Overview

The comprehensive New York Times bestselling biography of Senator Ted Kennedy dives deeply into his political career, his shocking downfall, and his redemption from disappointing member of a grand dynasty to respected sage in the Senate. No figure in American public life had such great expectations thrust upon him and fallen short of them so quickly. But Ted Kennedy, the gregarious, pudgy, and least academically successful of the Kennedy boys, became the most powerful senator for over forty years and the nation's keeper of traditional liberalism. As Peter S. Canellos and his team of reporters from The Boston Globe show in this intimate biography, Ted witnessed greater tragedy and suffered greater pressure than his siblings. He inherited a generation's dreams and was expected to help confront his nation's problems in order to build a fairer society. But political rivals turned his all-too-human failings into a condemnation of his liberal politics. As the presidency eluded his grasp, Kennedy was finally free to become his own man. He transformed himself into a symbol of wisdom and perseverance. Perceptive and carefully reported, drawing from candid interviews with the Kennedy family, Last Lion captures magnificently the life, historic achievements, and personal redemption of Ted Kennedy, and offers a fresh assessment of his enduring legacy.

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9781439141335

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Reviews

In 400 brisk but detail-rich pages, the book...sketches a poignant portrait. -- The New York Times Book Review

Last Lion is a fine biography, a graceful summing up an extraordinary life that is not yet over. It shows little sign of having been written by a team of seven, and it does not carry the tone of an obituary. With its anecdotes and political tales, it captures the wit, humor, and grace of Ted Kennedy and establishes his place, 'as much a part of the Capitol as the dome or the Rotunda beneath it.' -- Ken Bode, The Boston Globe A balanced, nuanced, warts-and-all portrait. -- Kirkus Reviews A readable, relatively objective study of the once most-vilified man in contemporary American politics. -- The Washington Times A timely if not revelatory portrait of a flawed figure who 'never expected to become the custodian of his family's sorrows' but found a way to transcend the role. -- Alex Altman, Time If you want a peek inside America's royal family, this is a must-read, with details that only Boston Globe reporters could know. -- Tim O'Brien, The Minneapolis Star Tribune In 400 brisk but detail-rich pages, the book...sketches a poignant portrait. -- The New York Times Book Review With the publication of Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy , we get a fresh look at how this man's gothic imperatives -- blood loyalty and inherited duty -- would make him the greatest U.S. senator of modern times. -- Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's Hardball and author of Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America

Author Information

Peter S. Canellos is an award-winning writer and former Editorial Page Editor of The Boston Globe and Executive Editor of Politico. He is the editor of the New York Times bestseller, Last Lion: The Fall and Rise of Ted Kennedy.

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