The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings a Five-Generation History of the Ultimate Irish-Catholic Family

by Thomas Maier

Book Overview

Meticulously researched both here and abroad, The Kennedys examines the Kennedy's as exemplars of the Irish Catholic experience. Beginning with Patrick Kennedy's arrival in the Brahmin world of Boston... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465043178
• ISBN13: 9780465043170
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 704 Pages
• Weight: 7.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.1" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

Superb

Finally a book that places the Kennedys in the context of their Catholic faith. This is one of the finest biographies of the family and easily ranks alongside Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys". Avoid the horrendous documentary DVD of the same name.

Another Side of This Family

Professor Maier has documented a side of the Kennedys that many readers are quite unfamiliar with: their ongoing commitment to their religious heritage. As Maier writes, Americans are more comfortable with Kennedy's as power operators and libertines. The essential Catholic nature of these men and women, however, either bores us or makes us uncomfortable. Some liberals don't appreciate the Kennedys as Catholics because they dislike Catholicism itself. Many conservatives deny that the Kennedy's are Catholic because, for such critics, morality means sexual prudery. Maier is able to strike the proper balance in portraying Joseph, Sr., John F. Kennedy and Edward as committed, believing albeit flawed Catholics. Robert is correctly drawn as the most conventionally devout of the Kennedy males. This should not be a revelation to readers, but in a sense, it is. And the author makes one more very important and routinely ignored point: It is very significant that Americans have been unwilling to nominate (let alone elect) a Roman Catholic to the Presidency since John F. Kennedy, over 40 years ago. This work ranks as one of the best, most carefully-documented and readable of the hundreds of books published about this family.

Entertaining, Informative and Not a Rehash

While this is an excellent history of the Kennedy family, tracing its roots like few histories have done, this book is far more. The author neither shows a bias to adore this large, well-known clan nor does he show a disdain for them. He simply tells the story as it is and leaves the reader to his own conclusions.The main thrust of the book is the family's dealings with the Catholic church. We learn what many have suspected, that the Kennedy family paid off the churches leaders, providing them with much personal and institutional wealth, for the benefit of various Kennedy family members --- for special treatment and services.The book covers just about all family members who were helped by the Catholic hierarchy but, of course, it spends more time on JFK who benefited from payments made by his father on his behalf. But it goes on to the more recent affairs including marriage annulments of lesser family members.While this clan is of much less importance than it once was --- indeed it is of little importance --- this history and the new revelations add a good deal of knowledge for the student of politics and religion and leaves us with a distaste and distrust of both.Susanna K. HutchesonOwner & Executive Copy DirectorPowerwriting.com LLC

very interesting!

this new kennedy's book is very great.there are a lot of picture and the texts are very complete.you can learn a lot about the kennedys.it's never boring.So read it!