American Values: Lessons I Learned from My Family

by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

With rich detail, compelling honesty, and a storyteller's gift, RFK Jr. describes growing up Kennedy in a tumultuous time in history that eerily echoes the issues of nuclear confrontation, religion, race, and inequality that we confront today.

This powerful book combines the best aspects of memoir and political history. The third child of Attorney General Robert Kennedy and nephew of JFK takes us on a journey through his life, including watershed moments in the history of our nation.

These pages come vividly to life with intimate stories of RFK Jr.'s own experiences, not just with historical events and the movers who shaped them, but also with his mother and father, his own struggles with addiction, and the ways he eventually made peace with both his Kennedy legacy and his own demons. The result is a book that is remarkably stirring and relevant, providing both insight and hope for all Americans at a time when they are needed like never before.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Biography Memoir, Memoir, Politics, American History

704 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2018

About the author

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. is an American activist, environmental attorney, and author. Kennedy serves as president of the board of Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit environmental group that he helped found in 1999.

He is the third of eleven children of Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_....

Reviews

[Claire Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic history book!!!

One of the best books I have had the pleasure to read this year. This book should be taught in schools.

[A.J. Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. It probably helps that I'm five years younger than he is, so I remember the events of the 1960s and the spirit of that age. I can't say I totally agree with his assessment of politics and ideologies---both past and present---but I certainly appreciate his perspective. I can't help but be dismayed at what has become of our nation.

[Carol Jones-Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, and as a U.S. Senator from New York from January 1965 until his assassination in June 1968. Kennedy was a member of the Democratic Party and is often seen as an icon of modern American liberalism.

Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, the seventh child of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy. After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a seaman apprentice from 1944 to 1946, Kennedy returned to Harvard University and graduated in 1948. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1951. He began his political career the following year as the manager for his brother John's successful campaign for the U.S. Senate. Prior to entering public office himself, he worked as a correspondent for The Boston Post and as an assistant counsel to the Senate committee chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy. He gained national attention as the chief counsel of the Senate Labor Rackets Committee from 1957 to 1959, where he publicly challenged Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa over the corrupt practices of the union and authored The Enemy Within, a book about corruption in organized labor.

Kennedy resigned from the committee to conduct his brother's campaign in the 1960 presidential election. He was appointed United States Attorney General after the successful election and served as the closest advisor to the President from 1961 to 1963. His tenure is best known for its advocacy for the civil rights movement, the fight against organized crime and the Mafia, and involvement in U.S. foreign policy related to Cuba. After his brother's assassination, he remained in office in the Johnson Administration for several months. He left to run for the United States Senate from New York in 1964 and defeated Republican incumbent Kenneth Keating. In office, Kennedy opposed racial discrimination and U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He was an advocate for issues related to human rights and social justice and formed relationships with Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez.

In 1968, Kennedy was a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for the presidency; he appealed especially to poor, African American, Hispanic, Catholic and young voters. He had defeated Senator Eugene McCarthy in the California and South Dakota presidential primaries. Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Kennedy was mortally wounded by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian, because he had advocated American support for Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War. Kennedy died the following day and Sirhan was sentenced to life imprisonment. As with the assassination of his brother, Robert Kennedy's assassination has been the subject of widespread analysis and numerous conspiracy theories.

Early life
Robert Francis Kennedy was born on November 20, 1925, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the seventh child of businessman/politician Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and philanthropist/socialite Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. His older brothers were Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and John F. "Jack" Kennedy, who was elected the 35th President of the United States in 1960. His younger brother was longtime United States Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy. All four of his grandparents were children of Irish immigrants.

His father was a wealthy businessman and a leading Irish figure in the Democratic Party. After he stepped down as ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1940, Joe Sr. focused his attention on his oldest son, Joseph Jr., expecting that he would enter politics and be elected president. He also urged the younger children to examine and discuss current events in order to propel them to public service. After Joseph Jr. was killed during World War II, the senior Kennedy's hopes fell on his second son, John, to become president. Joseph Sr. had the money and connections to play a central role in the family's political ambitions.

The Kennedy family at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in 1931 with Robert on the bottom left in a jacket Kennedy's older brother John was often bedridden by illness and, as a result, became a voracious reader. Although he made little effort to get to know his younger brother during his childhood, John would take him for walks and regale him with the stories of heroes and adventures he had read. One of their favorite authors was John Buchan, who wrote The Thirty-Nine Steps, which influenced both Robert and John. John sometimes referred to Robert as "Black Robert" due to his prudishness and disposition.

Unlike his older brothers, Kennedy took to heart their mother Rose's agenda for everything to have "a purpose," which included visiting historic sites during family outings, visits to the church during morning walks, and games used to expand vocabulary and math skills.[10] He described his position in the family hierarchy by saying, "When you come from that far down, you have to struggle to survive." As the boys were growing up, he tried frequently to get his older brothers' attention, but was seldom successful.

In September 1927, the Kennedy family moved to Riverdale, Bronx, New York, and two years later, they relocated 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast to Bronxville, a small town in suburban Westchester County. During his childhood, Kennedy spent summers and early autumns with his family at their home (rented in 1926, then purchased in 1929) in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and Christmas and Easter holidays at their winter retreat in Palm Beach, Florida, later purchased in 1933.

He attended Riverdale Country School—a private school for boys—from kindergarten through second grade. He then attended Bronxville Public School in lower Westchester County from third through fifth grade. He repeated the third grade.[14] A teacher at Bronxville reflected that he was "a regular boy". She added, "It seemed hard for him to finish his work sometimes. But he was only ten after all."[11][15] He then attended Riverdale Country School for the sixth grade. Kennedy would later recall that during childhood he was "going to different schools, always having to make new friends, and that I was very awkward...[a]nd I was pretty quiet most of the time. And I didn't mind being alone."[16] He developed an interest in American history. He also decorated his bedroom with pictures of U.S. presidents and filled his bookshelves with volumes on the American Civil War. He also became an avid stamp collector and once received a handwritten letter from Franklin Roosevelt, who was also a philatelist.

In March 1938, Kennedy sailed to London with his mother and four youngest siblings to join his father who had begun serving as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He attended the private Gibbs School for Boys in London for seventh grade. In April 1939, he gave his first public speech at the placing of a cornerstone for a youth club in England. According to embassy and newspaper reports, his statements were pencilled in his own hand and were delivered in a "calm and confident" manner. Bobby returned to the United States just before the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

One of his first relationships was with a girl named Piedy Bailey. The pair was photographed together when he walked her home after chapel on a Sunday night. Bailey was fond of him and remembered him as being "very appealing". She recalled him being funny, "separate, larky; outside the cliques; private all the time". Soon after he transferred to Milton, he pressed his father to allow him to enlist, as he wanted to catch up to his brothers who were both serving in the military. Kennedy had arrived at Milton unfamiliar with his peers and made little attempt to know the names of his classmates; he called most of the other boys "fella" instead. For this, he was nicknamed "Fella". Most of the school's students had come in eighth or ninth grade and cliques had already been formed. Despite this, his schoolmates would later say the school had no prejudice. He had an early sense of virtue; he disliked dirty jokes and bullying, once stepping in when an upperclassman tried bothering a younger student. The headmaster at Milton would later summarize that he was a "very intelligent boy, quiet and shy, but not outstanding, and he left no special mark on Milton".

This was a most inspiring book. I've been very attracted to read and learn of the Kennedy's over the last 5-10 years. They are an amazing family. I haven't always approved of their lifestyle and their relationships, but they still are an amazing family in their own way. Highly Recommend.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be the most mendacious book I've ever read. (Now, I don't read true wingnuts' political books, and I do no more than grok conspiracy theory ones, so, I've cut some avenues off. Still.)

I'm going to start with and focus on Vietnam and Dallas, given that they are the center of the Camelot mythos, which is itself bullshit, and then to Cuba.

(Some of this comes from an actually very good new bio of Bobby, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon.)

First, Dallas. Without directly saying he believes in a conspiracy (why not, Robert, after that loony antivaxxer screed you wrote a decade ago), he clearly does. He mentions CIA connections in Dallas being plenty (there's a subset of CIA conspiracy theories around Mayor Cabell and his brother, the military-industrial complex in Dallas being plenty, the Klan and racism, and throws in mob angles, too.

Well, Junior Boy? The CIA recruited from early on heavily at Ivy League schools. You know, the ones in New England, including near Boston. Military industrial complex? Raytheon, General Electric and plenty of other folks in Boston today and their predecessors were there 50-60 years ago. Maybe the Klan didn't march in Boston, but racism? Ask Bill Russell about some of your fellow Boston Irish Catholics. Or look for an anti-Semitic bone or two in your old granddad with his "sheenies" and "kikes" comments. The mob? Boston was and is plenty mobbed up. And with Irish, not Italians. Whitey Bulger, anybody? Or some of your grandpa's anti-Semitic comments

That's finis to that smear job on Dallas.

Nam? Bobby claims the old claim that Jack would have withdrawn by the end of 1965.

Nope. First, as Rick Perlstein, Noam Chomsky and others have noted, that claim was aspirational only. And, if necessary to get your dad elected in 1968, had Jack been alive and in office (his poll numbers were sinking throughout 1963), he would have sent new troops over.

Second, how does Jack's known infatuation with Special Forces/Green Berets square with his absolute peace-loving.

Third, he's very publicly on record as late as August 1963 in articulating his belief in the domino theory, including worrying about more dominoes falling on his watch.

Bobby said the same in 1962, telling press in Saigon:
"We are going to win in Vietnam. We will remain here until we do win."

Then, there's the even bigger lies of RFK Jr about who we were fighting.

Page 324, he claims the North Vietnamese Army had 20,000 troops in South Vietnam in 1968, supplemented by a "few thousand" Viet Cong. He uses this claim to justify how bad South Vietnam was. Reality? NVA had 130K at Tet along with 160K VC. Overall in 1968, NVA + VC had 400K troops in South Vietnam.

So, Bobby Jr has lied by a factor of 20-fold, or else allowed himself to be misinformed by a factor of 20-fold.

The reality is that the Pentagon was talking about war expansion possibilities at the time Jack was shot. How much of the details Jack knew, we don't know, but he surely knew the general outlines. When LBJ got his Tonkin Gulf green light, he had those expansion plans all at the ready.

But there's other mendacity here.

Ditto for Jack's knowledge of Operation Mongoose against Castro. He didn't know, and didn't want to know, and didn't need to know, details of every CIA plot against Fidel. But the idea? And that it was being developed. Of course he knew. And Bobby was totally hands on, but Bobby Jr. doesn't discuss this at all.

Bobby also speculated about the U.S. committing a false flag event at Guantanamo, as an excuse to invade Cuba.

Speaking of ... At the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Bobby was a hawk — enough of a hawk to be willing to support an invasion. Later, in his "Thirteen Days" book, he overrated McNamara (ignoring that Mac also supported invasion at the start) and totally dissed Dean Rusk to the point of mendacity at the level of his son in this book. The JFK White House tapes also reveal that Bobby was continuing to look at Mongoose stuff before and after the Missile Crisis. His actions afterword violated at least the spirit, if not the letter, of the no-invasion pledge to Khrushchev.

Bobby Jr., in cases like this, where there's too much public info that he and other Camelot mythicists can't explain away, just try to talk around it.

Ditto on LBJ. He can't totally slime him, so he slimes Dallas and tries to claim the Vietnam War was being fought against minimal opposition, even though that, too, is publicly refutable. He undercounts LBJ's activity in the ExComm during the Missile Crisis, and also doesn't tell us that LBJ never knew about the "Trollope option," the pulling of US missiles from Turkey. Had Johnson known this, he might have been less hawkish on Nam, thinking that Jack had been that nuanced and compromising on Cuba.

And, I haven't even mentioned other things about the "peace-loving" Jack that Bobby Jr. omitted, like him lying about a missile gap he knew didn't exist.

Basically, it seems like Junior Boy's stance is that he figures he can throw whatever he wants at a wall and get away with it on Camelot true believers accepting it.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

American Values: Lessons I Learned From My Family by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (HarperCollins Publishers 2018) (Biography). When I picked up this autobiography, I knew nothing about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. except who his father was. After reading this book, I now have almost no additional information about the author. The only salient facts I picked up about Bobby Kennedy, Jr. are that (1) he was one of eleven children of his parents' marriage; (2) he was a budding naturalist as a child who kept wild animals as pets; (3) he is a master falconer; and (4) he and his mother were in a state of open warfare when he was growing up. In fact, he left the family home as a young teen when his interpersonal conflicts with his mother Ethel Skakel Kennedy became so tumultuous that he moved out of the family house. Strangely, sadly, and unsatisfyingly, the author provides no real explanation for these conflicts.
This book actually has little to tell about Bobby, Jr. or even about his father. For some strange reason, the book devolves into a restatement and summary of Jack Kennedy's policies and challenges as President of the United States. The greatest portion of this book is about Uncle Jack. There's nothing wrong with that except for the fact that I had selected a book about a different Kennedy; if I had sought a book about Uncle Jack, I'm certain that there are more qualified and more authoritative volumes available than this one.
At the end of the day, this one left me disappointed. My rating: 6/10, finished 7/6/18.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a loving insightful portrayal of a unique family and their contributions to the US and the world as well as the Kennedy family. I am a Canadian who was born in the 1960s so I came to this book with out a lot of background information. During my reading of this book, I put it aside and read Larry Tye's biography of RFK which I found more clariying in terms of actual historical events. However, when I went back to this book, I realise how much I enjoyed RFK Jr's writing, the tales of his family. I also have fallen in love with both RFK and his inimitable wife Ethel. As a parent, there was so much here for me to ruminate on. I appreciate the author's candid storytelling and enjoyed his beautiful writing style. I borrowed this book from the library but I will be purchasing it so I can share it with my family and friends. If you're looking for gossip and salacious dirt, you won't find it in this book. I honestly am not interested in those details as I don't believe anyone is without issues or skeletons. But this book showcases something I believe is lacking right now in our media and society - a certain moral dignity and integrity. I hope others will read it and enjoy it as much as I did.

[Roger Smitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very engaging bio about the Kennedy family, even the grand-father and his lack of emotion with the children. The Kennedy women get a lot of attention — at last. The retelling of the days of in the White House gives us a boost in how we think about our leaders. The chapter on the JFK funeral is exceptional for details and emotion.

My generation will like the early parts of the parts of the book. Other pieces of the book are not as good. But in all, a good read.

[Meghan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was so interesting to get his Perspective I’ve on so many different people in his family, not just the Kennedys. It is also so amazing to see how ahead of their time both JFK and RFK were in terms of ideals and priorities. I would definitely recommend this book to others. It was a very interesting read and very quick moving.

[Dave Scrip · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. It was well written and honest. Despite some editing errors it was honest and cleared up some disinformation that has disparaged the legacy of JFK and RFK.

[Barry Martin Vass · Rating 5 out of 5]

History, particularly political history, is often hard to absorb simply because of all the hired rhetoric used to spin the story/characters this way and that according to the needs of the writers. If you read multiple accounts of the same story, sometimes you're left wondering what actually happened and why. American Values isn't like that. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the third child of former Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy; he is also an environmental attorney and activist. Besides writing about the Kennedy family, he is also writing about the Cold War Era from the late 1940's to about 1975. Here's an example of how the Kennedy children were raised: "Uncle Jack's best friend, Lem Billings, a frequent visitor at the house, told me how Grandpa (Joseph Kennedy) often took extreme positions to incite his offspring - boys and girls - to argue and defend their points of view. Describing those dinner table dialectics, my dad (Robert F. Kennedy) wrote about Grandpa, "My father has believed we could think and decide things for ourselves.... There were disagreements, sometimes violent, on politics, economics, the future of the country, the world." Grandpa wanted his children's minds unshackled by ideology. He groomed them to question authority, and to be beholden to nothing but the enlightened open minds God gave them." Which goes a long way in explaining the Kennedy mystique and the impact they had on the political world as well as the military-industrial complex. This book takes the reader through JFK's tough 1960 general election to become the first (and only) Irish Catholic President, as well as some of his early trials and tribulations: the Peace Corps, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Cuban Missile Crisis, his constant sparring with the CIA (Between 1947 and 1989, the CIA, without ANY oversight, would initiate seventy-two coup d'etats - the equivalent of one-third of the world's governments.) Couple this with the military-industrial complex's desire to fight any war - even nuclear - simply because they had the weapons and believed they could "win", and you get some idea of what the Kennedys were up against. Author Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has an intimate grasp of the players and details in this story, and he tells this in chilling detail. Not to be missed!

[J R · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be required reading for all young students and adults. The world would be a much better place if the Kennedy’s had not been assassinated.

Thanks RFK Jr for sharing the Kennedy family history.

[Gwen Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

really liked this book!

[Alice Oakey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling account, from his perspective of his family’s history and influence.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok. Read more like a history book. Was looking for more personal insights like the last chapter

[Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to learn the true story of the Kennedy family, do not read this book. It is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever read.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting perspective in the Kennedy canon. There is an obvious bias, but that gives you a perspective into the family narrative of certain events in US history.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a salve for the jaded and a remedy for cynicism. Insightful and inspiring in a way that I thought was exclusive to fiction. It's also hilarious. This book makes you experience deeply and exquisitely the most hopeful and admirable time in our history, which makes the deaths of the Kennedy brothers devastating even to someone like myself who didn't live through that time. Tears ran down my face as I read about the deaths of JFK and RFK (who I came to see and love and then grieve as if I knew them personally), and again as I read about the people whose lives they forever altered and who they inspired to live with idealism and moral courage. There are real life heroes. The magnitude of the differences that can be made by a single person acting and believing in those virtues is powerfully depicted by the beautiful prose and wit of RFK, Jr., whose joyful love of other people—seeing humor and beauty in all of their particularities and peculiarities—comes through on every page, with every relative, friend, and fleeting chance acquaintance whose portrait he verbally paints. I desperately needed this book; it healed part of my soul. I will be keeping it on a shelf where it's within easy reach whenever I need a dose of beauty, humor, and hope.

[Grace =^_^= · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good. Loved it. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an excellent writer.

Aside from a children's book about JFK, I believe this is the first book I've read about the Kennedy family. I am officially fascinated and am raring to read more, especially about Bobby Kennedy. He had the "It Factor." (I wasn't alive during his time here on Earth.) I got emotional/cried multiple times reading about him. He may not be here physically but his energy remains.

I likely will have more to add, but these are my initial thoughts.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous read. RFKJ includes a lot of detail without bogging down. His descriptions of growing up at Hickory Hill in Virginia are wild and crazy and greatly entertaining. He writes about the influences of his dad and mom, his grandparents (both sides), and beloved family friend Lem Billings who took RFKJ under his wing when his dad was killed. He sheds light on the JFK years and the corruption in the CIA and FBI which helps make sense of what's going on in today's government. He is honest about his addictions and his own shortcomings without playing the victim card. I was thoroughly engaged and looked forward to reading it.

[John Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Bobby Jr. and I are about the same age I grew up with this. I learned some things, certainly got some insights and depth on some events, and I was surprised by many of the periphery players. Part propaganda, part revisionist history, part soap opera but all a great American story. Perhaps it is just my age but from 1960 to 1970 I think American culture changed drastically. Many of the events in this book were the catalyst for that change. If Jack had lived... if Bobby had been nominated... what if?
As a conservative, this narrative changes the tone somewhat on my shade of red. Recommended for the timeline and backstories alone, blues might enjoy it even more.

Pet Peeve: Please, please, please have audiobooks narrated by natives/locals. While it is peevish of me, pronouncing local towns incorrectly (Charleston for Charlestown, Barn Stable for Barnstable..) demonstrates that the producer/production company did not think hard about who the target audience for this book might be. Serious lack of attention to detail.

[Darcy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rfk Jr. is truly one of my heroes. His bravery and courage is absolutely unparalleled in my heart. He is the voice for mothers and hurting children at the hands of careless and greedy for profit companies. The protector of the environment. One of the few willing to stand up tall for the truth on some of the most polarizing topics of our time—5g and poison in our food, rivers, and vaccines. Calling for more safety when the standard narrative is ‘nothing to see here.’ While this book doesn’t focus on any of that, it encompasses the history of his family and him in it. Reading this book helped me understand how his family and family history helped him be so courageous. It helped me appreciate where his bravery came from, most of which I never knew the more detailed history of the Kennedy family beyond the points we learn in school. I am amazed at the family life of the Kennedys and their legacy. This is a fascinating book that sheds lights on the timeframe of the 60s where we devastatingly lost so many of the greats: JFK, RFK, Martin Luther King Jr. The forces that were at work during that time period. It makes one realize that the big things to conquer are everywhere and always and we will always need a David to take down Goliath. To me, Rfk jr. is the David we all need right now.

[Rena Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

With RFK Jr (thankfully) running for POTUS on the Democratic ticket, I felt obliged to know more about the man. I've subscribed to the Children's Health Defense newsletter for 3 years and fall in line with most everything they publish. And through that, you get a good idea of the man today. American Values fills in the missing data of how he became that man. It's a very personal recollection of the events that shaped him and left lasting impressions on any American alive at that time. And several of the events (the assassinations) were felt worldwide and still ring with shock and sadness today.

The transparency with which Kennedy writes about his own struggles was surprising and inspiring. This is not a candidate who "did not inhale" but went through dangerous days with drugs many of us also experimented with. His early relationship with his mother was difficult. He found solace in nature and was fortunate to have strong men in his life when those he loved were taken out. A real man with an amazing childhood but a man not so different than you or I. A very good read.

[Chris Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I made myself finish this book so that I could develop an informed opinion about its author, who threatens to disrupt the 2024 election cycle. I wasn't enthusiastic about the content, nor was I thrilled with all of the stories, but I appreciated the erudition with which some of the autobiographical tales were relayed. I'm glad I pushed through to the end, because the last few chapters were the most informative. They lay bare the personality traits of the author, and describe the challenges he faced in growing up with the flashing photobulbs of the press, and the pressure of maintaining a family name.

[Anita Ashland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because the author is running for President I wanted to learn more by reading this book.

I have read many books about the Kennedy family over the years and enjoyed this book a lot because it has chapters on his grandparents, JFK, his father Bobby Kennedy, JFK’s BFF Lem Billings, and the final chapter devoted to his mother Ethel and why there was a rift in their relationship and how he eventually healed the rift. I learned a bit about the author RFK Jr along the way but the focus is on his family.

[Kim Freitas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

#113 of 120 books pledged to read during 2019
#130 of 132 books pledged to read during 2023

[Jerry Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life according to Robert F Kennedy, Jr.

The Kennedy's are a rich part of American History. This biography dives into their illustrious lives. Handsome, intelligent, wealthiest family in America, the Kennedy's are fascinating. Democracy is built on values not wealth and power.-what JFK meant to the world - that there are more pressing issues than wealth and war (305). The irony of Bobby Kennedy's social justice platform while the 20th richest family in the US(355). Grandpa Joe, owner of White Horse Scotch and Dimpled Pinch at the end of Prohibition, became an adviser to FDR. He brought his kids into public service with political discussions at every dinner.

Highlights in this book include descriptions of money in politics. How businesses pay to play in government. Contracts hammered out with gov assistance drive machine politics. Puppet dictators of the CIA run shadow governments in Laos and Vietnam. JFK limited CIA funding; did Jack get on the CIA's bad side. Sabotage and infiltration run amuck in intelligence. South American natural resources and labor are funnelled into the US economy. Privatized corporations like Dole's pineapples and Texaco's coal and oil plants at Guantanamo Bay employ thousands of the highest connected Cubanos. Post WWII US remains an example of democratic values as colonialism was banished in the world. Accepting meritocracy in the Kennedys embodied are free ideas.

So has begun my dive into cold war era literature, yet again. This time I approach it from a historical perspective rather than that of science fiction. What was the greatest stimulus for doomsday alien literature also has political mystique.

I am poised in the best position of my young life. I find time to read at this job that pays me $2,000/week. While I act in "deviant workplace behavior", Pacifica Hospital lauds me for being their most dedicated worker, having worked 9 12-hour days in a row and 15 of 17 12-hour days worked later that month. Am I conning them? or is the system built to be conned? Is work so easy that when unsupervised, I can read 8 hours in a shift, and still perform my ER Tech duties? Are all entry levels jobs so easy? If so, I need more of a challenge. I am too conscientious for this level of healthcare. No drugs, video games, nor television has made this possible. I have a single goal in focus, to catch up to those peers who are ahead of me. They say if you are the smartest of your friend group, you need new friends. I took this heart. As its hard to find other fun $100k/year salary earners 26 yo, I have no friends. Those that can make me better, and are my age, are too busy to associate with me, as I them.

[Elizabeth Burton]

I've been an admirer of RFK Jr. since I read his wonderfully researched book on Anthony Fauci that filled in a lot of the blanks in what I had observed the first year of the "pandemic". When he then decided to brave running against the Democrat Clinton party machine, he had me at "Kennedy Democrat". I was a year shy of being able to vote for his murdered father, but even at 16, when I read the Warren Report I could see the gaping holes in its plot.

So, the obvious next step was to learn a bit about the man himself, which led to this book. I waited till I'd finished Chris Matthews's biography of RFK Sr., because continuity matters, plus it's always interesting to see how someone appears to their family in contrast to how they seemed to others. RFK Sr. was one of those who are who they are. If you've known a person like that, I needn't say anything more. If you haven't, no explanation would help.

I won't spend any time on the details, other than to wonder what Mr. Kennedy's reaction was the first time he saw Monty Python's "Dead Parrot" sketch. If you want to know what that means, read the book. What was painfully ironic was to have a photo from that event appear on social media, posted by one of the character assassins who show up whenever there's any Kennedy-for-President traction to spew bile. Using that photo with the accompanying made-up "comment" in the balloon over JFK's head was, as I stated then, the equivalent of a kick to the groin.

The US is at a tipping point, in my opinion and that of a lot of other people. We can fight to shift into reverse and regain the representative democracy promised us in the Constitution, or we can give up and surrender to what anyone who's studied the history of prior moments knows is a fall into "friendly fascism". Read this book, then decided whether it's time for another Kennedy in the Oval Office.

[Bruno Lovrenovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Global history, admirable biographies and living in virtue all described from an inside point of view (RFK jr.) from this american influential, political, very human and inclusive in its spirit - Kennedy family.

This wonderfully inspiring and dramatic family history as memoir, recalled by young RFK jr. combined with his later research as an adult, provides us with much appreciated understanding and resolution of the many mainstream vacuums left in world history and politics. We get a glimpse into the powerplays behind the public political curtain.

Narrated in part from an inside view, the reader experiences many "aha thats what went on" and "ah of course, that makes sense, and this is how it connects to..." moments as we get a glimpse into how things really take place on higher political levels of human affairs, and during numerous important historical moments.

From the first and second world wars to Castros Cuba, cold war crisis, socialism, liberalism, capitalism, imperialism, internal struggles with US cabinet, agencies, the mob, industrial complexes, totalitarianism, vested interests, corruption, class wars, populism, presidential campaigning and work, and in all of those - the real-time choice of battle for higher good and the representation to bring America to its world leading ideals of freedom, opportunity and civil rights.

All told in a seamlessly connected way with personal memoirs and portraits of notable political and historical figures described in depth, their interactions amongst each other and their outcomes on the world stage.

Finally and most importantly, as a sum total of it all, one leaves gifted with self-produced insight and inspiration on the connectedness of all things. From the individual to the world, and of living a life of moral courage, virtue and in strive of higher ideals. To embrace those ideals especially when confronted with cynical, dark and evil forces. A recipe I believe, for a life well lived.
The Kennedy's clearly practised this spiritual philosophy of bringing good against the face of evil. It shaped their character's, inspired generations and made them rise to god-given responsibility and power that they embraced spiritually.

Review from Denmark, listened on audible. Great experience.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admittedly skimmed a good chunk of the middle. I was more interested in the family dynamic than the political stuff, so once it didn't revolve around the author, I drifted off, but decided to skim since there was more family stuff at the end. But then, realized I really knew very little about RFK Sr.'s assassination, so I backed up to read more what led up to that, basically restarted at the lead up to JFK's assassination and read from there to the end, though skimmed some of it here and there.

In the author's note, he said he chopped it from 500k word count to 180k. As an author, I know what that really means/feels like, and woah baby. I think it could have been chopped some more (see me skimming above) can't imagine what all was in that 500k!

Anyway, I really enjoyed the grandparents chapters, so otherwordly to how my family was when I grew up (not wealthy vs. wealthy) and strangely exhausting. I was impressed that despite the wealth, they did so much when they could have just enjoyed it. And was so impressed by how much they required of their kids...and I sort of felt guilty that I'm not requiring anywhere like a fifth of what those parents did. So I can totally see why Kennedy children have been around and influential for so long.

Not sure what else to say about this, enjoyed insight into Kennedys and RFK Jr, skimmed political stuff I wasn't that interested in. Though I recently heard someone say that the current day Republicans are just old Democratic Kennedys in political thought and after reading the political parts of it that I did, I tend to think that quote has some truth to it.