Overview

Drawing on letters, personal papers, and interviews with Kennedy intimates speaking for the first time, this sensitive portrait of the twentieth century's most storied presidency reveals how the Kennedys and their circle changed the political and social landscape of America - and how it, in turn, altered them. In the process, Smith reveals JFK for what he was: a politically progressive man who created a New Frontier and stood up to the Soviets; a family man who, though a devoted father, was entangled with scores of mistresses and women half his age; and an extraordinary leader with a streak of uncontrollable recklessness.

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9781415900192

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After all the hundreds of books written about JFK and Jackie, this is the one that really tells the truth, that gets behind the layers of gossip and conspiracy and innuendo to tell the reader what life was actually like in the White House of Jack and Jackie Kennedy. Sally Bedell Smith is a phenomenal reporter with a sure command of her subject and a keen eye for telling detail and personal nuance. This is it: the last - and true - word on the Kennedy White House. <br>-EVAN THOMAS, author of Robert Kennedy: His Life <br> GRACE AND POWER has the readability and texture of an absorbing novel of manners, but it is also a social history of an event-making president and first lady and their entourage at the center of a fateful time. Sally Bedell Smith has done an impressive job of revealing geological layers of the Kennedy world that, despite hundreds of previous books, have remained unseen until now. <br>-- MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, author of The Conquerors <br> Sally Bedell Smith has produced a mesmerizing account of the Kennedy years that is filled with rich reporting, sophisticated insights, and riveting tales all put into historical perspective. Both Jack and Jackie come into vivid focus. We see the complex relations they had with their court of friends and advisers, and we feel the poignancy of such moments as the death of their son Patrick. <br>It's a fascinating book written with grace and intelligence. <br>-WALTER ISAACSON, author of Benjamin Franklin: an American Life <br> The Kennedys and their crowd always seemed just out of earshot. In GRACE AND POWER, <br>we at last hear what they were saying. <br>-JOSEPH J. ELLIS, author of Founding Brothers <br> Sally Bedell Smith has not justcome up with new information and fresh insights - she has made the story itself seem new and fresh and more compelling than ever. For those of us who remember the Kennedys, this book helps us better understand an episode that shaped our lives. For younger readers, GRACE AND POWER brilliantly captures a moment in history that shaped their world. <br>-- STROBE TALBOTT, author of The Russia Hand <p> From the Hardcover edition.

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