An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917 - 1963 (Dynasty) (Paperback)

by Robert Dallek (Author) "IN AUGUST 1947, John F. Kennedy traveled to Ireland..." (more)
Key Phrases: manned moon mission, test ban talks, test ban agreement, United States, White House, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
""One of the most engrossing biographies I have ever read.... AN UNFINISHED LIFE "is nothing less than a masterpiece."

Product Description
The marriage of Eleanor Courteney and Robert Morland heralded the founding of the great Morland dynasty. Now Paul, their great grandson is caught up in the conflict of kings and sees, while his niece Nanette, as maid-in-waiting to Anne Boleyn, becomes caught up in intrigue at court.

Product Details

• Paperback: 848 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books (May 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316907928
• ISBN-13: 978-0316907927
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137,784 in Books (See Bestsellers 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 A strong one-volume biography with new material, September 30, 2006

By	Richard A. Jenkins "Richard A. Jenkins" (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Growing up in the post-Camelot years, it was difficult to avoid reading about the Kennedys, especially JFK. It'd been awhile since I'd read a biography of JFK and was impressed that Dallek had had access to records previously unavailable to scholars and journalists. Although Dallek's three volumes on LBJ are an incredible resource, Dallek's plodding Senate narrative and his canonization of the sleazy right-wing Coke Stevenson (an early LBJ opponent) left me with some doubts about his writing.

For the most part, the book is an engaging read and it is obviously well-sourced. Dallek doesn't go into as much detail about the Kennedy ancestors or JFK's childhood as some books and because of this some things are a bit puzzling. For example, how engaged was Rose with raising her children?--she seems to have had plenty of servants as well as opportunities to buy dresses in Paris, but is described as a hands -on parent. The book introduces JFK's medical problems from a fairly early age. The medical records are an important resource that other biographers have lacked. OTOH, there often seems to be an effort to make more of this information than necessary and to ascribe more motivation to JFK's afflictions than may have been the case. Dallek makes passing mention of some of the drawbacks of medical records and post-hoc analysis of this information. He probably should have done more of this, perhaps in the epilogue. Medical records often are incomplete (esp. if the patient is famous) and difficult to interpret unambigiusly. In addition, the Kennedys often used multiple sources of medical opinion and care which frequently were ignorant of each other's existence. Some records were destroyed by the family, as well. Finally, people with chronic health care problems often adapt in ways that healthy people cannot imagine and they often learn to tolderate mixes and doses of medication that seem incredible. So, the medical information is both plus and, in some cases, perhaps over analyzed in a less than useful way.

What does come across is the way that Kennedy led. He had been a Congressional slacker and, before that an indifferent student with few goals. It's clear that he was someone with a great capacity for learning and, in a non-academic way, a person of great intellectual breadth and curiosity. Despite his efforts to deal bluntly with the media (not unusual among presidents), he comes across as a pragmatic leader of broad but not always well-developed principals, who could be prescient about short-term and long-term consequences of hiis possible courses of action. It's interesting to see the evolution of civil rights policy and his recognition of how violence could come from the oppressed, as well as the oppressors. The discussion of Vietnam also is interesting in terms of the back and forth movement of his opinions and the variety of issues and consequences that Kennedy considered.

Given that the current president is someone from a privileged background and rather limited experience, the comparisons are unavoidable. Although Kennedy had first rate speech writers, it's clear that the wit, eloquence, and capacity for self-deprecation, were all his. He lacked the common touch or the desire to pander. Instead, JFK was that rare person of privilege who had the capacity to elevate--unlike his successors, people wanted to be like JFK and Jackie and the elegance rubbed off on others rather than being off-putting. The comfort in the job, the pragmatism, the capacity to inspire and searching intellect are other contrasts with the current president and with JFK's immediate successors. Dallek is perhaps a bit optimistic in judging how Kennedy would have dealt with Vietnam or the continuing evolution of the civil rights movement. Dallek seems overly optimistic about the odds that Kennedy would have had the mandate that was given to LBJ in '64---just about anyone with a pulse and something resembling moderate views could have beat Goldwater, but the Johnson landslide owed much to the post-assassination climate, as well. This may be why Johnson's popularity so quickly declined. Even so, Kennedy does not seem like someone who would have been troubled by the paranoia, hostility, self-doubt or short-term thinking of LBJ or Nixon. He also lacked Nixon's capacity for bathos and self-pity. One could imagine things going a bit differently, but many of the social currents of the 60s and 70s would have occurred regardless of what had happened on Nov 22, 1963.

Dallek's wrap-up is a bit disappointing and could have pulled together more threads. It is the weakest part of the book and does not take full advantage of the material he has brought together. Still, Dallek recognizes the importance of the symbolic accomplishments of the Kennedy presidency. He engaged and inspired in a way that no subsequent president has been able to do; this seems to have reflected a force of personality, more than a particular vision, although Kennedy seemed very attuned to shifts of public mood. Kennedy's presidency also was important in breaking down barriers. Anti-Catholic prejudice was still very socially acceptable, as much among liberals as conservatives, in 1960. In some ways, Kennedy was the perfect person to break the barrier. he was a nominal Catholic even in the cultural sense and he could address the question that worried Protestants in a way that was completely sincere. Despite breaking this barrier, the effort to impose Protestantism, particularly that of an evangelical sort, continues to be an issue in public life. Kennedy's ability to deal with this issue and to inspire without sacrificing literacy and wit are important lessons for readers who only rememeber Reagan's homilies, Clinton's ponderousness, or the Bushs'incoherent sales pitches.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Detail medical look at JFK, May 9, 2005

By	lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Robert Dallek's biography on John F. Kennedy takes a pretty sympathatic feel on his subject. Dallek seem to write quite a lot on Kennedy's medical conditions which he suffered from his teen-age years until his death. In fact, in some ways, you can probably considered this book as JFK's medical biography as many words were written to that facts and how it affected JFK's life.

Its appears from Dallek's perception that JFK spent much more time trying to hide his medical problems then his womanizing habits. It seem like despite of his youthful and robust appearance, JFK was a virtual cripple for most of his adult life. His family connections, wealth and name allowed him to overcome or bypassed his health issue. It was pretty obvious that he would not be allow to served in the navy with his conditions without his father's influence. When I was a boy reading his biography, I read that his "back problem" was due to wartime injuries but Dallek made it clear that Japanese destoryer had little to do with what was already there in the first place.

Most of the book dealt with JFK's presidential years. One third of the book deals with JFK before his election and rest of the two third handled his election and his 1,000 days of presidency. Dallek's view on JFK proves to be pretty positive although he did sound disappointed in JFK's lack of action in the Civil Right movement. He obviously believed that JFK's rich lifestyle made him totally unprepared to deal with social issue dealing with white racism in his own country. I thought the book should have gone deeper dealing with his relationship with his own family: Jackie and the kids. This subject proves to be very sparse and the book's only real weakness.

Overall, a well written book, interesting and quite readable. It may not be the best book on JFK but if you want to know his medical conditions in detail during his life, this is the book for you.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real Living History: Well Done, November 25, 2004

By	John Sollami (Stamford, CT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Robert Dallek is a scholar with integrity. He feels the record on JFK should be honest, fair, and balanced, and he succeeds on all counts. This book brings to life a portrait of a unique, but controversial historical figure, born into wealth and privilege, who, rather reluctantly, chose public service over an easy career as a journalist or a writer. JFK is treated here in very human terms, not worshiped and not denigrated. We are given glimpses of his motivations for his obsessive womanizing, but all of that pales in the face of JFK's intellectual depth, complex independent personality, and larger than life presence in these pages. Kennedy tried to live every day to the fullest, and understood the context of American politics in the world order. How different from presidents that followed him and how much he is missed in the W. era.
I recommend this book highly, if for no other reason than to spend time again with John Kennedy, his family, and his times. I don't think we'll see his ilk among us again any time soon, and that's our great loss as a nation.