his father, Robert takes to his mother. The favor of his mother caused Robert to develop a strong religious devotion and sense of morality. It is reasonable to believe that this is why Robert took a strong interest in preventing conflict and helping the poor. Only after John becomes President and Robert is appointed Attorny General does he gain the respect of his father. The book shows the decline of Robert after the assassination of his brother. It has been theorized that he was plagued with guilt for his brother's death. Yet it is through these events that we are able to see Robert develop his sense of self. He is elected to his first office as New York Senator. Frustrated by the progress of Lyndon Johnson he enters the 1968 election. It is at a victory speech during the campaign that he is assassinated. Robert F. Kennedy is a complex individual. Throughout his life he was haunted by more ghosts and grief than most men are able to survive. This is a reflection of the strength of this great American. Evan Thomas does a superb job of campturing this complex story.
Rating:
Summary: An Exeptionally Well Written Look at RFK
Review: In the pages of history, Robert F. Kennedy will forever live in his brother's shadow. While comparing the Kennedy brothers is unfair to their unique individual characteristics, Evan Thomas has written a staggering biography of Robert. We may never fully understand the complexities of the former Attorney General, but he can get a better idea of who he was. The writing of Evan Thomas is a refreshing demonstration of how a well researched, focused, yet unbiased journalism should read. The Prologue gives a very summarized preview of Robert Kennedy's life. The quotes and major events are in this chapter. As the reader, I appreciate the preview of what I am about the read. Even in this portion of the book, Thomas wastes no time on frivilous details. The story begins in Robert's childhood as the forgotten Kennedy son. The Runt, as his father calls him, lives in the shadow of his brothers Joseph Jr. and John. Because his two older brothers are seemingly annointed for greatness by his father, Robert takes to his mother. The favor of his mother caused Robert to develop a strong religious devotion and sense of morality. It is reasonable to believe that this is why Robert took a strong interest in preventing conflict and helping the poor. Only after John becomes President and Robert is appointed Attorny General does he gain the respect of his father. The book shows the decline of Robert after the assassination of his brother. It has been theorized that he was plagued with guilt for his brother's death. Yet it is through these events that we are able to see Robert develop his sense of self. He is elected to his first office as New York Senator. Frustrated by the progress of Lyndon Johnson he enters the 1968 election. It is at a victory speech during the campaign that he is assassinated. Robert F. Kennedy is a complex individual. Throughout his life he was haunted by more ghosts and grief than most men are able to survive. This is a reflection of the strength of this great American. Evan Thomas does a superb job of campturing this complex story.
Rating:
Summary: Prince of Our Discontent
Review: In West Africa, the griots --traditional historians -- use the tales of fabulous achievements of past chiefs to chide, guide, and criticize current leaders. Perhaps it is this need for indirect criticism and our deep hunger for potent legends which compels us to turn again and again to the story of Robert Kennedy. Certainly this version of the oft-told tale fulfills a palpable longing for more details, more eloquence, more passion, more insight into the complex man that was Bobby. Author Evan Thomas is fair, even-handed, lyrical at times, critical of RFK when it is appropriate. In particular, the dissection of the FBI wiretaping of Martin Luther King is unsettling, the brief fling with Joe McCarthy remains puzzling. Those looking for sex or salaciousness will not find them in this account. Here Bobby the overlooked child, troubled brother-protector, and champion of the dispossessed reigns triumphant. Perhaps the bleak and boring landscape of Campaign 2000 makes this history of our great loss all the more poignant.
Rating:
Summary: A GOOD ANALYSIS - ADDENDUM
Review: Luckily for me, my neighborhood bookstore had this book by September 5, 2000. I read it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Mr. Thomas gives a very credible, in-depth analysis of Robert Kennedy and, to his credit, treats him with respect. One thing that I neglected to mention in my first review is Mr. Thomas' trenchant view on Robert Kennedy's pursuit of mafiosi. The late Senator's father was reported to have had mafia sympathies. Whether or not he did, Joe Sr.'s third son was the only one determined to quell the mafia. Suggesting that Robert Kennedy, then a man in his 30s was showing an albeit delayed rebellious side to the old patriach was indeed thought provoking. Most accounts of the late Senator's life describe him as being a "dutiful" son, an "obedient" and even "deferential." It is a refreshing viewpoint on the part of Mr. Thomas and certainly a valid one.
Rating:
Summary: Kennedy Emerges As A Work In Progress
Review: Of all the books written about Robert Kennedy, this one is by far the most even-handed and objective. Evan Thomas approaches his subject with neither the hero worship of previous Camelot chroniclers nor the detraction of revisionist historians. The Robert Kennedy that emerges from Thomas's research, his pouring through RFK's personal papers, and his interviews with those who knew Kennedy is a complex one. Thomas shows us that RFK was capable of being both expediant and just. For example, Thomas examines RFK's decision during his brother's 1960 presidential campaign to secure Martin Luther King Jr.'s release from jail and lets us see that RFK's efforts might have been motivated by both the political rewards such a move might yeild as well as the injustice of King's situation and a devotion to the principles of the United States Constitution. We see a man who, as Thomas writes, was "capable of...internal contradictions-not contradictions, really, but parallel instincts that coexisted within him." Thomas also gives us a portrait of a man who was changing throughout his life, evolving from a morose, sullen boy, hot-tempered and eager to fight, to a philosophical man of reflection who carried greek plays and the works of Albert Camus in his briefcase and whose sense of the injustice in the world grew stronger as he grew older. Here Thomas provides us with an RFK who was very much a work in progress, and therein, suggests Thomas, was the real tragedy of his death, that RFK was cut down before he could evolve fully into the philosophical crusader against injustice he was becoming.
Rating: 
Summary: A More Complete Picture of RFK
Review: One word sums up this book---- balanced. It is neither a Kennedy worship book nor a Kennedy diatribe. As a close follower of politics and the Kennedys for many years, I did learn some new things, including RFK's intense personal involvement in plots to overthrow Castro and his lingering guilt that this may have led to President Kennedy's assassination. The book also debunks the myth that RFK and JFK were personally close to each other. While JFK did rely on his younger brother's keen political skills, their personalities were so different (JFK, cool and aloof and RFK, intense and passionate) that their relationship seldom went beyond business. I have enjoyed Evan Thomas's writing for some time, as a reader of Newsweek and his clear prose in this biography does not disappoint
Rating:
Summary: Well written birgraphy of a challenging figure
Review: Robert F. Kennedy was a compelling figure, and like too many others, struck down in the prime of his life. Like most who suffer a tragic end early, his life is filled with "What ifs?" His life was paradoxical. He was hated by some, being a staffer for the Red-baiter, Joseph McCarthy, and so-called liberals would not let his work for McCarthy be forgotten. "Ruthless" was the adjective given early on, as his bigger brother's hatchet man during the 1960 Presidential campaign and during the 1,000 days of Camelot. But during this time, his association with McCarthy was forgiven as Kennedy's compassion for those less fortunate than him came to the forefront.
Biographer Thomas has written engaging and readable biographies of D.C legendary attorney, Edward Bennett Williams and some of the shapers of the post war world (The Wise Men). His style is very readable, with sufficient detail to give texture to the story without being too bogged down in detail as to make the book move too slowly. Some reviewers criticize this work for not being able to explain away all of the paradoxical inconsistencies of Robert Kennedy. I think this expects too much of anyone. How can any person know all that makes a person tick? Any thoughtful individual should be expected to grow and to evolve (God help us all if this were not so). Contradictions abound in him, like in most of us. By book's end, I did not have answers to all of the questions about Robert Kennedy. I did, however have a better feel for his years in power as well as a bit better understanding of the turbulent first two-thirds of the 1960's. As another reviewer noted, Robert Kennedy had a significant role to play in the seminal events experienced in the United States during this era. His fingerprints were to be found on decisions related to the Bay of Pigs, the zenith of the Civil Rights Movement, the Red Scare, labor relations and organized crime. He was there and impacting each of these. This balanced assessment of his role in these events is certainly enough for me to find this worthwhile.
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