Publisher Description
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner: "Of all the Kennedy books . . . this is the best." —Time
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. served as special assistant to President John F. Kennedy throughout his presidency—from the long and grueling campaign to Kennedy's tragic and unexpected assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald. In A Thousand Days, Schlesinger combines intimate knowledge as one of President Kennedy's inner circle with sweeping research and historic context to provide a look at one of the most legendary presidential administrations in American history.
From JFK's battle with Nixon during the 1960 election, to the seemingly charmed inaugural days, to international conflict and domestic unrest, Schlesinger takes a close and fond, but unsparing, look at Kennedy's tenure in the White House, covering well-known successes, like his involvement in the Civil Rights movement; infamous humiliations, like the Bay of Pigs; and often overlooked struggles, like the Skybolt missile mix-up, alike.
Praised by the New York Times as "at once a masterly literary achievement and a work of major historical significance," A Thousand Days is not only a fascinating look at an American president, but a towering achievement in historical documentation.
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About Arthur M. Schlesinger
Arthur
Meier Schlesinger, Jr., (1917–2007) was an American historian, social critic,
and public intellectual. Specializing in American history, much of Schlesinger’s
work explored the history of twentieth-century American liberalism. In
particular, his work focused on leaders such as Harry Truman, Franklin D.
Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy. A Pulitzer Prize winner,
Schlesinger served as special assistant and “court historian” to President
Kennedy from 1961 to 1963. He wrote a detailed account of the Kennedy
Administration, from the transition period to the president’s state funeral,
titled A Thousand Days. In 1968, Schlesinger actively supported the
presidential campaign of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, which ended with Kennedy’s
assassination in Los Angeles. Schlesinger wrote the popular biography Robert
Kennedy and His Times several years later. He later popularized the term “imperial
presidency” during the Nixon administration in his book of the same name. In 1967, he was awarded the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for History.
About Adam Verner
Adam Verner is a stage, film, television, and voice actor and an Earphones Award–winning audiobook narrator. He holds a BS in theater arts from Bradley University and an MFA from Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.