Customer Reviews

RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

As an Irish Catholic from the city of Boston, I have grown up with the Kennedy's and their mystique. I have never been a fan of either Jack or Teddy, or their father, Joe, for that matter. However, I can honestly say that I have always respected and admired Bobby. I grew up in the 70's and 80's. I only know of Teddy's escapades first hand. Even so, I always felt that it was rather obvious that Bobby was the worker/brains of the family. This book went a long way in firming up that notion.

I must say I am always amused by the Kennedy supporter who simply refuses to see that family for what it was/is. C. David Heyman's book shows us the Good, the Bad, and, the UGLY. Yes, Bobby did a lot of good, but unfortunately, he did some self serving bad too. He, like the rest of his family was human. He had his weaknesses. This book gave me a greater understanding of the inner battles that Bobby waged within himself. In my view this helps to augment Bobby's stature for it is reality not some ridiculously held to notion by individuals who cling to a fantasy. A myth that was never close to the reality of this world.

Bobby Kennedy was a decent man who attempted to do decent things for people he would never know or meet. He had a real developed sense of justice and the greatness of this country. However, he was a weak man when it came to controling his darker self. He helped to create a myth that became larger than life and at the same time create a permissivesness that led to the weakening of his principles by those that would carry the banner after him. His family's sense of entitlement is his greatest failing. C. David Heyman wasn't afraid to get the information that runs counter to the majority of information out there that the gatekeepers of the Kennedy Legacy don't want you to see.

Heyman does a wonderful job in researching all the family histories that would help to shape Bobby's world and the Kennedy Family as it exists today. You'll learn not only about the Kennedys but the Skakels, the Shrivers and the rest of the extended family. This I found to be fascinating.

I applaud Heyman's efforts and add his work to the other biographies I own on one of the most enigmatic figures of the 2nd half of the 20th century.

This is tabloid trash! Anyone who reads it to better understand RFK will be sorely disappointed because all this book does is regurgitate a lot of rumors,lies, and innuendos.This is drivel posing as scholarship and Heymann should be ashamed of himself. Take a huge miss.

I will anyone advise not to buy this book. Mister David Heymann did a bad job. He tells a lot 'fantastic' stories -but fails to relate all this gossiplike stories to sources and notes. So there is no way that anyone can check the truthfulness of all the things that are mentioned in this book. So the conclusion must be: very, very unreliable. But I don't think that will bother mister Heymann anyway. As long as he get paid, he even will write a book in which mother Theresa is having an affair with the pope, I presume.

I read this book and got deeply disapointed. I'm not among those who think RFK was a saint, but I dont think either his private life was as awful as the author described it in this book. Where did he got the evidences about RFK sleeping with Marylin Monroe and all the other women he as meeting? In my opinion, the author must get a job at the National Enquirer or at the Weekly World News. These newspaper are compatible with his litterary level, and they would hire him for sure. This book is not a biography, but a collection of dirty rumors without any serious evidences. Its reading is just unuseful, and the price a waste of money. But I guess the author made the money he expected when he wrote the book...

When I bought this book, I couldn't wait to read it, but once I started, it took me months to get through the whole thing, because I just got so annoyed at the author that i couldn't read more than a few pages without getting fed up. I love Bobby Kennedy, so I'm a little biased, but a book full of "It was widely belived that ..." and "Many people assumed ..." is not a biography, it's just gossip. RFK was not perfect, but this book paints him as a cold, heartless individual who doesn't care about anybody but himself. It fixates on his shortcomings and says almost nothing of his numerous good qualities. If you've never read anything about RFK before and you plan on reading this book, go for it, but take it with a grain of salt.

The assassination of Robert Kennedy added significantly to his already growing legacy. His involvement with the poor, african americans, and native americans was extraordinary to say the least. If you're expecting this book to detail Kennedy's political philosophy, then don't even bother. This book can be descrbed as being a large tabloid. Even so, that doesn't make this book bad either. For us die hard Bobby Kennedy admirers, it tarnishes the image that we have of him in a sense. Meaning, sometimes we forget he was human just like us. I would recommend this book if you are interested in a behind the scenes look of RFK, but beware, i feel a good share of the info is heresay and circumstantial. Don't let that tarnish your opinion of this great historical figure who wanted to change the world for the better.

My husband bought me this book as a Christmas gift thinking that I would surely love it as I loved Bob Kennedy and his ideas...I am glad he will never know just what he bought..he died before I read it.
I would like to trash it but since it was one of the last gifts he bought me I will just put it in a quiet place with a note to my children to never dirty their hands to read it.

I really regret picking this book up at the library. I am in the market for a more accurate depiction of RFK.

I bought this book thinking I was adding to my library of Robert Kennedy materials. Instead of being a serious critique or serious historical analysis of his political career, it was little more than a tabloidesque telling of his alleged adulterous affairs. When a person is elected into public office, that person is, in effect, being hired to do a job. That person's private life is not being hired. I see no real purpose in disclosing these alleged affairs and see nothing useful or constructive in this. If the author's purpose was to discredit the work of Robert Kennedy or trivialize him personally, he did not succeed. I have always believed Robert Kennedy was a man of strong character, a hard worker, sincere in his efforts and committed to his visions. I was really hoping for a serious portrayal of the man who would be president. Instead, I get what can most gently be described as "adult entertainment for those at the tabloid level." It really was a big disappointment.

This work seems to pay inglorious homage to a number of souls who held such dislike for RFK that, years after the fact of his horrible, untimely [end of life], they couldn't wait to spew sordid "detail" about the man in the hope of damaging his legacy. He cared about his family, he cared about the less fortunate, he cared about the powerless. He personnified those convictions. No politician on either side of the spectrum has ever succeeded in achieving what he did for a few crazy months in the craziest year of the latter half of the 20th century. We're a poorer society and culture because we were deprived of RFK far too early. Mr. Heyman should be ashamed of himself for writing this.