An Unfinished Life : John F. Kennedy, 1917 - 1963

Rating:
Summary: Real Living History: Well Done
Review: Robert Dallek is a scholar with integrity. He feels the record on JFK should be honest, fair, and balanced, and he succeeds on all counts. This book brings to life a portrait of a unique, but controversial historical figure, born into wealth and privilege, who, rather reluctantly, chose public service over an easy career as a journalist or a writer. JFK is treated here in very human terms, not worshiped and not denigrated. We are given glimpses of his motivations for his obsessive womanizing, but all of that pales in the face of JFK's intellectual depth, complex independent personality, and larger than life presence in these pages. Kennedy tried to live every day to the fullest, and understood the context of American politics in the world order. How different from presidents that followed him and how much he is missed in the W. era.
I recommend this book highly, if for no other reason than to spend time again with John Kennedy, his family, and his times. I don't think we'll see his ilk among us again any time soon, and that's our great loss as a nation.