The Last Brother [Hardcover]

Joe McGinniss (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1993

Personally acquainted and sympathetic with his subject, the author of The Selling of the President, among other works, brings to startling life the childhood, brief triumph, and long downward slide of Ted Kennedy--a man at war with himself, doomed to live in the giant shadow of his brothers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

McGinniss's biography of Edward M. Kennedy is a salacious read containing the things that make a bestseller: sex, incest, money, politics, power, compelling personalities. The problem, though, is, can you believe McGinniss? Although the bibliography lists 73 titles, there is not one footnote. There are juicy tidbits about members of the family. Joseph Kennedy progresses from a WW I draft dodger to U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James. He beds innumerable women, manipulates the stock market, becomes a Nazi sympathizer and anti-Semite. Rose is portrayed as the ultimate holder of Irish grudges: when her husband had his stroke she delayed calling a doctor while she played golf. A devout Catholic, she was actually happy about Joe's affairs because then she didn't have to sleep with him. Retarded Rosemary was lobotomized because she was considered a less-than-perfect Kennedy. There are dark hints that Joseph may have had an incestuous relationship with her. Sexual innuendo is rampant throughout the book. When McGinniss finally gets around to concentrating on Ted, we are given a picture of a lonely boy raised by servants. The first crisis of his life comes when he is expelled from Harvard for cheating. His father was furious, but only because Ted got caught. We see Ted as an ineffective campaign manager for JFK in 1960 and we see him being forced by his father to run for JFK's former Senate seat in 1962. In 1968 after RFK's assassination, Ted turned "reflexively, to women, alcohol and other drugs." The book ends with the Chappaquiddick tragedy in 1969 and the questions raised by Ted's alibi. Thus the biography misses Ted's presidential campaign in 1980 and the events surrounding the rape charges against his nephew William Smith in 1991. Employing journalistic histrionics and amateur psychology in his attempts to find what makes this family and this one man obsessed with winning at all costs, McGinniss concludes that the Kennedys are all-American frauds. The reader will wonder if McGinniss isn't one also. First serial to Vanity Fair; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club Super Releases; Reader's Digest Condensed Book selection; NBC miniseries; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile

Joe McGinniss zeroes in on the personal and political career of Ted Kennedy. Nothing is sacred as McGinniss outlines the scandals and secrets of the entire Kennedy family. Smith recalls this political "history" clearly and smoothly, subtly imitating a Boston accent when reciting Kennedy speeches. No other characterization is present in this abridgment. The pace and order of the narrative are easy to follow once the story swings into full gear. The listener will wonder what was made up, omitted and abridged from the book. Hold on to your skepticism and the steering wheel while listening. M.B.K. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First edition (October 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671679457
• ISBN-13: 978-0671679453
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,347,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better Than Expected, February 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Brother (Hardcover)

I began my reading of this book with a sense of lessened expectations due to the poor reviews McGinniss had received from its release. While moving on I found myself relating rather easily to the stylistic approach he used. Any frequent reader of the Kennedy's knows how difficult it is for authors to obtain any amount of information concerning the "mythical" family. I would find it hard to believe that Joe McGinnis would be the first Kennedy author to take liberties in interpretation of certain aspects. The book my be an even better read if the authors note is read first, as to create an understanding of the approach McGinniss took in this project. While nowhere near the best of Kennedy books it certainly is one that all Kennedy fans should find interesting and insightful.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book. I Have No Idea Why It Is No Longer In Print., August 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Last Brother (Audio Cassette)

I read this book several years ago and loved it. I could not put it down once I started reading it. Author Joe McGinness admits that there are parts of the book where he is writing from the viewpoint of Ted Kennedy, even though he could not get a lot of direct information from him, but I did not hold that against him when I read this book. I learned a lot about the Kennedy family that I was not previously aware of before I read this book.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mistitled But Well Worth Reading, May 7, 2004

By 

Howard Wexler (White Plains, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Last Brother (Audio Cassette)

This is by no means a complete biography of Edward Kennedy. Though the book was written in 1993, it cuts off just after Chappaquiddick.

Rather, it is a biography of the Kennedy family with stress on Joe, Robert John and especially Ed.

I really liked the way the author spells out the internal and external conflicts within each of the brothers. And while his stories of Ed Kennedy are quite lurid, he also makes you feel sorry for the man. That is an extraordinary bit of writing and makes the book a great read.