Rating: 
Summary: "RUNT OF THE LITTER" TO "LEADER OF THE PACK"
Review: Since the basic details of Robert Kennedy's political career are fairly well known, I plan to devote the bulk of this review to Evan Thomas' description of "Bobbie's" struggle to be truly accepted in his own family.Robert Kennedy was born too late to be one of his father's favorites. As Thomas describes it, Joe senior, the ex-bootlegger millionaire, had ambitions for his sons. These ambitions were first centered around his eldest son, Joe junior, his first born. This son was to be President of the United States. Because Joe (the father) only showed his love through praise for major achievements, and believed that winning was everything, his sons had become highly competitive with one another. This competitiveness probably caused Joe juniors death in WWII. It seems that number two son, John (Jack), had a war experience that dad had enhanced to make it seem a much greater act of heroism than it actually was. In order to outdo his younger brother, Joe junior volunteered for an extremely dangerous mission, one which cost him his life. Although he grieved, Joe senior wasted no time in switching his plans to his second son, Jack, and eventually did succeed in getting Jack elected President. One might ask where Robert was all this time. As "little brother," little in both stature and in importance in the family, his job was to help out his big brother. This was the only way he could get dad's attention, and rarely, an expression of approval. Robert did his job and did it well, but for many years, no matter how many scrapes he got Jack out of, went unappreciated. He finally did come into his own during the period of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it was his advice that his brother, the Presidnt followed, and which worked. from this point on, he was accepted as a near equal. It had been a long struggle, but he had finally become important in the family hierarchy and eventually was to earn his father's grudging respect. The story of his political career from the "red-baiting" advisor to Joe McCarthy, to the overzealous "crime buster," through the changes that led him to be a spokesman for the underpriveleged, to his campaign for the Presidency in his own right, and, finally, to his assassination, is well known so I won't dwell on the details here. Robert Kennedy's true struggle in life was to be a son who was loved by his domineering father. I believe, and Thomas so indicates, that he was finally successful in doing this. From "runt of the litter" to a socially conscious, "probably would have been successful Presidential Candidate," he came a long way. After reading Thomas' biography, you come away feeling that the nation was made significantly poorer by Robert Kennedy's assisination.
Rating: 
Summary: not very good
Review: this biography is a little bit boring and there are false informations. there are a few photos.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly written biography
Review: This biography on RFK stands alone alongside Arthur Schlesinger's 'Robert Kennedy and His Times' as the best & most balanced biography on Bobby Kennedy.
More concise than Schlesinger's but just as absorbing, Thomas takes us through Kennedy's life at breakneck speed. A 'Newsweek' journalist, Thomas writes like a dream. From the breathtaking introduction to the tragic conclusion, the book is unputdownable.
Bobby comes across as a human being rather than a secular saint (and all the better for it) Thomas balances the evidence & draws conclusions based only on that (it puts to bed, once and for all, those ridiculous Marilyn Monroe rumours, as well as the more far-fetched Castro assassination stories that far too many biographies have taken as fact rather than mucky half truths & downright lies).
RFK was a complex person, but overiding his complexity, at his core a compassionate, passionate & decent man. I defy anyone not to be deeply moved by the concluding chapter. The last line of the book moved me to tears.
He would have been one of America's greatest presidents. The values he articulated & issues he cared about are still so relevant, which is why he is such a contemporary figure.
Thomas's biography of this complex, fascinating & most admirable of the Kennedy brothers, does him proud. As long as biographies on Bobby are read & written, this one will remain indispensable.
Rating: 
Summary: A scandalous book!
Review: This book deserves 1 star for what it contains, but there are a few cute and rare photos of Bob, so I put two stars to this book. The writer distorts the truth and even invents some stories! I've got 30 books about Robert Kennedy and this is one of the least good ones. I you want to know the TRUTH about Robert Kennedy, buy "Robert Kennedy and his time" by Arthur Schlesinger, it's the best about the subject, otherwise check "a common good", "the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys" and many others.
| 
