The Kennedy Men 1901-1963 by Laurence Leamer
The Laws of the Father
William Morrow & Co - October 16, 2001
ISBN: 0688163157 - Hardcover
Nonfiction / Biography

Reviewed by Brenda Weeaks, MyShelf.Com
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Laurence Leamer offers Kennedy fans a mammoth volume of nearly 900 pages in which he attempts to chronicle the personal, social, and political lives of the most prominent Kennedy men -- Joe Sr., Joe Jr., John, Robert, and Edward. His sources vary from Kennedy friends and family, archived sources, President Kennedy's former secretary, oval office tapes and even some never before heard tapes from CIA operatives. Leamer documents the Kennedy's accomplishments, which are many, their failures, which are mostly tragic, and family loyalty, which is unconditional even in times of guilt or public embarrassment.

The Kennedys, with the help of the American mass, continue to maintain a life in the spotlight. They have been documented and analyzed persistently since John Kennedy was elected president. Leamer is another who has set his sights on exploring our homemade royal family and documenting the facts, as he perceives them. As I read I sensed Leamer was a Kennedy admirer. I don't feel that he was as honest or open as he could have been about the Kennedy men, but I did appreciate his respect for them.

The volume is a seamless gathering of information as the book cover mentions. Below is a sample of the author's work and the impression Joe Jr. left his fellow officers:

Two of the other officers confided to each other that Joe Jr. was their model of what a man should be. He did not wear his life on his sleeve, spewing out all the details like a tour guide to his own autobiography. The Kennedy Men, Page 212

Leamer successfully draws from the simplest moments to the most historical, and is able to take all the information and narrate it into sound, comfortable read for history buffs, biography lovers, and Kennedy fans to savor and enjoy until his next volume arrives.

Leamer's Kennedy Website