Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy [Hardcover]

Robert F. Kennedy (Author), Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 1998

From the private journals of Robert F. Kennedy come words that spark the imagination and touch the heart, accompanied by photos of both the public and private Kennedy. The late senator’s son, Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, opens his father’s journals to offer the quintessence of his thought. Photographs throughout.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, collaborated on a daybook project in which they would jot down passages from their reading that moved them in some way. RFK continued the project after his brother's death in 1963, and would frequently use the quotations in it as source material for his speeches.

Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, Robert's youngest son, has drawn upon that journal, as well as material from his father's speeches, to create a unique portrait of RFK's spirit and character. In addition to his own powerful testimony to his passion for social justice, we learn that Robert Kennedy was able to learn as much about the meaning of freedom and justice from Albert Camus as he was from Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln. The concern with civil rights, pacifism, and America's role in the international arena (among other issues) that permeate Kennedy's thoughts are as relevant today as they were in the 1960s. Make Gentle the Life of This World is a stirring reminder of one of this century's strongest political visions.

From Library Journal

Kennedy's youngest son, only three years old at the time of the assassination, here compiles from his father's long-closed private journal the phrases that helped move a nation and the quotes from the ancient Greek philosophers, poets, and many contemporary figures who inspired RFK. Chapters are arranged by issues that were most important to Kennedy and remain timely today?the responsibilities of citizens to their government, the tragedy of poverty in the midst of plenty, the importance of dissent in a democratic society, and work as the solution for the welfare crises. The book's haunting photos convey Kennedy's spirit as successfully as the words.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; 1st edition (May 18, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151003564
• ISBN-13: 978-0151003563
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #455,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( K ) > Kennedy, Robert

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Kennedy and His Passion for the Greeks and Camus, January 5, 2000

By 

Leigh (Perth, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy (Paperback)

Maxwell Kennedy gives the reader, and perhaps follower, of Robert Kennedy insight into his father's thinking in this short, but well structured compilation. Not only does the memoir account for the speeches of Kennedy and the impact they continue to have. The reader is also given a rare insight into the quotations Kennedy loved most and the authors and people he admired through their words. It is interesting to see how Robert Kennedy was inspired by other's words and moved by the writing of those in history.

I found the book most interesting for what it conveys of Kennedy's admiration for the thoughts of the ancient Greeks and Albert Camus. Maxwell Kennedy has covered various writers and people who have inspired his father, yet it is the Greeks and Camus who share the front seat in this collection. It is obvious in the number of references to each that Robert Kennedy was truly touched by what he read in the Ancient Greeks and Albert Camus.

It is a superb book, and especially so for those who are interested in how those in the past have been inspired by others. In the speeches and words of his father that Maxwell Kennedy uses, he reminds us also of just what it was and still is that inspires us about Robert Kennedy.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cynics, take heed..., November 28, 1999

By 

Jennifer Zigler (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy (Hardcover)

In this day and age of politicians afraid to tell it like it is, it was wonderful to read a book by a man who did. For all the media hyped personal travails, Robert Kennedy was still a political figure unlike any we have today. He not only got people involved with politics but got them excited as well. In this age of "dumbing down", he knew that the words of Dante, and Camus, and Aeschylus would not necessarily be recognized but would certainly be understood by the masses. Maxwell Taylor Kennedy is to be commended for bringing to light this side of his father, one that has been largely overlooked in the press. Truly an inspirational book for anyone who wants to believe in our government and our politicians again.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars moving, eloquent..., May 22, 2002

By 

NotATameLion (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Make Gentle the Life of This World: The Vision of Robert F. Kennedy (Hardcover)

A few months ago I was recommended "Make Gentle the Life of This World." When I actually received it, I was shocked to find it was a book of quotes (I did not do the proper background work on the book or I might never have read it). My thought process was something like: "oh geeesh...bathroom lit 101."

There are way--WAY too many little books of "quotations" and "advice" in the world. The Christian ghetto subculture suffers from a corresponding abundance of "devotional" books. Thankfully, "Make Gentle the Life of This World" does not really belong in the same breath as such books.

Robert Kennedy's son assembled this book. It is a collection of quotes by Kennedy (topically arranged) which are combined with quotes that Kennedy himself encountered in his reading and subsequently wrote down in a book he kept. These quotes show the breadth and surprising depth of Kennedy's reading and thoughts.

I found myself moved by much of the material here. Even the quotes by Sartre (whose works I have been unable to slog through) were of great insight.

This is probably the highest recommendation a book like this is ever going to get out of me. I wholeheartedly encourage you to get a copy of "Make Gentle the Life of This World."