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Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon Audiobook
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“A multilayered, inspiring portrait of RFK . . . [the] most in-depth look at an extraordinary figure whose transformational story shaped America.”—Joe Scarborough, The Washington Post
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Soon to be a Hulu original series starring Chris Pine. Larry Tye appears on CNN’s American Dynasties: The Kennedys.
“We are in Larry Tye’s debt for bringing back to life the young presidential candidate who . . . almost half a century ago, instilled hope for the future in angry, fearful Americans.”—David Nasaw, The New York Times Book Review
Bare-knuckle operative, cynical White House insider, romantic visionary—Robert F. Kennedy was all of these things at one time or another, and each of these aspects of his personality emerges in the pages of this powerful and perceptive biography.
History remembers RFK as a racial healer, a tribune for the poor, and the last progressive knight of a bygone era of American politics. But Kennedy’s enshrinement in the liberal pantheon was actually the final stage of a journey that began with his service as counsel to the red-baiting senator Joseph McCarthy. In Bobby Kennedy, Larry Tye peels away layers of myth and misconception to capture the full arc of his subject’s life. Tye draws on unpublished memoirs, unreleased government files, and fifty-eight boxes of papers that had been under lock and key for forty years. He conducted hundreds of interviews with RFK intimates, many of whom have never spoken publicly, including Bobby’s widow, Ethel, and his sister, Jean. Tye’s determination to sift through the tangle of often contradictory opinions means that Bobby Kennedy will stand as the definitive biography about the most complex and controversial member of the Kennedy family.
Praise for Bobby Kennedy
“A compelling story of how idealism can be cultivated and liberalism learned . . . Tye does an exemplary job of capturing not just the chronology of Bobby’s life, but also the sense of him as a person.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
“Captures RFK’s rise and fall with straightforward prose bolstered by impressive research.”—USA Today
“[Tye] has a keen gift for narrative storytelling and an ability to depict his subject with almost novelistic emotional detail.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“Nuanced and thorough . . . [RFK’s] vision echoes through the decades.”—The Economist
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"This is not just another Bobby Kennedy book. It is the definitive biography of one of America’s most compelling political figures. Larry Tye has given us the complete Bobby, from the Bad (Early) Kennedy to the Good (Later) Kennedy, from Joe McCarthy’s committee counsel to ‘ruthless’ political manager to gentle, softhearted presidential candidate. Tye’s book rests on prodigious and original research, including rare, on-the-record interviews with Bobby’s widow, Ethel, who confesses that seeing Bobby for the first time was like meeting George Clooney."
— Roger Mudd, winner of the Peabody Award and former co-anchor of NBC Nightly News
Quotes
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“With skill and verve, Larry Tye has written a fascinating account of a transformative figure.”
— Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winner -
We are in Larry Tye’s debt for bringing back to life the young presidential candidate who . . . for a brief moment, almost half a century ago, instilled hope for the future in angry, fearful Americans.
— David Nasaw, The New York Times Book Review -
A multilayered, inspiring portrait of RFK . . . [Tye] provides readers and historians their most in-depth look at an extraordinary figure whose transformational story shaped America.
— Joe Scarborough, The Washington Post -
A compelling story of how idealism can be cultivated and liberalism learned . . . Tye does an exemplary job of capturing not just the chronology of Bobby’s life, but also the sense of him as a person.
— Los Angeles Review of Books -
Captures RFK’s rise and fall with straightforward prose bolstered by impressive research.
— USA Today -
[Tye] has a keen gift for narrative storytelling and an ability to depict his subject with almost novelistic emotional detail.
— Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times -
Nuanced and thorough . . . [RFK’s] vision echoes through the decades.
— The Economist -
Tye’s pages on the assassination are heart-wrenching.
— New York Post -
It captures RFK’s cold, ruthless side with appropriate relish, and it provides fast-paced and very detailed accounts of RFK’s early working relationship with soon-to-be-disgraced politician Joe McCarthy.
— The Christian Science Monitor -
Tye’s vivid journalistic style makes the biography an arresting read. . . . Many of the most fascinating stories come through Tye’s dissection of Bobby’s relations with his adversaries.
— San Francisco Chronicle -
Robert Kennedy led one of the great unfinished lives in American history. With skill and verve, Larry Tye has written a fascinating account of a transformative figure who continues to summon us to heed our better angels even all these years distant.
— Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power -
Drawing on the personal papers and insights of the Kennedy family, this biography will appeal not only to those wanting a portrait of a dynamic idealist, but also to those seeking to understand the emotions of the times in which he lived.
— Henry A. Kissinger -
“Sweeping…Captures RFK’s rise and fall with straightforward prose bolstered by impressive research.”
— USA Today -
“Tye’s account is nuanced and thorough, and he manages the rare feat of interviewing Kennedy’s widow Ethel, now eighty-eight…[RFK’s] vision echoes through the decades.”
— Economist (London) -
“Larry Tye has done his homework…to produce a nuanced, balanced, affectionate, and mostly favorable portrait…We are in Larry Tye’s debt for bringing back to life the young presidential candidate.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“Trac[es] Kennedy’s transition from a brash, patrician lawyer to a skilled liberal politician who overwhelmingly identified with those in the greatest need.”
— Associated Press -
“Very, very good…It captures RFK’s cold, ruthless side with appropriate relish, and it provides fast-paced and very detailed accounts of RFK’s early working relationship with soon-to-be-disgraced politician Joe McCarthy.”
— Christian Science Monitor -
“It is difficult to envision anyone getting Robert F. Kennedy more right than biographer Tye does in this superb book. Tye beautifully captures Kennedy’s contradictions…[with] wonderful readability.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“A captivating account…shedding new light on Kennedy’s relationships with Lyndon Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr.”
— Library Journal (starred review) -
“Unflinchingly illustrates the evolution of a statesman…A complete portrait of a complex man whose contributions to history were essential and whose potential will remain forever unknowable.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“Marc Cashman provides an affable, approachable narration for this biography of Bobby Kennedy. Listeners will find Cashman’s comforting voice a welcome respite, not only during the well-known tragedy that befalls Kennedy, but also as his complicated political and personal path unfolds.”
— AudioFile
Awards
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A New York Times Editor’s Choice
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A New York Times Bestseller
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About Larry Tye
Larry Tye is the author of several biographies, including the New York Times bestsellers Bobby Kennedy and Satchel. Previously an award-winning reporter and national writer at the Boston Globe and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, he now runs the Boston-based Health Coverage Fellowship.
About Marc Cashman
Marc Cashman, Earphones Award–winning narrator, was named one of the “Best Voices of the Year” by AudioFile magazine. His voice can be heard on radio, television, film, and video games. He also instructs voice actors through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques, in Los Angeles.