Books on the Life and Presidency of John F. Kennedy

Books on the Life and Presidency of John F. Kennedy

Books in list (12)


Title: The Letters of John F. Kennedy

Martin Sandler's The Letters of John F. Kennedy stands out as the only book that draws on letters from and to Kennedy, as collected at the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Author(s): John F. Kennedy
ISBN 13: 9781608193523
Pages: 384

Title: Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
 
In the summer of 1962, nineteen-year-old Mimi Beardsley arrived in Washington, D.C., to begin an internship in the White House press office. After just three days on the job, the privileged but sheltered young woman was presented to the President himself. Almost immediately, the two began an affair that would continue for the next eighteen months. Emotionally unprepared to counter the President’s charisma and power, Mimi was also ill-equipped to handle the feelings of isolation that would follow as she fell into the double life of a college student who was also the secret lover of the most powerful man in the world. After the President’s assassination in Dallas, she grieved alone, locked her secret away, and tried to start a new life, only to be blindsided by her past.
 
Now, no longer defined by silence or shame, Mimi Alford finally unburdens herself with this unflinchingly honest account of her life and her extremely private moments with a very public man. This paperback edition includes a special Q&A, in which the author reflects on the intense media attention surrounding the book’s initial release. Once Upon a Secret is a moving story of a woman emerging from the shadows to reclaim the truth.
 
“With the benefit of hindsight and good old-fashioned maturity, [Mimi Alford] writes not just about the secret, but the corrosive effect of keeping that secret. . . . You can’t help liking her, or her elegant and thoroughly good-natured book.”—The Spectator

“What [Alford] sacrificed in lucre she has more than recovered in credibility and dignity.”—The Washington Times
 
“Compelling . . . a polished voice telling a credible story you can take to the bank.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer
 
“Explosive . . . searingly candid.”—New York Post

Look for special features inside. Join the Circle for author chats and more.

Author(s): Mimi Alford
ISBN 13: 9780812981346
Pages: 224

Title: Nation of Immigrants

Throughout his presidency, John F. Kennedy was passionate about the issue of immigration reform. He believed that America is a nation of people who value both tradition and the exploration of new frontiers, people who deserve the freedom to build better lives for themselves in their adopted homeland. This modern edition of his posthumously published, timeless work—with a new introduction by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and a foreword by Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League—offers the late president's inspiring suggestions for immigration policy and presents a chronology of the main events in the history of immigration in America.

As continued debates on immigration engulf the nation, this paean to the importance of immigrants to our nation's prominence and success is as timely as ever.

Kennedy's classic essay on the immigrant experience in America. "The final literary work of a beloved public figure."--Saturday Review

Author(s): John F. Kennedy
ISBN 13: 9780061447549
Pages: 112

Title: A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House

As special assistant to the president, Arthur Schlesinger witnessed firsthand the politics and personalities that influenced the now legendary Kennedy administration. Schlesinger’s close relationship with JFK, as a politician and as a friend, has resulted in this authoritative yet intimate account in which the president “walks through the pages, from first to last, alert, alive, amused and amusing” (John Kenneth Galbraith). A THOUSAND DAYS is “at once a masterly literary achievement and a work of major historical significance” (New York Times).

Author(s): Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.
ISBN 13: 9780618219278
Pages: 1120

Title: Profiles in Courage

Written in 1955 by the then junior senator from the state of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage served as a clarion call to every American. The inspiring true accounts of eight unsung heroic acts by American patriots at different junctures in our nation's history, Kennedy's book became required reading, an instant classic, and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Now, a half-century later, it remains a moving, powerful, and relevant testament to the indomitable national spirit and an unparalleled celebration of that most noble of human virtues.

This special "P.S." edition of Profiles in Courage commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the book's publication. Included in this new edition, along with vintage photographs and an extensive author biography, are Kennedy's correspondence about the writing project, contemporary reviews of the book, a letter from Ernest Hemingway, and two rousing speeches from recipients of the Profile in Courage Award.

Author(s): John F. Kennedy
ISBN 13: 9780060854935
Pages: 304

Title: An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963

The #1 bestseller that forever changed how we thought about JFK, published with a new epilogue in time for the 50th anniversary of Kennedy's assassination.

When it was originally published in 2003, AN UNFINISHED LIFE brought to light new revelations about JFK's health, his love affairs, his brothers and father, and the path JFK would have taken in the Vietnam entanglement if he had survived. A blockbuster bestseller, the book was embraced by critics and readers as a landmark assessment of our 35th president. Now, in time for what promises to be remarkable media attention on Kennedy's death and legacy, AN UNFINISHED LIFE returns with a new, strikingly incisive examination by Robert Dallek in which he further assesses JFK's impact and hold on American culture.

Author(s): Robert Dallek
ISBN 13: 9780316907927
Pages: 848

Title: The Letters of John F. Kennedy

Martin Sandler's The Letters of John F. Kennedy stands out as the only book that draws on letters from and to Kennedy, as collected at the Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
Author(s): John F. Kennedy
ISBN 13: 9781608193523
Pages: 384

Title: JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters

THE ACCLAIMED BOOK, NOW IN PAPERBACK, with a reading group guide and a new afterword by the author.

At the height of the Cold War, JFK risked committing the greatest crime in human history: starting a nuclear war. Horrified by the specter of nuclear annihilation, Kennedy gradually turned away from his long-held Cold Warrior beliefs and toward a policy of lasting peace. But to the military and intelligence agencies in the United States, who were committed to winning the Cold War at any cost, Kennedy’s change of heart was a direct threat to their power and influence. Once these dark "Unspeakable" forces recognized that Kennedy’s interests were in direct opposition to their own, they tagged him as a dangerous traitor, plotted his assassination, and orchestrated the subsequent cover-up.

Douglass takes readers into the Oval Office during the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, along on the strange journey of Lee Harvey Oswald and his shadowy handlers, and to the winding road in Dallas where an ambush awaited the President’s motorcade. As Douglass convincingly documents, at every step along the way these forces of the Unspeakable were present, moving people like pawns on a chessboard to promote a dangerous and deadly agenda.

Author(s): James W. Douglass
ISBN 13: 9781439193884
Pages: 560

Title: Two Days in June

There were 1,036 days in the presidency of John F. Kennedy. This is the story of two of them. From the Hardcover edition.
Author(s): Andrew Cohen
ISBN 13: 9780771023897
Pages: 404

Title: Let the Word Go Forth: The Speeches, Statements, and Writings of John F. Kennedy, 1947 to 1963

Author(s): John F. Kennedy
ISBN 13: 9780440504061
Pages: 448

Title: John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon


On May 25, 1961, President John Kennedy declared: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth." Over his remaining time in the White House, JFK actively involved himself in space decisions and several times reviewed his decision to go to the Moon, each time concluding that the benefits of being the leader in space outweighed the massive costs of the lunar landing enterprise. Logsdon traces the evolution of JFK's thinking and policy up until his assassination, which brought to an end his reexamination of the program's goal and schedule and his hope to collaborate, rather than compete, with the Soviet Union in going to the Moon. This study, based on extensive research in primary documents and archival interviews with key members of the Kennedy administration, is the definitive examination of John Kennedy's role in sending Americans to the Moon.
Author(s): John M. Logsdon
ISBN 13: 9781137346490
Pages: 308

 


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