Thursday, February 09, 2006
Book Review: Robert Kennedy and His Times by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
Writing Style-6.6
Originality-3.5
Plot-N/A
Enjoyability-6.0
Merit(whatever that means)-9.1
Overall-6.7
I’m morbidly behind on my book reviews so I’m gonna try to be brief so I don’t get bogged down with the chore of catching up.
This is the third Schlesinger book I’ve read along with A Thousand Days about the JFK presidency and Crisis of the Old Order, the first volume in his FDR New Deal trilogy. Schlesinger is certainly one of my favorite historians. He tends to write about the people that I am interested in, he’s sharp as a tack, has impeccable historical integrity (though his detractors tend to think he’s got too much of a hardon for the Kennedys), and writes superbly.
It took me many months to finish this one though. Not sure why. Maybe it was the intimidating length of the book, maybe it was the fact that I had recently read a lot of the same information in the JFK book, maybe it was just my mood recently. There’s really no good reason why it took me so long. The book is fabulous.
If you have any interest in Robert Kennedy, this is a must read. My favorite parts of the JFK book in fact were about Robert. Some of his quotes to southern segregationists while he was Attorney General and using his federal power to desegregate the south really get your blood flowing. And his role in the Cuban missile crisis as the voice of an appropriate middle-ground type of retaliation is extremely impressive. In short, the Joint Chiefs and anti-communist, hawkish types were calling for an invasion of Cuba. Meanwhile, dovish types were saying we couldn’t really do anything about the missiles unless we were ready to start a nuclear world war III. Robert Kennedy argued for the balanced approach of a naval blockade of Cuba to keep the Russians from sending nuclear warheads to further equip the missiles that were already there. So we stood up to the Russians without firing first and they backed off as the ships were approaching. Good stuff. If Nixon had been elected in 1960, running as a hardline anti-communist, what might have happened? Shudder to think, what if George W. were put in a similar situation? We’d probably all be mutants crawling out of holes in the ground forming tribes and worshipping the Big Boom Makers Who Came Before and having children with tentacles and three eyes and killing each other over the watering holes that don’t taste too brackish.
Not long before I read this book, I read A Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy. It’s this crazy crime noir thriller set in the sixties and centers around the Kennedys and the mob and Cuba and Communists and J Edgar and all the stereotypical stuff that you would put in a noir book of the era. What was interesting was how much of this crazy shit was very true to life as I started reading the Schlesinger book. Crazy stuff like deals with the mob to find ways to overthrow Castro and the power struggle between J Edgar Hoover and Robert Kennedy who was supposed to be his boss as Attorney General, but essentially J Edgar could do whatever he wanted to.
There are tons of great Kennedy quotes in the book of course. I wish I had kept track of a few to share here. Maybe I’ll leaf through the book this weekend and try to find some. But I’ll leave you with one that comes to mind. In the early to mid sixties, Robert Kennedy takes a trip to tour South American countries. In one country, I can’t remember which one specifically, he is determined to enter their mines against the better judgment of his advisors who say that it’s too dangerous. After returning to the States, he’s talking to a reporter about living conditions for these miners and he says, “If I had to work in those mines, I’d be a Communist too.”
Originality-3.5
Plot-N/A
Enjoyability-6.0
Merit(whatever that means)-9.1
Overall-6.7
I’m morbidly behind on my book reviews so I’m gonna try to be brief so I don’t get bogged down with the chore of catching up.
This is the third Schlesinger book I’ve read along with A Thousand Days about the JFK presidency and Crisis of the Old Order, the first volume in his FDR New Deal trilogy. Schlesinger is certainly one of my favorite historians. He tends to write about the people that I am interested in, he’s sharp as a tack, has impeccable historical integrity (though his detractors tend to think he’s got too much of a hardon for the Kennedys), and writes superbly.
It took me many months to finish this one though. Not sure why. Maybe it was the intimidating length of the book, maybe it was the fact that I had recently read a lot of the same information in the JFK book, maybe it was just my mood recently. There’s really no good reason why it took me so long. The book is fabulous.
If you have any interest in Robert Kennedy, this is a must read. My favorite parts of the JFK book in fact were about Robert. Some of his quotes to southern segregationists while he was Attorney General and using his federal power to desegregate the south really get your blood flowing. And his role in the Cuban missile crisis as the voice of an appropriate middle-ground type of retaliation is extremely impressive. In short, the Joint Chiefs and anti-communist, hawkish types were calling for an invasion of Cuba. Meanwhile, dovish types were saying we couldn’t really do anything about the missiles unless we were ready to start a nuclear world war III. Robert Kennedy argued for the balanced approach of a naval blockade of Cuba to keep the Russians from sending nuclear warheads to further equip the missiles that were already there. So we stood up to the Russians without firing first and they backed off as the ships were approaching. Good stuff. If Nixon had been elected in 1960, running as a hardline anti-communist, what might have happened? Shudder to think, what if George W. were put in a similar situation? We’d probably all be mutants crawling out of holes in the ground forming tribes and worshipping the Big Boom Makers Who Came Before and having children with tentacles and three eyes and killing each other over the watering holes that don’t taste too brackish.
Not long before I read this book, I read A Cold Six Thousand by James Ellroy. It’s this crazy crime noir thriller set in the sixties and centers around the Kennedys and the mob and Cuba and Communists and J Edgar and all the stereotypical stuff that you would put in a noir book of the era. What was interesting was how much of this crazy shit was very true to life as I started reading the Schlesinger book. Crazy stuff like deals with the mob to find ways to overthrow Castro and the power struggle between J Edgar Hoover and Robert Kennedy who was supposed to be his boss as Attorney General, but essentially J Edgar could do whatever he wanted to.
There are tons of great Kennedy quotes in the book of course. I wish I had kept track of a few to share here. Maybe I’ll leaf through the book this weekend and try to find some. But I’ll leave you with one that comes to mind. In the early to mid sixties, Robert Kennedy takes a trip to tour South American countries. In one country, I can’t remember which one specifically, he is determined to enter their mines against the better judgment of his advisors who say that it’s too dangerous. After returning to the States, he’s talking to a reporter about living conditions for these miners and he says, “If I had to work in those mines, I’d be a Communist too.”
