Remembering Jack: Intimate and Unseen Photographs of the Kennedys

by Jacques Lowe, Robert F. Kennedy (Contributor), Hugh Sidey (Contributor)

An extraordinary collection of six hundred photographs from the archives of the Kennedy family, many never before published, taken by JFK's personal photographer Jacques Lowe, is accompanied by personal commentary from friends and family and captures some of the intimate moments within the Kennedy enclave. 75,000 first printing.

Genres: History, Photography, Biography, Nonfiction, Politics

424 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[CD · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kennedy Family photos. The images in this work are those that the negatives for were lost in the World Trade Center disaster. An eerie coincidence how both are so entwined now with the American National psyche.

Jacques Lowe's friends and daughter worked on this book posthumously from selected contact prints and high quality prints to recreate this dramatic photographic epic of 'Camelot'. While JFK is the center of this time period, family and friends of JFK and Jackie are brought to life in sequences that as individual photos are less than the sum of the whole.

Included in the collection of 600 tritone photographs are weddings, family gatherings, political drama and frivolity. The book and images end on the final solemn note of punctuation to the end of Camelot with JFK's casket all but lowered in to its final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery.

From Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(RFK's son)'s intro, to opening notes from both Lowe's daughter and friends to the closing by Tom Wolfe there is a lot of material here. We even find out the details of the story of why Tom Wolfe wears white suits even to this day.

For photographs that live up to being worth a thousand words, these images relate an era of history in ways that could not have been as well told in any other fashion.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snapped up this book for a fiver from the local Oxfam shop. Over four hundred pages of 35mm black and white photographs taken by Jacques Lowe after being given privileged access to the Kennedy clan during the 'golden time'. There are more than six hundred pictures in this collection, half of them previously unseen.
Intimate and happy family shots beginning in 1956 with a thirty year old Robert Kennedy at Hickory Hill before Lowe began taking portraits of John Kennedy, the Senator, in 1958, followed by JFK on the campaign trail for the presidency in 1959, shots of the inauguration and finally in the White House up to the summer of 1961. There are also family shots of a twenty nine year old Ted with wife Joan at their home in Boston and at Hyannis.
The sequence ends at Arlington.
Sadly, Lowe's collection of negatives were destroyed in the World Trade Centre in 2001. His daughter Thomasina authorised this publication in 2003 from existing prints and contact sheets. Introduction and superb commentary throughout from Hugh Sidey and contributions from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tom Wolfe.
For dedicated 'Kennedyphiles' with a listed price of £30, this is a snip! A beautiful book.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It combines two of my favorite things; The Kennedy's and photography.

[Stew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly awesome!

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

great accounts of what was going on in the pictures. def a book you can read, not just photographs like it implies

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Couldn't put it down. I was actually quite sad when I was finished.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought it was interesting, expected it to be more like the “Kennedy Family Album” showing the whole family and not just JFK political career

[Paul Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had this book on my shelf for more than a few years now. I finally made it a point to read Remembering Jack: Intimate and Unseen Photographs of the Kennedy by Jacques Lowe. Mr. Lowe was a photographer and publisher. He is best known for his role as U.S. President John F. Kennedy's official photographer during his election campaign and presidency. This book is filled with photographs, contact sheets of many of the photographs Mr. Lowe took of JFK during the 1960 campaign through the first year of JFK's presidency. Some of the photographs are familiar. Some are brand new and exquisite for the intimacy the images depict. The pictures can make the reader who was around at the time sentimental. For those who were not around at the time, the photos are a glimpse into a political era that no longer exists. They are exciting, captivating and full of the idealism many have attached to that era. These photographs also have a tie-in to another horrible day in American history: September 11th. The photos and contact sheets had been stored in a fortified safe inside a J.P. Morgan Chase Bank vault in building #5 of the World Trade Centre. While Building #5 was eventually demolished, it was assumed the pictures and contact sheets were lost. Lowe's daughter, Thomasina, was informed in February 2002, the photographs had been found with the safe incredibly intact. There is text provided by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Time magazine writer and contributing editor Hugh Sidey, Tom Wolfe and Thomasina Lowe herself. I highly recommend this book. It's more than just sentimentality, but a reminder of what used to be.

[Connor Oswald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love picture books for adults.

[Helen Meuser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great photos of JFK and his family

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pix are fine (although I could've done with a bit less Bobby). Hugh's accompanying text/captions though are a good deal less true to the subject: far too reverent (and Camelottish).

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lowe had such a great eye. The photographs were beautifully taken. This was a really nice insight into the Kennedy clan.