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

by Robert F. Kennedy (Author), Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (Author) "You knew that what is given or granted can be taken away, that what is begged can be taken away, that what is begged can..." (more)
Key Phrases: United States, Martin Luther King, President Kennedy (more...)

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: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #633,888 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 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.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Leader from the 60's Speaks to Us Today, July 3, 2000

By	R. Augustine "Augie" (Dunwoody, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As Tennyson said, it is not too late to seek a newer world. In this book Bobby Kennedy's son sets out the quotes, speeches, notes, and words that shaped the journey of Robert F. Kennedy in the late 1960's. A journey to seek a newer world. That journey ended much too soon with Kennedy's assassination in Los Angeles in June 1968. But the efforts he began and the philosophy he followed continue to live today. These words speak to us still about our current lives in America, about what we need to be doing to make a better country, and about how we should view our fellow man. They tell us a lot about ourselves and the many things left undone by Kennedy's untimely death. For those of us who participated in the last campaign of 1968, it is important to us that others hear his message of what America can and should be. This is a book about hope in the midst of despair, about ending violence despite all the violence in our lives, and about so very many things still left undone some 30 years later. It is a message of hope and promise that speaks to everyone today, from a time not so long ago, that we must have courage and always continue to strive to seek a newer world. This book provides insight about what we should do, shows how we can be guided by the past, and it provides words of strength for us to continue on that journey. These are words that motivated Bobby Kennedy, and they will motivate you today.

20 of 20 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

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.