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“Tremendously absorbing and inviting… An important book.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin • “Elegant, concise, [and] knowing.”—Michael Beschloss • “Rescues JFK from Camelot mythology.”—Richard Norton Smith
Nearly sixty years after his death, JFK still holds an outsize place in the American imagination. While Baby Boomers remember his dazzling presence as president, millennials more likely know him from advertisements for Omega watches or Ray Ban sunglasses. Yet his years in office were marked by more than his style and elegance. His presidency is a story of a fledgling leader forced to meet unprecedented challenges, and to rise above missteps to lead his nation into a new and hopeful era.
Kennedy entered office inexperienced but alluring, his reputation more given by an enamored public than earned through achievement. In this gripping new assessment of his time in the Oval Office, Updegrove reveals how JFK’s first months were marred by setbacks: the botched Bay of Pigs invasions, a disastrous summit with the Soviet premier, and a mismanaged approach to the Civil Rights movement. But the young president soon proved that behind the glamour was a leader of uncommon fortitude and vision.
A humbled Kennedy conceded his mistakes, and, importantly for our times, drew important lessons from his failures that he used to right wrongs and move forward undaunted. Indeed, Kennedy grew as president, radiating greater possibility as he coolly faced a steady stream of crises before his tragic end.
Incomparable Grace compellingly reexamines the dramatic, consequential White House years of a flawed but gifted leader too often defined by the Camelot myth that came after his untimely death.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 26, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593510032
- File size: 286626 KB
- Duration: 09:57:08
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 28, 2022
In this stylish yet familiar history, former Newsweek publisher Updegrove (The Last Republicans) contends that John F. Kennedy maintained his unprecedented popularity because he acknowledged and learned from geopolitical missteps such as the failed Bay of Pigs invasion (“The worse I do, the more popular I get,” Kennedy once mused). It’s a largely flattering portrait, as Updegrove acknowledges Kennedy’s “erraticism” and “rampant and reckless womaniz,” including an affair with a 19-year-old intern, but prefers to focus on how he gained confidence and perspective while confronting the prospect of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis (“the most dangerous moment in human history”) and the demands of an intensifying civil rights movement. Though the fast-paced narrative smoothly transitions from one high-stakes matter to the next and reveals just how eventful the abbreviated Kennedy presidency was, Updegrove has few new insights to offer on his subject’s character or motivations and relies heavily on the work of Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Ted Sorenson, and other Kennedy biographers. The result is a brisk and entertaining biography that doesn’t bring much new to the table. Agent: Jim Hornfischer, Hornfischer Literary Management.
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