While Hamilton shows reasonable balance toward his subject, however, he demonstrates clear contempt for Kennedy’s father who is portrayed as a swindler, a coward, an abusive spouse and a serial philanderer. The author is favorably disposed to his subject, praising him for his intellectual and interpersonal strengths, but rarely fails to castigate JFK for his appalling foibles. Kennedy’s life (including his volatile relationship with FDR), the most descriptive and interesting discussion of JFK’s military service in the Pacific and the best introduction to Inga Arvad (one of Kennedy’s more infamous girlfriends) than I’ve seen anywhere else. Hamilton also provides a more thorough discussion of Joseph P. On a more granular level, Hamilton provides better insight into JFK’s relationship with his parents than almost any other biographer and a more thoughtful view of JFK’s older brother than I’ve seen elsewhere.
The book’s strengths are numerous among them are a lively, expressive and captivating narrative and the author’s incorporation of historical context throughout the text. Nearly every aspect of Kennedy’s youth is examined with encyclopedic – and occasionally graphic – detail. With 800 pages of text, this volume proves an exhaustive but riveting account of JFK’s early life up through his election as a twenty-nine-year-old Massachusetts Congressman. As a result of his unflattering portrayal of the Kennedys in this first volume, Hamilton lost access to critical primary source documents and was forced to abandon the series. Almost immediately after publication it became the subject of enormous controversy – much of it generated by the Kennedy family (with the help of Doris Goodwin and others).
#Jfk coming back to life series
Unfortunately, this is the only volume in Hamilton’s series ever published. Among his recent works are a two-volume series on Bill Clinton and two volumes focusing on FDR during WWII.
Hamilton is a British-born biographer and Senior Fellow at the University of Massachusetts. This New York Times bestseller was also the inspiration behind an ABC mini-series which aired in 1993. Nigel Hamilton’s “JFK: Reckless Youth” was published in 1992 and was intended to be the first installment in projected three-volume series on John Kennedy.
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