Week
3, Be the Expert/Ask the
Expert/Become the Expert: Three ways to join in this week! You can either
share three or more books on a single topic that you have read and can
recommend (be the expert), you can put the call out for good nonfiction on a
specific topic that you have been dying to read (ask the expert), or you can
create your own list of books on a topic that you’d like to read (become the
expert).
I guess you could call me a "Kennedy expert." I've read oodles of books about the Kennedy family, including biographies of JFK, Jackie, Rose Kennedy, Kit Kennedy, and Rosemary Kennedy; the Kennedy assassination; and the whole Kennedy family since the 1960s. I also have a bunch more to get to someday. Following are five of the most informative of the Kennedy books I've read. (Of course, I couldn't choose just three!)
Killing Kennedy is a scene-by-scene examination of the Kennedy assassination.
Mrs. Kennedy and Me is written by Jackie Kennedy's secret service detail, Clint Hill.
Jackie's Girl is the memoir of Kathy McKeon, Jackie's personal assistant and sometimes nanny, of her time with Jackie and her children in the years following the president's assassination.
Rose Kennedy is a biography of the Kennedy matriarch, Rose (JFK's mother).
After Camelot is a comprehensive look at the Kennedy family after the assassinations of President Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy. Lots of dirt in this one.
What are your favorite Kennedy family books?
How fascinating! How did you get into reading about the Kennedys?
ReplyDeleteIt just sort of happened. There are SO many books out there and there are SO many Kennedys!! Theirs is a great American story full of wealth and grief and bad behavior and public service. Kennedy books are like potato chips--can't stop at one. :)
DeleteI read a number of Kennedy books about 20 yrs ago, but I cannot recall any of the names! A fiction story that might interest you is Stephen King's 11/22/63.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. It's on my list, and I've heard only good things about it, but I'm still trying to psych myself up for a book that long!
DeleteA few Kennedy books that stand out in my mind are JFK's Last Hundred Days by Thurston Clarke, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and the amazing biography of Joseph P. Kennedy, The Patriarch by David Nasaw.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendations! I'd forgotten about the Doris Kearns Goodwin book. She's amazing. I own a copy of The Patriarch. Good to know it's a good one! Maybe I should bump it up a bit on the TBR list.
DeleteOooo, good list. I actually don't know much about the Kennedy's, and there are so many books it's intimidating to start. I'm glad to have this list of suggestions!
ReplyDeleteHope you like them!
DeleteI've heard that Killing Kennedy actually has quite a lot of factual errors. Did you notice them or did they effect your opinion of the book?
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't find any errors. I was satisfied that the book gave a real view of Kennedy's not-so-stellar performance as president. Too often he's idolized. It also detailed his heroism in WWII which I haven't read much about elsewhere. Folks claiming factual errors likely just don't like the author.
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