Peter S. Canellos and his team of Boston Globe reporters magnificently capture the life, historic achievements and personal redemption of Ted Kennedy
No figure in American public life has had such great expectations thrust upon him, or has responded so poorly. At the age of 36, Ted Kennedy found himself the last brother, the champion of a generation's dreams and ambitions. He would be expected to give the nation the confidence to confront its problems and to build a fairer society, at home and abroad.
He quickly failed in spectacular fashion. On the basis of his family name he was elected to the U.S. Senate while barely old enough to serve. Then, late one night in the summer of 1969, he left the scene of a fatal automobile accident in Chappaquiddick Island. The death there of a young woman would haunt and ultimately doom his presidential ambitions. Republicans turned his all-too-human failings -- drinking, divorce, and philandering -- into a condemnation of his liberal politics.
But as the presidency eluded his grasp, Kennedy was finally liberated from the expectations of others and transformed himself into a symbol of wisdom and perseverance. He built a deeply loving marriage with his second wife, Vicki Reggie. He embraced his role as the family patriarch. And as his health failed, he anointed presidential candidate Barack Obama, whom many commentators compared to his brother Jack. The Kennedy brand of liberalism was rediscovered by a new generation of Americans.
Drawing heavily from candid interviews with the Kennedy family and inner circle, Last Lion captures magnificently the life and historic achievements of Ted Kennedy.
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"I feel this book was a very honest accounting of the life of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who died on August 25, 2009. His parents come across as aloof and distant, constantly putting enormous pressure on their children to push themselves to succeed. Teddy was farmed out to various boarding schools from an early age to his parents could travel and so Rose could go off to Paris to purchase the latest designer clothes. Joseph forces Rosemary to have a lobotomy, which resulted in permanent brain damage, because he felt she was too moody and "slow". Teddy's marriage to Joan was forced. She was a good Catholic girl who had gone to Manhattanville College, where she was taught by nuns. Joan had second thoughts about the marriage, but was forced into it. The Kennedy family was very intimidating to Joan. Senator Kennedy always showed resilience but deep down there was so much sadness, and so much fear. The sadness of deaths and assassinations in the family, his son's cancer, his failed marriage. There was always the fear of his own assassination. He was very courageous and always very forthcoming, despite all of the obstacles and his own shortcomings."
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Linda (4 out of 5 stars)