The Gospel According to RFK: Why It Matters Now [Paperback]

Norman MacAfee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

New Expanded Edition to Commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 Presidential Campaign. With 30 pages of new material. “He was in many ways the greatest president we never had,” writes Norman MacAfee in a new introduction to this revised edition of The Gospel According to RFK: Why It Matters Now. In the 81 days of his campaign, RFK outlined what seems today a redemptive vision for America: ending war and decreasing the gap between the races and classes, between rich and poor, black and brown and white. And then he was assassinated on June 5. But his words and thoughts and speeches remain to challenge and inspire. Included in The Gospel According to RFK are Kennedy’s lengthy condemnation of war and his extraordinary, extemporaneous eulogy for Martin Luther King. Speeches new to this edition include “On the Mindless Menace of Violence” and Senator Edward Kennedy’s eulogy for his brother at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The Gospel According to RFK is filled with ideas that can be used to make a better world. It is for Democrats, liberals, independents, progressives and even some Republicans to read for inspiration and guidance. As Kennedy said, “Together we can make ourselves a nation that spends more on books than on bombs, more on hospitals than the terrible tools of war, more on decent houses than military aircraft.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This collection of excerpts from the speeches Robert F. Kennedy gave when he ran for president in 1968 resound with idealism and a vision for a compassionate world. MacAfee, a translator and author of a book of poetry and an opera (The Death of the Forest), includes the speech at Kansas State University where Kennedy first accepts responsibility for setting the country on a path towards war during JFK’s administration, and then explains the evolution of his opposition to the Vietnam war by declaring that, "we are acting as if no other nation existed ... our present course will not bring victory; will not bring peace; will not stop the bloodshed; and will not advance ... the cause of peace in the world." Kennedy also remarks on the need for universal health care, the positive role played by democratic dissent and debate on issues, and, most convincingly, on the need to end hunger in the US. In a statement delivered less than two months before his death on the campaign trail, he called the failure to end poverty "a national disgrace. The most prosperous society on the globe must be able to save its children from death, disease, and despair that result from a lack of adequate food."
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The Democratic Daily"
"The best book for converting your Republican friends to our side: "The Gospel According to RFK" by Norman MacAfee."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; Revised edition (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465003583
• ISBN-13: 978-0465003587
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #155,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More True Today Than Ever, November 7, 2005

By 

JMack (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Gospel According to RFK: Why It Matters Now (Hardcover)

Perhaps I am not as objective as other reviewers of this book in that Robert Kennedy is one of the people I most admire. Having read numerous books about him, I was delighted to find this little book. More than any biography, this book speaks about who Robert Kennedy was.

If Robert Kennedy were alive today, he would not be pleased with the current direction of the government. By looking at the speeches documented in this book, one could see exactly what RFK stood for. In the clever design of this book, the author prefaces each of Kennedy's speeches with a short explanation of how that stance applies today. Speeches topics range from civil rights, environment, poverty, education, war, and employment. Of the quotes that best states what Kennedy is about is "I believe that men would rather work at disagreeable jobs that accept the humiliation of a handout..."

The commentary on Vietnam is particularly biting when applied to Iraq. "Together we can make ourselves a nation that spends more on books than bombs, more on hospitals than the terrible tools of war, more on decent houses than military aircraft." I believe what Robert Kennedy said. America is the richest country in the world. There is no reason for people to go to bed hungary and die of starvation in this country. The book only demonstrates how far this country has to go for true equality. A politician would be well served in reading this before hitting the campaign trail.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What would Bobby do?, July 16, 2004

By 

Delia C. Pitts (East Windsor, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gospel According to RFK: Why It Matters Now (Hardcover)

Robert Kennedy's humanity, common sense, humility, and passion shine through his own words in this wonderful little book. The editor, Norman Macafee, does an excellent job of culling the best from the final 1968 campaign speeches. Most movingly, Macafee provides crystal clear brief introductory comments which set the context for each of Bobby's speeches and indicate how relevent his evolving thinking on the key issues of war, poverty, racism is to today's dangerous world. The echos in Kennedy's words of our own times are heart-rendingly prescient. The book's conclusion is achingly clear: if Bobby had lived we would not today be tangled in a pre-emptive war without end.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bobby knew what America needed....and needs, September 30, 2005

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gospel According to RFK: Why It Matters Now (Hardcover)

Most campaign speech collections (including from the candidates whom I liked) are light on substance. Those campaign speech books which actually dare to have substance unfortunately find themselves weighted down as being a product of their own time and the issues which they speak are not necessarily valid any longer.

Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign had so many ongoing presidential campaign themes with 'today' that this book remains relevant. It is one of the few 'historical' books which seriously could end up also being classified in the current events section of a library just because Kennedy's policy prescriptive remain this poignant.

This book (unlike previous texts from other authors) does not attempt to position Kennedy as a 'new democrat'. Rather, Norman Macafee uses Kennedy's own words to argue that he would have been a dam good president. Thinking is not a sign of weakness or indecisiveness, it is a sign of morality and ethics.

When compared against the current White House occupant who is infamous for hating to intellectually rationalize the consequences of his own policies upon others, a politician with such a powerful social conscience is all the more inspiring. This is an excellent book for anybody on the left who needs a pick-me-up and anybody in general needing to read about a presidential candidate who knew where they stood and what they stood for.