Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography

by Burton Hersh

In this groundbreaking biography of Edward Kennedy, historian and journalist Burton Hersh combines a lifetime of research and reporting with a lively mixture of never-before-told anecdotes (including the definitive version of the incident at Chappaquiddick, the details of which Kennedy himself filled in for Hersh shortly after it occurred) to create a broad yet unfailingly intimate portrait of the politician who would be universally acknowledged as one of the twentieth century's greatest American legislators. Hersh was acquainted with Kennedy since his college days, and the result here is a unique series of revelations that serve to reinterpret the senator's public and private personas. Conditioned by deep-seated fears that he was an afterthought within his own powerful family, Kennedy developed a genius for conciliation and strategizing that made him a dramatically more effective political figure than either of his older brothers. In addition to this biography's account of the Chappaquiddick incident, Hersh also delivers the first full report of the vendetta between Kennedy and Richard Nixon, exposing the behind-the-scenes manipulations to which Kennedy resorted to drive Nixon from office during the Watergate scandal.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Politics

496 pages, Hardcover

First published August 10, 2010

Reviews

[Jane Coffey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing! It read like a textbook. Very dry and boring.

[Shawn Thrasher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way, way too overwritten, although not overly wrought. Reads like one giganticly long Vanity Fair article. Hersh has some beautifully written passages, but almost too many of them - the clever aside got in the way of the story (if you can call it that; perhaps narrative is a better word). The gossip is never malicous, but it's very insider - lots of name dropping. If this book were a dinner party, then you'd be sitting by Burton Hersh in the corner, drink in one hand, the other hand covering his mouth as he whispers scandal and scuttlebutt in your ear mixed with policy and family. I know that sounds promisingly interesting too, but it's just went on for too long (at least for me).

[DeAnna · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I was really interested in learning more about this youngest Kennedy brother I must say it was difficult to get through. The author spoke extensively on the rest of the family in the first portion of the book, no doubt in his mind establishing what he thought set the character of Teddy. He loves to use big words that most folks in typical conversation do not utilize and he seems to contradict himself on dates of events. It was okay but I am glad I am finished with it.

[Mary Ronan Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything you wanted to know about Edward Kennedy and more. The book is strong on his personal life, which was tragic - not always because of his own doings. The political analysis is good through about 1995 when it sinks to hagiography. Too bad. Without that it would have been a fine book.