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Nonfiction Books » History Books » American History » Books on American Presidents

The best books on jfk, recommended by fredrik logevall.

JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall

Of the thousands of books written about JFK, America's iconic 35th president, which ones should you read first? Fredrik Logevall , professor of history and international affairs at Harvard University, talks us through five key books, starting with the first volume of his biography , tracking JFK's coming of age in the years that also saw America transforming from economic powerhouse to global superpower.

Interview by Eve Gerber

Prelude to Leadership: The Postwar Diary of John F. Kennedy by John F Kennedy

Profiles in Courage by John F Kennedy

Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

The best books on JFK - JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall

1 JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall

2 prelude to leadership: the postwar diary of john f. kennedy by john f kennedy, 3 profiles in courage by john f kennedy, 4 counselor: a life at the edge of history by ted sorensen, 5 the best and the brightest by david halberstam.

A lthough 40,000 books have been published about the Kennedys, according to the estimate of Jill Abramson, there are few serious efforts, prior to yours, to take comprehensive look at the life and times of JFK, America’s famous 35th president.

Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam , your 2012 history of America’s involvement in Vietnam, won both the Pulitzer and Frances Parkman prize. Is writing about Vietnam what led you to JFK?

Tell me about JFK, the man—and your book about him, the first volume of your planned two-part biography, which I asked you to discuss as one among the five books you’ve named.

Kennedy is certainly an iconic figure of the 20th century; he is also a highly consequential figure, I would argue, especially in American history, but indeed international history. His lifespan, which is 1917 to 1963, was an extraordinary period in world history and US history.

Hence the reason this became a two-volume work. In volume one, I cover his life through 1956, when he was elected to the Senate, and I also tell a second story about the rise of the United States to great power status and then to superpower status. That second story, remarkable in its own right, maps onto the life of Kennedy. That is, you can better understand some of the seminal developments of the mid-20th century through the lens of JFK’s life. Thus, the debate in the United States between so-called isolationists and interventionists prior to the U.S.’s entry into World War II ; the Second World War itself; the origins of the Cold War; the beginnings of the civil rights struggle and McCarthyism—I believe all of these important developments and controversies in the middle decades of the 20th century are illuminated by looking at them through the prism of Kennedy’s life.

It’s hard for me to imagine people not knowing the basic facts of JFK’s life, but because we have an international audience, can you please convey what is most important for people to grasp about the man who became America’s thirty-fifth president?

We need to grasp that he lived through an extraordinary half century, and that he came of age during the Second World War. Also, he was one of nine children, in a family that became fabulously wealthy. As a result, Jack Kennedy did not suffer during the Great Depression in the way that many others did. He grew up as a young man of privilege.

“Kennedy kept wonderful diaries”

But he also had intense challenges throughout his life. He was sickly from a young age to the end, and he lost the siblings closest to him in age. His older brother was killed in World War II. Kathleen (or Kick), his older sister and the sibling he was in many ways closest to, died in a 1948 plane accident. And he effectively lost his sister Rosemary to a botched lobotomy in 1941. So, he had a lot of frailty and tragedy to overcome.

Turning to the books you selected, I thought the place to start was Prelude to Leadership: The Postwar Diary of John F. Kennedy .

Kennedy kept wonderful diaries, which are quite useful from a biographer’s perspective, at various points in his life, particularly while travelling. This book, edited by Deirdre Henderson, is composed of what he wrote while he toured Europe in 1945, right after the Germans surrendered and immediately before the Japanese sued for peace. There is a foreword by Hugh Sidney, the journalist, who knew Kennedy quite well. The book is fascinating because it is a window into what a young Kennedy, just decommissioned from the Navy, was thinking as he’s seeing up-close the destruction wrought by World War II in Europe and interacting with a lot of high-powered people. He’s clearly fascinated by politics and by international relations.

How do you think his familiarity with the horrors of war as a reporter and as a Navy man influenced his views?

When he wrote these diaries, it was only about a year and a half since he’d returned from his own service in the Pacific theatre. He’s clearly skeptical about the wisdom of using military power to solve political problems. That’s one thing that comes through in the diaries. At the same time, he makes clear his conviction that the United States must play a leadership role in the new international system that is emerging from the rubble of war. Kennedy is convinced, as he travels in these middle months of 1945, that the United States has newfound responsibilities in the global arena, but that it cannot go it alone; it must work in concert with other nations. He endorses the concept of collective security.

Your book begins by detailing Kennedy’s pre-war travels throughout Europe, which would not have been possible without the extraordinary wealth and position of his father, who was Ambassador to the United Kingdom on the eve of World War II.

There’s no question that Joe Kennedy helped pave the way for JFK, his second son. Through his wealth and through his connections, he made it possible for Jack to undertake these travels both before and after World War II, which proved really important to JFK’s maturation as a thinker and his emergence as a political leader. As you say, I open my book with his travels in Europe in 1939. And though now, in 1945, he is emerging from his father’s shadow, it would have been very hard undertaking these travels, maybe impossible, without the older man’s help.

Kennedy has two things in common with the 45th president of the United States. Both he and Trump were sons of extreme fortune and both were second sons whose older brothers were long thought to be the heirs apparent.

It’s true that Trump and JFK were second sons who lost their older brothers. They were both born to privilege and to wealth. And you can say that there’s one more thing that they had in common, they were both sons of very domineering fathers.

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Profiles in Courage is your next recommendation. Of the books written by JFK this is the most familiar to readers, but it may still be unfamiliar to some, so please tell us about it.

This book is about US senators from throughout the nation’s history, who in his judgment had taken principled stands, even at the risk of hurting their political self-interest by going against the wishes of their constituents or region. It’s a book that he published in 1956, as a U.S. Senator who was beginning to think about a White House run, but it concerns issues and conundrums that had fascinated him since his undergraduate days. His senior thesis at Harvard, which became his first book, Why England Slept , concerns the development of British appeasement policy in the 1930s. But in a broader sense it’s about the dilemmas of leadership in democracies in times of crisis, and in this way is a kind of prequel to Profiles .

“He’s clearly skeptical about the wisdom of using military power to solve political problems”

The core question in Profiles in Courage is: When and in what circumstances should politicians seek to go beyond their own personal self-interest and consider what’s best for the nation? When should politicians defy the wishes of their constituents, their party or their region to take policy positions that they think are in nation’s interest? The book investigates why certain senators took such stances throughout U.S. history, how they did it and what we can learn from them. In this way I would argue it’s a timeless book that still has resonance for us today, almost seven decades after publication.

There is controversy about whether Kennedy wrote the book himself. My conclusion is that his role was crucial. His assistant, Ted Sorensen, drafted the case studies that compose the middle of the book, with help Jules David, a scholar at Georgetown. But Kennedy was responsible for the broad themes and the argument, as laid out in the introduction and the conclusion—the most important parts of the book, both then and today. Long before he met Sorensen, he had been fascinated by the concept of political courage and had honed his views on the matter.

You’ve named a book by Sorensen next on your list of books to read about JFK. Before we talk about that one, I wanted to ask whether you think Kennedy can be seen as ‘a profile in courage’ for any stance that he took during his time in the Senate.

I think so. For example, to take a rather esoteric topic, there is his stance in favour of the Saint Lawrence Seaway, even though powerful interests in Massachusetts were against it and even though allies warned Kennedy he might be committing political suicide in supporting it. He favoured the Seaway because he thought it was in the interest of the nation, and ultimately also of Massachusetts.

Moving on to the book by his assistant and speechwriter, Theodore Sorensen, please tell me about Counselor .

Counselor is the memoir of Ted Sorensen, who joined JFK’s staff in early 1953, just as JFK was entering the Senate. He swiftly became Kennedy’s most important aide, a distinction he arguably held right to the end, in November 1963. I argue it was one of the most remarkable partnerships in American political history, as the two men collaborated closely on speeches, on articles, as well as on policy issues. I suggest we can think of them as composer and lyricist, as the Rodgers (JFK) and Hart (Sorensen) of American politics.

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Sorensen is really a rare creature in Washington. He’s somebody who helps devise the substance of policy positions and is then able to translate those positions into elegant, concise prose. It’s not that common that one person can perform both of those functions. Sorensen did. This book, Counselor , which he wrote toward the end of his life, provides insights into this remarkable partnership and what made it work so well. Though Sorensen would have a long and productive career after Kennedy’s death, his name would be forever associated with JFK.

The back of this book characterizes Sorensen as Kennedy’s closest adviser, I assume whoever wrote that is not factoring in Robert Kennedy, his younger brother, who was his attorney general during his presidency. To what extent was the Kennedy presidency a partnership between brothers?

Last on your list of books to read about JFK is a title that is so familiar in the American political and historical lexicon that it’s become a meme. Tell me about David Halberstam’s The Best and the Brightest .

Halberstam was a New York Times reporter, one of the first members of the American press to report in-depth from Vietnam itself. He arrived in South Vietnam during mid-1962, in the middle of the Kennedy administration. Initially, he believed in the cause, believed it important for the United States to help the South Vietnamese prevail against the insurgency. Over time, he began to doubt this belief. As problems plagued the war effort, he reported the fact, much to the annoyance of the White House, including Kennedy himself. That’s the background.

It’s a sprawling, mesmerizing work. It belongs on any short shelf of essential Vietnam War books. Halberstam looks at the Kennedy years and the Johnson years, asking the question: What brought the so-called ‘best and the brightest,’ referred to in the somewhat ironic title, to undertake this large-scale war in Vietnam? Halberstam doesn’t get everything right. For example, to my mind he exaggerates the amount of hubris in American decision-making in these years; my research and that of others indicates that US officials were more pessimistic, more gloomily realistic, than Halberstam lets on. Still, The Best and The Brightest is altogether an extraordinary work—vivid, incisive, engrossing. Reading it as an undergraduate helped convince me to go to grad school and become a historian.

The most common ‘counterfactual’ question of the twentieth century, next perhaps to, what if Hitler hadn’t been born, is surely, what if Kennedy hadn’t been shot? Many argue that so-called ‘Americanization’ in Vietnam would not have happened, while others insist it would have. Is hypothesizing about what might have been a thought experiment that historians should engage in?

I believe they should. I’m one of those historians who believes that asking ‘what if’ questions, beyond whatever parlour-game fascination it may hold, has historical utility. We can better understand what happened in history if we consider what might’ve happened, if we consider the plausible unrealized alternatives. I’ve written about the question of what might have happened in Vietnam if Kennedy had lived, if Lyndon Johnson remained Vice President and Kennedy had to make the decisions regarding whether to send in more troops in 1964-65 when South Vietnam was on the brink of defeat. I’ll consider it anew as I research and write Volume 2.

February 1, 2021

Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]

Fredrik Logevall

Fredrik Logevall is Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Professor of History at Harvard University.

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JFK: COMING OF AGE

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • A Pulitzer Prize–winning historian takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic, yet still elusive, thirty-fifth president. “An utterly incandescent study of one of the most consequential figures of the twentieth century.”—Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States WINNER OF THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE • NAMED BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR BY The Times (London) ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Sunday Times (London), New Statesman , The Daily Telegraph, Kirkus Reviews By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history. And while hagiographic portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have come and gone in the decades since his untimely death, these accounts all fail to capture the full person. Beckoned by this gap in our historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall has spent much of the last decade searching for the “real” JFK. The result of this prodigious effort is a sweeping two-volume biography that properly contextualizes Kennedy amidst the roiling American Century. This volume spans the first thirty-nine years of JFK’s life—from birth through his decision to run for president—to reveal his early relationships, his formative experiences during World War II, his ideas, his writings, his political aspirations. In examining these pre–White House years, Logevall shows us a more serious, independently minded Kennedy than we’ve previously known, whose distinct international sensibility would prepare him to enter national politics at a critical moment in modern U.S. history. Along the way, Logevall tells the parallel story of America’s midcentury rise. As Kennedy comes of age, we see the charged debate between isolationists and interventionists in the years before Pearl Harbor; the tumult of the Second World War, through which the United States emerged as a global colossus; the outbreak and spread of the Cold War; the domestic politics of anti-Communism and the attendant scourge of McCarthyism; the growth of television’s influence on politics; and more. JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917–1956 is a sweeping history of the United States in the middle decades of the twentieth century, as well as the clearest portrait we have of this enigmatic American icon.

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My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies

The Best Biographies of John F. Kennedy

31 Thursday Aug 2017

Posted by Steve in Best Biographies Posts , President #35 - J Kennedy

≈ 35 Comments

American history , Arthur Schlesinger Jr. , book reviews , Doris Kearns Goodwin , Geoffrey Perret , Herbert Parmet , JFK , John F Kennedy , Michael O'Brien , Nigel Hamilton , Pulitzer Prize , Richard Reeves , Robert Dallek , Ted Sorensen , Thomas Reeves , Thurston Clarke

In the end, JFK proved to be everything I hoped for – and more! Like several of the presidents who preceded him, Kennedy’s life is a biographer’s dream .

His forebears were dynamic, endlessly fascinating, occasionally unscrupulous and, from time to time, oddly dysfunctional. Kennedy himself proved to be no less interesting: he was medically infirm, an ardent bookworm, a serial philanderer, often ruthlessly pragmatic and extremely charismatic.

But after spending five-and-a-half months with JFK and experiencing his presidency nine times (three of the books did not cover his time in the Oval Office) I still find Kennedy undeservedly well-ranked by historians. But that’s a subject for another day.

* “ An Unfinished Life: JFK 1917-1963 ” by Robert Dallek (published 2003) – This comprehensive biography was the first book on JFK that I read. It also proved to be my favorite. Dallek provides a devastating early indictment of JFK’s personal behavior, but more than half of the book is reserved for Kennedy’s presidency where his personal affairs take a back seat to the nation’s issues. Overall, Dallek’s biography provides the best combination of insight, balance and color of any of the JFK biographies I encountered — 4¼ stars ( Full review here )

* “ JFK: Reckless Youth ” by Nigel Hamilton (1992) – This was intended to be the first book in a three-volume series but as a result of his “unflattering” portrayal of the Kennedy family Hamilton lost access to important research documents and, regrettably, abandoned the series. This lively 800-page narrative is riveting and provides unparalleled insight into JFK’s relationships with his older brother and his parents (who are painted in an extremely unflattering light). No other biography I read covers Kennedy’s early life better than this volume — 3¾ stars ( Full review here )

* “ Kennedy: The Classic Biography ” by Ted Sorensen (1965) – Written by Kennedy’s long-time adviser and speechwriter, the author’s proximity to JFK proves both a blessing and a curse. Sorensen’s allegiance to Kennedy is quickly obvious – and occasionally distracting – but the narrative covers events from a unique perspective. But in the end it does not provide balanced, comprehensive coverage of JFK and can only serve as the eloquent observations of a staunchly loyal aide — 3½ stars ( Full review here )

* “ John F. Kennedy: A Biography ” by Michael O’Brien (2005) – This 905-page biography is encyclopedic and provides more detail (and more perspectives) on most events than any other JFK biography. But while it is 200 pages longer than Dallek’s biography (its most comparable counterpart) it is no more potent…and its numerous nuggets of wisdom are buried beneath an avalanche of unnecessary verbosity — 3½ stars ( Full review here )

* “ Jack: A Life Like No Other ” by Geoffrey Perret (2001) – This full-scale (but lightweight, at just 400 pages) biography is easy to read and decidedly informal. Unfortunately, it also provides less insight or analysis of Kennedy than most other biographies. And while readers new to JFK may appreciate its lack of “complexity” almost everyone else will finish this biography still feeling hungry — 3 stars ( Full review here )

* “ A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy ” by Thomas Reeves (1991) – This study quickly proves to be a captivating, but flawed, critique of its subject. Devoted to exposing the hypocrisy hidden beneath Camelot’s polished veneer, it feels more bluntly partisan, and less scholarly, than Nigel Hamilton’s somewhat similar “JFK: Reckless Youth.” But where Hamilton covers three decades in about 900 pages, Reeves covers JFK’s entire life in just half of that — 3 stars ( Full review here )

* “ Jack: The Struggles of John F. Kennedy ” and “ JFK: The Presidency of John F. Kennedy ” by Herbert Parmet – This two-volume series was published between 1980 and 1983 and totals nearly 900 pages (excluding notes and bibliography). Offering a thoughtful and balanced perspective on Kennedy, this series is serious, scholarly and solid. But where it was the “go to” reference on Kennedy for years, documents which have become available since its publication have left it somewhat stale. Parmet’s writing style also leaves JFK and his family feeling a bit flat and lifeless. Imagine that ! — 3½ star (Full reviews here and here )

* “ The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys ” by Doris Kearns Goodwin (1987) – This non-traditional biography of JFK is actually a family history which ends with a focus on John F. Kennedy – but only up to his presidential inauguration. Despite its heft (943 pages) it is engrossing, clever and insightful. Unfortunately it also left Goodwin embroiled in a plagiarism scandal. But for readers unconcerned with the author’s failure to adequately cite sources – or her awkward effort to conceal her sins – it is a wickedly entertaining and perceptive (if too friendly) treatment of Honey Fitz, Rose Kennedy and Joseph P. Kennedy. The book does not end as strongly as it starts and the weakest player (ironically) is JFK himself who receives less focus than he deserves — 4½ stars ( Full review here )

* “ A Thousand Days: JFK in the White House ” by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (1965) – This Pulitzer Prize-winning tome (with 1,031 pages) is part memoir, part biography and part interpretive history with a nearly exclusive focus on the Kennedy presidency. The author served as Special Assistant to President Kennedy, providing him an advantageous perch from which to view JFK’s presidency. Schlesinger’s reputation as a historian is unquestioned, but his book proves dense, dry and often tedious – as well as uneven in emphasis and highly sympathetic to Kennedy. A classic, perhaps, but not a balanced account of the Kennedy presidency — 3 stars ( Full review here )

* “ President Kennedy: Profile of Power ” by Richard Reeves (1993) – This unique (and extraordinarily revealing) book follows JFK almost moment-by-moment through his presidency. But where most biographies are written from the point of view of the biographer , Reeves’s audience often views the world through Kennedy’s own eyes. Unfortunately missing from the book is much insight on Kennedy’s family and friends, and there is little analysis to be found. But for a unique point of view, and as a supplemental book on JFK, “Profile of Power” is hard to beat — 3¾ stars ( Full review here )

* “ JFK’s Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President ” by Thurston Clarke (2013) – Ostensibly focused on the last weeks of Kennedy’s life, this book is more comprehensive than its title suggests. Almost continuously throughout its 362 pages it reaches back in time to Kennedy’s past in order to provide unfamiliar readers with adequate context. The resulting lack of continuity, however, is perhaps the book’s greatest weakness. Most confounding, however, is the book’s failure (despite its sub-title) to demonstrate that Kennedy was on the verge of greatness when he was assassinated. Otherwise, a stimulating and enjoyable read — 3½ stars ( Full review here )

Best Biography of John F. Kennedy: “ An Unfinished Life: JFK 1917-1963 ” by Robert Dallek

Honorable Mention: “ JFK: Reckless Youth ” by Nigel Hamilton (though “incomplete”)

The 15 Best Books on President John F. Kennedy

Essential books on john f. kennedy.

There are countless books on John F. Kennedy, and it comes with good reason, aside from being the youngest man elected President of the United States, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, becoming also the youngest President to die.

“Let us not despair but act. Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past – let us accept our own responsibility for the future,” he remarked.

In order to get to the bottom of what inspired one of America’s most consequential figures to the height of political power, we’ve compiled a list of the 15 best books on John F. Kennedy.

An Unfinished Life by Robert Dallek

An Unfinished Life describes the birth of the Kennedy dynasty, the complexity of Jack’s early years, and the mixture of adulation and resentment that tangled his relationships with his mother, Rose, and his father, Joseph. Forced into the shadow of his older brother, Joe, Jack struggled to find a place for himself until World War II, when he became a national hero and launched his career. Dallek reveals for the first time the full story of Kennedy’s wartime actions and the true details of how Joe was killed, opening the door to Jack’s ascendancy.

Here is the gripping story of Jack’s transformation from an awkward speaker into a brilliant politician with irresistible charm. The book carries us from Jack’s work as a senator from Massachusetts, through the fiercely contested 1960 campaign against Nixon, and takes us on to the White House itself.

This hallmark among books on John F. Kennedy also discloses for the very first time that he was far sicker than we ever knew. While laboring to present an image of robust good health, Kennedy was secretly in and out of hospitals throughout his life, so ill that he was administered last rites on several different occasions. Here is a vivid portrait of a man who, because he knew how close he was to death, lived as much as he could – sometimes hurting others in the process.

JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century by Fredrik Logevall

By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston’s wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history. And while hagiographic portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have come and gone in the decades since his untimely death, these accounts all fail to capture the full person.

Beckoned by this gap in our historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall has spent much of the last decade searching for the “real” JFK. The result of this prodigious effort is a sweeping two-volume biography that properly contextualizes Kennedy amidst the roiling American Century.

This volume spans the first thirty-nine years of JFK’s life – from birth through his decision to run for president – to reveal his early relationships, his formative experiences during World War II, his ideas, his writings, his political aspirations. In examining these pre-White House years, Logevall shows us a more serious, independently-minded Kennedy than we’ve previously known, whose distinct international sensibility would prepare him to enter national politics at a critical moment in modern U.S. history.

A Thousand Days by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. served as special assistant to President John F. Kennedy throughout his presidency – from the long and grueling campaign to Kennedy’s tragic and unexpected assassination by Lee Harvey Oswald. In A Thousand Days , Schlesinger combines intimate knowledge as one of President Kennedy’s inner circle with sweeping research and historic context to provide a look at one of the most legendary presidential administrations in American history.

From JFK’s battle with Nixon during the 1960 election, to the seemingly charmed inaugural days, to international conflict and domestic unrest, Schlesinger takes a close and fond, but unsparing, look at Kennedy’s tenure in the White House, covering well-known successes, like his involvement in the Civil Rights movement; infamous humiliations, like the Bay of Pigs; and often overlooked struggles, like the Skybolt missile mix-up, alike.

The House of Kennedy by James Patterson

The Kennedys have always been a family of charismatic adventurers, raised to take risks and excel, living by the dual family mottos: “To whom much is given, much is expected” and “Win at all costs.” And they do – but at a price.

Across decades and generations, the Kennedys have occupied a unique place in the American imagination: charmed, cursed, at once familiar and unknowable. The House of Kennedy is a revealing, fascinating account of America’s most storied family, as told by America’s most trusted storyteller.

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

During 1954-55, Kennedy, then a junior senator from the state of Massachusetts, profiled eight American patriots, mainly United States Senators, who at crucial moments in our nation’s history, revealed a special sort of greatness: men who disregarded dreadful consequences to their public and private lives to do that one thing which seemed right in itself. They were men of various political and regional allegiances – their one overriding loyalty was to the United States.

Courage such as these men shared, Kennedy makes clear, is central to all morality – a man does what he must in spite of personal consequences – and these exciting stories suggest that, without in the least disparaging the courage with which men die, we should not overlook the true greatness adorning those acts of courage with which men must live.

John F. Kennedy and PT-109 by Richard Tregaskis

In the early morning hours of August 2, 1943, US Navy motor torpedo boat PT-109 patrolled the still, black waters of Blackett Strait in the Solomon Islands. Suddenly, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri loomed out of the darkness, bearing directly down on the smaller ship. There was no time to get out of the way – the destroyer crashed into PT-109 , slicing the mosquito boat in two and setting the shark-infested waters aflame with burning gasoline. Ten surviving crewmembers and their young skipper clung to the wreckage, their odds of survival growing slimmer by the instant.

Lt. John F. Kennedy’s first command was an unqualified disaster. Yet over the next three days, the privileged son of a Boston multimillionaire displayed extraordinary courage, stamina, and leadership as he risked his life to shepherd his crew to safety and coordinate a daring rescue mission deep in enemy territory. Lieutenant Kennedy earned a Navy and Marine Corps Medal and a Purple Heart, and the story of PT-109 captured the public’s imagination and helped propel the battle-tested veteran all the way to the White House.

The Kennedy Brothers by Richard D. Mahoney

Eight years apart in age, John F. and Robert F. Kennedy were wildly different in temperament and sensibility. Jack was the leader – charismatic, ironic, capable of extraordinary growth and reach, yet also reckless. Bobby was the fearless, hardworking Boy Scout – unafraid of dirty work and ruthless about protecting his brother and destroying their enemies. Jack, it was said, was the first Irish Brahmin, Bobby the last Irish Puritan.

Richard D. Mahoney demonstrates with brilliant clarity in this impeccably documented, magisterial book, how the Kennedys lived their days of power in dangerous, trackless territory. Mahoney gives us the Kennedy days and years as we have never before seen them. Here are Jack and Bobby in all their hubris and humanity, youthfulness and fatalism.

Two Days in June by Andrew Cohen

On two consecutive days in June 1963, in two lyrical speeches, John F. Kennedy pivots dramatically and boldly on the two greatest issues of his time: nuclear arms and civil rights. In language unheard in lily white, Cold War America, he appeals to Americans to see both the Russians and the “Negroes” as human beings. His speech on June 10 leads to the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963; his speech on June 11 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Based on new material – hours of recently uncovered documentary film shot in the White House and the Justice Department, fresh interviews, and a rediscovered draft speech – Two Days in June captures Kennedy at the high noon of his presidency in startling, granular detail.

Moment by moment, JFK’s feverish forty-eight hours unspools in cinematic clarity as he addresses “peace and freedom.” In the tick-tock of the American presidency, we see Kennedy facing down George Wallace over the integration of the University of Alabama, talking obsessively about sex and politics at a dinner party in Georgetown, recoiling at a newspaper photograph of a burning monk in Saigon, planning a secret diplomatic mission to Indonesia, and reeling from the midnight murder of Medgar Evers.

Prelude to Leadership by John F. Kennedy

One of the few books by John F. Kennedy, Prelude to Leadership is his private diary from when he was a 28-year-old reporter in Europe. It offers a short yet intimate look into the mind of the man who was to become the 35th President of the United States.

As World War II was ending and the Cold War was just beginning, a young naval hero decommissioned before war’s end because of his crippling injuries, traveled through a devastated Europe. During the trip, John F. Kennedy kept a diary, never before published. As the diary makes clear, that European trip was a turning point in the future President’s life. It was on this trip that Kennedy first confronted the “long twilight struggle” for the preservation of Western freedom that would define his Presidency.

Counselor by Ted Sorensen

Sorensen returns to January 1953, when he and the freshman senator from Massachusetts began their extraordinary professional and personal relationship. Rising from legislative assistant to speechwriter and advisor, the young lawyer from Nebraska worked closely with JFK on his most important speeches, as well as his book Profiles in Courage .

In this necessary installment among books on John F. Kennedy, Sorenson describes in thrilling detail his experience advising the President during some of the most crucial days of his term, from the decision to go to the moon to the Cuban Missile Crisis, when JFK requested that the thirty-four-year-old Sorensen draft the key letter to Khrushchev at the most critical point of the world’s first nuclear confrontation.

After Kennedy was assassinated, Sorensen stayed with President Johnson for a few months before leaving to write a biography of JFK. In 1968 he returned to Washington to help run Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Through it all, Sorensen never lost sight of the ideals that brought him to Washington and to the White House, working tirelessly to promote and defend free, peaceful societies.

Once Upon A Secret by Mimi Alford

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.

JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass

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.

The Death of a President by William Manchester

As the world still reeled from the tragic and historic events of November 22, 1963, William Manchester set out, at the request of the Kennedy family, to create a detailed, authoritative record of the days immediately preceding and following President John F. Kennedy’s death.

Through hundreds of interviews, abundant travel and firsthand observation, and with unique access to the proceedings of the Warren Commission, Manchester conducted an exhaustive historical investigation, accumulating forty-five volumes of documents, exhibits, and transcribed tapes. His ultimate objective – to set down as a whole the national and personal tragedy that was JFK’s assassination – is brilliantly achieved in this galvanizing narrative, a book universally acclaimed as a landmark work of modern history.

JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton

In retelling JFK’s extraordinary life story, Nigel Hamilton has finally succeeded in getting beyond the many accretions and distortions of recent years. Here at last – often in JFK’s own inimitable words – is the real John F. Kennedy, at once roguish and intelligent, reckless and yet possessing fine judgment. Based on a wealth of never previously published letters and documents, and access to more than two thousand interviews, this gem among books on John F. Kennedy paints a profoundly touching portrait of the tormented, fun-loving, deeply amorous, and yet ambitious youth who grew up to become our thirty-fifth President.

Mary’s Mosaic by Peter Janney

Who really murdered Mary Pinchot Meyer in the fall of 1964? Why was there a mad rush by CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton to locate and confiscate her diary? What in that diary was so explosive? Had Mary Meyer finally put together the intricate pieces of a plan to assassinate her lover, President Kennedy, with the trail ultimately leading to the CIA? And was it mere coincidence that Mary was killed less than three weeks after the release of the Warren Commission report?

These are the questions that author Peter Janney finally answers in a way that no one else ever has. In doing so, he may well have solved Washington’s most famous unsolved murder. Based on years of painstaking research and interviews, much of it revealed here for the first time, the author traces the key events and influences in the life of Mary Pinchot Meyer, including her first meeting with Jack Kennedy at the Choate School in 1936; her explorations with psychedelic drugs; her relationship with Timothy Leary; and finally how she supported the president as he turned away from the Cold War toward the pursuit of world peace.

The Man Who Killed Kennedy by Roger Stone

Consummate political insider Roger Stone makes a compelling case that Lyndon Baines Johnson had the motive, means, and opportunity to orchestrate the murder of John F. Kennedy. Stone maps out the case that Johnson blackmailed his way onto the ticket in 1960 and was being dumped in 1964 to face prosecution for corruption at the hands of his nemesis attorney, Robert Kennedy. Stone uses fingerprint evidence and testimony to prove Kennedy was shot by a long-time Johnson hitman – not Lee Harvey Oswald.

Johnson would use power from his personal connections in Texas, from the criminal underworld, and from the United States government to escape an untimely end in politics and to seize even greater power. Here, in one of the most popular books on John F. Kennedy and his assassination, you will find out how and why he did it.

On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison

On March 1, 1967, New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison shocked the world by arresting local businessman Clay Shaw for conspiracy to murder the president. His alleged co-conspirator, David Ferrie, had been found dead a few days before. Garrison charged that elements of the United States government, in particular the CIA, were behind the crime.

From the beginning, his probe was virulently attacked in the media and violently denounced from Washington. His office was infiltrated and sabotaged, and witnesses disappeared and died strangely. Eventually, Shaw was acquitted after the briefest of jury deliberation and the only prosecution ever brought for the murder of President Kennedy was over.

On the Trail of the Assassins – the primary source material for Oliver Stone’s hit film JFK – is Garrison’s own account of his investigations into the background of Lee Harvey Oswald and the assassination of President Kennedy, and his prosecution of Clay Shaw in the trial that followed.

if you enjoyed this guide to essential books on John F. Kennedy, check out our list of The 10 Best Books on President Franklin D. Roosevelt !

Book Scrolling

Best Book Lists, Award Aggregation, & Book Data

The Best Books To Learn About President John F. Kennedy

(You can view the rest of our presidential Best Book lists by going to our Best US President Books page, or for a more in-depth look at how we found and ranked the books you can visit our Best Book About Every United States President article.)

	35
	36/48ths of a term
	1961-1963
	Democratic
	Lyndon B. Johnson
	Massachusetts
	Dogs, Cats, Rabbit, Horse, Canary, Hampster,
	“A time for greatness 1960”
	17
	60

The Best Book About John F. Kennedy (Appears on 10 Lists)

An unfinished life: john f. kennedy 1917-1963 by robert dallek.

All The Presidents Books
Best Presidential Bios
Library of Congress
Mandi Lindner
The Christian Science Monitor
The Tailored Man
The Wall Street Journal
The Washington Post

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.

Learn More About Book

#2 (Appears on 4 Lists)

A thousand days: john f kennedy in the white house by arthur m. schlesinger.

As special assistant to the president, Arthur Schlesinger witnessed firsthand the politics and personalities that influenced the now legendary Kennedy administration.

#3-5 (Appear on 3 Lists)

Case closed: lee harvey oswald and the assassination of jfk, by gerald posner.

Presidential History
Presidents USA
The Dallas Morning News

The assassination of John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, continues to inspire interest ranging from well-meaning speculation to bizarre conspiracy theories and controversial filmmaking. But in this landmark book, reissued with a new afterword for the 40th anniversary of the assassination, Gerald Posner examines all of the available evidence and reaches the only possible conclusion: Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. There was no second gunman on the grassy knoll. The CIA was not involved. And although more than four million pages of documents have been released since Posner first made his case, they have served only to corroborate his findings. Case Closed remains the classic account against which all books about JFK’s death must be measured.

JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton

The first in a multi-volume new biography of John F. Kennedy encompasses the early years of Kennedy’s career, his youth and Harvard education, the story of PT-109, his affair with a suspected Nazi spy, and more.

President Kennedy: Profile of Power by Richard Reeves

President Kennedy is the compelling, dramatic history of JFK’s thousand days in office. It illuminates the presidential center of power by providing an indepth look at the day-by-day decisions and dilemmas of the thirty-fifth president as he faced everything from the threat of nuclear war abroad to racial unrest at home.

#6-14 (Appear on 2 List)

Jack: the struggles of john f kennedy by herbert parmet.

Jack- The Struggles of John F. Kennedy by Herbert S. Parmet

JFK: The Presidency of John F Kennedy by Herbert Parmet

JFK, the Presidency of John F. Kennedy by Herbert S. Parmet

Filled with penetrating portraits of the significant and powerful figures in John Kennedy’s political life, this balanced account chronicles his quest for the presidency and the key events and decisions of his administration

John F. Kennedy: A Biography by Michael O’Brien

John F. Kennedy creates an absorbing, insightful and distinguished biography of one of America’s most legendary Presidents. While current fashion in Kennedy scholarship is to deride the man’s achievements, this book describes Kennedy’s strengths, explains his shortcomings, and offers many new revelations.

Kennedy by Theodore Sorensen

Now with a new preface, Kennedy is the intimate, #1 national bestselling biography of JFK by his great advisor Ted Sorensen. Part of the new Harper Perennial Political Classics series,Kennedy is a perceptive biography of an extraordinary man, and one of the 20th century’s most important sources of history.

Libra by Don DeLillo

In this powerful, eerily convincing fictional speculation on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Don DeLillo chronicles Lee Harvey Oswald’s odyssey from troubled teenager to a man of precarious stability who imagines himself an agent of history. When “history” presents itself in the form of two disgruntled CIA operatives who decide that an unsuccessful attempt on the life of the president will galvanize the nation against communism, the scales are irrevocably tipped.

Once Upon a Secret: My Affair With President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath by Mimi Alford

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.

The Dark Side of Camelot by Sy Hersh’s

This monumental work of investigative journalism reveals the Kennedy White House as never before. With its meticulously documented & compulsively readable portrait of John F. Kennedy as a man whose reckless personal behavior imperiled his presidency, The Dark Side of Camelot sparked a firestorm of controversy upon its initial publication – becoming a runaway bestseller & one of the year’s most talked-about books. Now in paperback, this watershed work will continue to provoke public discussion as the debate intensifies over what constitutes proper personal & political behavior on the part of our nation’s leaders.

The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy by Larry J. Sabato

John F. Kennedy died almost half a century ago-yet because of his extraordinary promise and untimely death, his star still resonates strongly. On the anniversary of his assassination, celebrated political scientist and analyst Larry J. Sabato-himself a teenager in the early 1960s and inspired by JFK and his presidency-explores the fascinating and powerful influence he has had over five decades on the media, the general public, and especially on each of his nine presidential successors.

JFK The Last 100 Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President by Thurston Clarke

JFK's Last Hundred Days- The Transformation of a Man and The Emergence of a Great President by Thurston Clarke

Fifty years after his death, President John F. Kennedy’s legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke argues that the heart of that legend is what might have been. As we approach the anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination, JFK’s Last Hundred Days reexamines the last months of the president’s life to show a man in the midst of great change, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.

#15-60 (Appear on 1 List)

November 22, 1963 by adam braver.

November 22, 1963 chronicles the day of John F. Kennedy’s assassination and explores the intersection of stories and memories and how they represent and mythologize that defining moment in history. Jackie’s story is interwoven with the stories of real people intimately connected with that day: a man who shares cigarettes with Jackie outside the trauma room; a motorcycle policeman flanking the motorcade; Abe Zapruder, who caught the assassination on film; the White House servants waiting for Jackie to return; and the morticians overseeing President Kennedy’s autopsy.

November 22 by Bryan Woolley

Through a myriad of characters both real and invented (and some whose names have been changed) journalist and author Bryan Woolley presents one of the best dissections of Dallas life in 1963 in his novel November 22. Covering the twenty-four hours surrounding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Woolley accurately captures the essence of the day’s atmosphere, resulting in a rich cross section of a city more complex and diverse than many observers have been willing to acknowledge. He describes in microcosm how the world changed in the twinkling of an eye and peers into the shifting lives of all people affected by this shattering event. Readers will be surprised at how relevant the book is to the Dallas—and America—of right now.

A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination by Philip Shenon

Philip Shenon, a veteran investigative journalist who spent most of his career at The New York Times, finally provides many of the answers. Though A Cruel and Shocking Act began as Shenon’s attempt to write the first insider’s history of the Warren Commission, it quickly became something much larger and more important when he discovered startling information that was withheld from the Warren Commission by the CIA, FBI and others in power in Washington. Shenon shows how the commission’s ten-month investigation was doomed to fail because the man leading it – Chief Justice Earl Warren – was more committed to protecting the Kennedy family than getting to the full truth about what happened on that tragic day. A taut, page-turning narrative, Shenon’s book features some of the most compelling figures of the twentieth century―Bobby Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, J. Edgar Hoover, Chief Justice Warren, CIA spymasters Allen Dulles and Richard Helms, as well as the CIA’s treacherous “molehunter,” James Jesus Angleton.

A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy by Thomas C. Reeves

Questioning how the less than exemplary life of JFK related to the actions and decisions of his public career, Thomas Reeves probes the bewildering vagaries of Kennedy’s character. He shows in particular the effects of his father’s ruthless political tutelage and follows JFK through a career marked by an ever widening gap between the public image of a courageous and caring intellectual leader and the private reality of indifference to those values of fidelity, compassion, and concern he extolled. Drawing extensively on both published and archival materials, Reeves shows how “the best and the brightest” whom Kennedy attracted in life glorified him in death and transformed a man personally and politically ambivalent about such issues as civil rights into the fallen champion of the subsequent reforms of the Great Society.

All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy by Edward Klein

Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and John Fitzgerald Kennedy captured the imagination of a nation from the day their names were linked. For the first time, the inner workings of this century’s most guarded romance are divulged in this in-depth portrait of a marriage. Klein breaks through the wall of secrecy to reveal the true dynamic between the couple who built Camelot. Photos throughout.

America’s Queen: A Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Sarah Bradford

America's Queen- The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Sarah Bradford

Acclaimed biographer Sarah Bradford explores the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the woman who has captivated the public for more than five decades, in a definitive portrait that is both sympathetic and frank. With an extraordinary range of candid interviews—many with people who have never spoken in such depth on record before—Bradford offers new insights into the woman behind the public persona. She creates a coherent picture out of Jackie’s tumultuous and cosmopolitan life—from the aristocratic milieu of Newport and East Hampton to the Greek isles, from political Washington to New York’s publishing community. She probes Jackie’s privileged upbringing, her highly public marriages, and her roles as mother and respected editor, and includes rare photos from private collections to create the most complete account yet written of this legendary life.

American Tabloid by James Ellroy

American Tabloid (Underworld USA #1) by James Ellroy

James Ellroy’s trademark nothing-spared rendering of reality, blistering language, and relentless narrative pace are here in electrifying abundance, put to work in a novel as shocking and daring as anything he’s written: a secret history that zeroes in on a time still shrouded in secrets and blows it wide open.

Assassination Science: Experts Speak Out on the Death of JFK by James H. Fetzer

If you have ever been tempted to believe that President Kennedy was killed by a lone,demented gunman named Lee Harvey Oswald, then Assassination Science is the one book which will convince you, beyond any reasonable doubt, that there was indeed a conspiracy and a cover-up. Completely lacking the wild speculation that have marred some books on the shooting of JFK, Assassination Science sticks to the hard facts, interpreted by medical and scientific expertise.

CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys: How and Why US Agents Conspired to Assassinate JFK and RFK by Patrick Nolan

The US Central Intelligence Agency is no stranger to conspiracy and allegations of corruption. Across the globe, violent coups have been orchestrated, high-profile targets kidnapped, and world leaders dispatched at the hands of CIA agents. During the 1960s, on domestic soil, the methods used to protect their interests and themselves at the expense of the American people were no less ruthless. In CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys, Patrick Nolan fearlessly investigates the CIA’s involvement in the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy—why the brothers needed to die and how rogue intelligence agents orchestrated history’s most infamous conspiracy.

Cold Case Kennedy: A New Investigation into the Assassination of JFK by Flip de Mey

Cold case Kennedy- een nieuw onderzoek naar de moord op JF by Flip de Mey

Cold Case Kennedy is the first book to systematically scrutinize all aspects of the murder dossier. Why did Robert Kennedy remain silent? Was there really a magic bullet? What was the role of Lyndon Johnson in the drama? Was there more than one sniper? Why did the Warren Commission refuse to consider a third victim on Dealey Plaza? What was a convicted gangster doing in the building directly across from the Texas School Book Depository? And, last but not least: was the official investigation the most in-depth inquest ever to be carried out, or was it nothing more than a clumsy attempt to sweep things under the carpet?

Conversations With Kennedy by Benjamin C. Bradlee

Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen

Counselor- A Life at the Edge of History by Theodore C. Sorensen

In this extraordinary memoir, John F. Kennedy’s closest advisor recounts in full for the first time his experience counseling Kennedy through the most dramatic moments in American history. Illuminating, revelatory, and gripping, Counselor is the brilliant, long-awaited memoir from the remarkable man who shaped the presidency and the legacy of one of the greatest leaders America has ever known.

Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy by Jim Marrs

What really happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963? Was the assassination of John F. Kennedy simply the work of a warped, solitary young man, or was something more nefarious afoot? Pulling together a wealth of evidence, including rare photos, documents, and interviews, veteran Texas journalist Jim Marrs reveals the truth about that fateful day. Thoroughly revised and updated with the latest findings about the assassination,Crossfire is the most comprehensive, convincing explanation of how, why, and by whom our thirty-fifth president was killed.

End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson

Based on sweeping research never before collected so powerfully in a single volume, and illustrated with photographs,End of Days distills Kennedy’s assassination into a pulse-pounding thriller that is sure to become the definitive popular account of this historic crime for years to come.

History Will Prove Us Right: Inside the Warren Commission Investigation into the Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Howard P. Willens

History Will Prove Us Right- Inside the Warren Commission Report on the Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Howard P. Willens

Now, in this eye-opening new account of the Commission and its findings, Howard P. Willens sets out to prove that Warren’s advice was prescient. Willens, one of the few living staff members of the Warren Commission, supervised the investigation from the very beginning and has waited until now to silence the critics and well-intentioned armchair detectives. Drawn from Willens’ own journals and extensive notes on the investigation–which have never before been published–History Will Prove Us Right tells the true and complete story, perhaps for the first time, of every aspect of the investigation into one of the century’s most harrowing events from a uniquely first-person perspective.

Jack: A Life Like No Other by Geoffrey Perret

Jack is both the first comprehensive one-volume biography of JFK and the first account of his life based on the extensive documentary record that has finally become available, including personal diaries, taped conversations from the White House, recently declassified government documents, extensive family correspondence, and crucial interviews sealed for nearly forty years.

JFK: The Second Plot by Matthew Smith

John F Kennedy by Alan Brinkley

John F. Kennedy (The American Presidents #35) by Alan Brinkley, Sean Wilentz

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a new kind of president. He redefined how Americans came to see the nation’s chief executive. He was forty-three when he was inaugurated in 1961―the youngest man ever elected to the office―and he personified what he called the “New Frontier” as the United States entered the 1960s.

John F Kennedy and a New Generation by David Burner

John F. Kennedy and a New Generation (Library of American Biography) by David Burner, Oscar Handlin

John F. Kennedy by Robert Dallek

Here readers will find the fascinating insights and groundbreaking revelations found in An Unfinished Life. The heart of the book focuses on Kennedy’s political career, especially the presidency. The book sheds light on key foreign affairs issues such as the Bay of Pigs debacle, Khrushchev’s misguided bullying of Kennedy in Vienna, the Cuban Missile crisis, the nuclear test ban, the race for space, and the initial dealings with Southeast Asia, especially Laos. It also highlights the difficulties Kennedy faced getting a domestic agenda passed, from a tax cut to spur the economy, to federal aid to education, Medicare, and civil rights. Dallek reveals the thinking behind Robert Kennedy’s appointment as Attorney General and convincingly argues that Kennedy would never have expanded the war in Vietnam the way that Lyndon Johnson did. The book also addresses questions about Kennedy’s assassination and concludes with his presidential legacy and why he remains so popular despite serving only a thousand days in office.

John Kennedy: A Political Profile by James MacGregor Burns

Kennedy by Hugh Brogan

Kennedy (Profiles in Power) by Hugh Brogan

This invaluable account provides an excellent introduction to the Presidency of John F. Kennedy. To understand Kennedy’s aims and achievements in the White House, it looks at Kennedy the man and outlines his background and early career and the influences upon him. Hugh Brogan shows Kennedy as a credible statesman, a man of solid achievement. His record as President was, broadly, impressive and would have been more so had he lived.

Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America by Christopher J Matthews

Kennedy and Nixon- The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America by Christopher J. Matthews

Traces the rivalry between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon, whose 1960 presidential contest set America’s Cold War political course.

Kennedy and the Promise of the Sixties by W. Rorabaugh

Lists It Appears On:

This book explores life in America during that brief promising period in the early sixties when John F. Kennedy was the U.S. president. Kennedy’s optimism and charm helped to give promise to the times. At the same time, Cold War frustrations in Cuba and Vietnam worried Americans, while the 1962 Missile Crisis narrowly avoided a nuclear disaster. Early in the decade, the Civil Rights movement gained momentum through student sit-ins and Freedom Rides. Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as a powerful spokesman for non-violent social change and gave his powerful “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington in 1963.

Killing JFK: 50 Years, 50 Lies: From the Warren Commission to Bill O’Reilly, A History of Deceit in the Kennedy Assassination by Lance Moore

November 22nd, 2013 marks the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy… and at last we have the unbiased facts, concisely-presented by a skilled, acclaimed author who is also a credible voice: an ordained Methodist minister.

Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years by Barbara Leaming

MRS. KENNEDY: The Missing History of the Kennedy Yearsis a poignant and deeply sympathetic account of Jacqueline Kennedy during the 1,000 days of the Kennedy presidency. Critically acclaimed biographer Barbara Leaming has — with revelatory new eyewitness testimony, profoundly moving letters written by Jackie, minute-by-minute Secret Service records, and recently declassified top-secret documents — crafted an astonishing portrait of a Jackie Kennedy the world has not previously known. Leaming’s meticulous reportage illuminates the tumultuous day-to-day life of a young woman fighting for her survival, her marriage, and her husband’s presidency. Its unique perspective on the very public Kennedy marriage during an extraordinary time in our nation’s history is both riveting and shocking. Leaming’s conviction that the Kennedys’ private life cannot be understood outside the context of the presidency makes MRS. KENNEDY something much more than a portrait of a marriage. It is also, in important ways, the story of the Kennedy presidency, with a tremendous missing piece filled in. Leaming has produced not only the definitive account of the Kennedy marriage, but also a richly detailed and marvelously dramatic picture of John F. Kennedy and his administration as they have never been seen before.

Prelude to Leadership by John F. Kennedy

Prelude to Leadership- The Post-War Diary, Summer 1945 by John F. Kennedy

Prelude to Leadership is the private diary of John F. Kennedy when he was a 28-year-old reporter in Europe. It offers a short yet intimate look into the mind of the man who was to become the 35th President of the United States.

Promises Kept: John F Kennedy’s New Frontier by Irving Bernstein

A counter-revisionist examination of JFK and his administration, Promises Kept presents a policy history of major domestic legislative efforts between 1961 and 1963. Bernstein focuses on administraive and congressional progress under Kennedy in civil rights, education, taxes, unemployment, Medicare, and the Peace Corps. He persuasively argues that Kennedy was indeed a successful president, showing that many of JFK’s campaign promises were well on their way to enactment by the time of his assassination, even after two years of dealings with a balky and often hostile Congress, and the difficulty of working in a political system changing from conservative to liberal.

Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi

Reclaiming History- The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi

The brilliant prosecutor of Charles Manson and the man who forged an iron-clad case of circumstantial guilt around O. J. Simpson in his best-selling Outrage Bugliosi is perhaps the only man in America capable of writing the definitive book on the Kennedy assassination. This is an achievement that has for years seemed beyond reach. No one imagined that such a book would ever be written: a single volume that once and for all resolves, beyond any reasonable doubt, every lingering question as to what happened in Dallas and who was responsible.

Strange Peaches by Edwin Shrake

A TV western star quits his successful series and returns to Dallas to make a documentary film that reveals the truth about his home town. His quest forces him to learn if he is capable of using his six-gun for real as he moves from booze and radical politics in oil men’s palaces into the infamous Carousel Club and the underworld of arms and dope smuggling in a city ripe for the murder of a President.

The Day Kennedy Died: Fifty Years Later: LIFE Remembers the Man and the Moment by The Editors of LIFE

LIFE The Day Kennedy Died- Fifty Years Later- LIFE Remembers the Man and the Moment by LIFE Magazine

Fifty years ago on November 22, 1963, in Dallas’s Dealey Plaza, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated while traveling in a motorcade with his wife, Jacqueline. LIFE magazine, the weekly pictorial chronicle of events in America and throughout the world, was quickly on the scene. The Kennedys had been our story: Jack and Jackie made the cover in his sailboat before they were married and he was a fresh-faced senator from Massachusetts, and the White House doors had remained open to LIFE throughout his presidency: Cecil Stoughton’s photographs of Caroline and John-John in the Oval Office, Jackie’s tour of the renovation, tense behind-the-scenes moments during 13 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis-all of this appeared in LIFE. We needed to be in Dallas.

The Death of a President, November 1963 by William Manchester

The Death of a President- November 20-November 25, 1963 by William Manchester

The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys- An American Saga by Doris Kearns Goodwin

“The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys” is the sweeping history of two immigrant families, their rise to become potent political dynasties, and the marriage that brought the two together to found the most powerful family in America. Drawing on unprecedented access to the family and its private papers, Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling historian Doris Kearns Goodwin takes readers from John Francis “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald’s baptism in 1863 through his reign as mayor of Boston, to the inauguration of his grandson as president ninety-eight years later. Each character emerges unforgettably: the young, shrewdly political Rose Fitzgerald; her powerful, manipulative husband, Joseph P. Kennedy; and the “Golden Trio” of Kennedy children — Joe Jr., Kathleen, and Jack — whose promise was eclipsed by the family’s legacy of tragedy. Through the prism of two self-made families, Goodwin reveals the ambitions and the hopes that form the fabric of the American nation.

The Hidden History of the JFK Assassination by Lamar Waldron

The Hidden History of JFK’s Assassination draws on exclusive interviews with more than two dozen associates of John and Robert Kennedy, in addition to former FBI, Secret Service, military intelligence, and Congressional personnel, who provided critical first-hand information. The book also uses government files—including the detailed FBI confession of notorious Mafia godfather Carlos Marcello—to simply and clearly reveal exactly who killed JFK. Using information never published before, the book uses Marcello’s own words to his closest associates to describe the plot. His confession is also backed up by a wealth of independent documentation.

The Kennedy Legacy by Theodore C. Sorensen

In 1968, as in 1963, an assassin’s bullets changed history. Had Robert Kennedy not been suddenly, senselessly taken from us, the world would be a better place today. “The Kennedy Legacy” goes on to project what life and the United States would have been like had Robert Kennedy lived…including another Kennedy presidency…

The Kennedy Tapes by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow

The Kennedy Tapes- Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis by Ernest R. May

The Making of the President, 1960 by Theodore H. White

The Making of the President 1960 (The Making of the President #1) by Theodore H. White

A Harper Perennial Political Classic, The Making of the President 1960 is the groundbreaking national bestseller and Pulitzer Prize-winning account of the 1960 presidential campaign and the election of John F. Kennedy. With this narrative history of American politics in action, Theodore White revolutionized the way presidential campaigns are reported. Now back in print, freshly repackaged, and with a new foreword written by Robert Dallek, The Making of the President 1960 remains the most influential publication about the election of John F. Kennedy.

The Pleasure of His Company by Paul B. Fay Jr.

The Presidency of John F Kennedy by James N. Giglio

The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (American Presidency Series) by James N. Giglio

The presidency of John F. Kennedy continues to fascinate, even as it also continues to inspire heated debates between admirers and detractors of Camelot’s fallen king. Now readers can gain a new appreciation of JFK in this thoroughly revised and updated edition of James Giglio’s bestselling study, widely acclaimed as the best and most balanced book on JFK’s White House years.

The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F Kennedy by David E. Kaiser

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy was an appalling and grisly conspiracy. In this unvarnished story, Kaiser shows that the events of November 22, 1963, cannot be understood without fully grasping the two larger stories of which they were a part: the U.S. government’s campaign against organized crime, which began in the late 1950s and accelerated dramatically under Robert Kennedy; and the furtive quest of two administrations to eliminate Fidel Castro. This book brings to light the complete, frequently shocking, story of the JFK assassination and its aftermath.

Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived by James G. Blight, Janet M. Lang, David A. Welch

Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived- Virtual JFK by James G. Blight, David A. Welch, Janet M. Lang

At the heart of this provocative book lies the fundamental question: Does it matter who is president on issues of war and peace? The Vietnam War was one of the most catastrophic and bloody in living memory, and its lessons take on resonance in light of America’s current devastating involvement in Iraq. Tackling head-on the most controversial and debated “what if” in U.S. foreign policy, this unique work explores what President John F. Kennedy would have done in Vietnam if he had not been assassinated in 1963. Drawing on a wealth of recently declassified documents, frank oral testimony of White House officials from both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and the analysis of top historians, this book presents compelling evidence that JFK was ready to end U.S. involvement well before the conflict escalated. With vivid immediacy, readers will feel they are in the president’s war room as the debates raged that forever changed the course of American history―and continue to affect us profoundly today as the shadows of Vietnam stretch into Iraq.

Warren Commission Report: Report of President’s Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by President’s Commission on The Assassination

The Warren Commission Report- The Official Report of the President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Warren Commission

The President’s Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established on Nov. 29, 1963, by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate Kennedy’s assassination. The commission’s findings have proven controversial.

We Were There: Revelations from the Dallas Doctors Who Attended to JFK on November 22, 1963 by Allen Childs MD

There are few days in American history so immortalized in public memory as November 22, 1963, the date of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Adding to the wealth of information about this tragic day is We Were There, a truly unique collection of firsthand accounts from the doctors and staff on scene at the hospital where JFK was immediately taken after he was shot.With the help of his former fellow staff members at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dr. Allen Childs recreates the horrific day, from the president’s arrival in Dallas to the public announcement of his death. Childs presents a multifaceted and sentimental reflection on the day and its aftermath.

Who Really Killed Kennedy? 50 Years Later: Stunning New Revelations About the JFK Assassination by Jerome Corsi

Almost nothing gives rise to more national intrigue than the murder of an American president. And on November 22, 2013, the nation remembered the 50th anniversary of one of the most traumatic events in modern American history, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Winter Kills by Richard Condon

In WINTER KILLS, Richard Condon probes one of the most significant events in America’s 20th century: the assassination of a president. Timothy Kegan is shot in a Philadelphia motorcade; a presidential commission condemns a lone psychopath as the killer. Fourteen years later, Tim’s half-brother, Nick, learns through a deathbed confession that Tim was the victim of a mysterious conspiracy. As Nick attempts to find the real assassin, he encounters oil kings, movie queens, venal police, organized crime, the CIA, and labor unions — all eager for power and control. The ending is guaranteed to surprise and horrify!

With Malice: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Murder of Officer J.D. Tippit by Dale K. Myers

The Best John F. Kennedy Book Lists Consulted


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Mandi Lindner
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Presidential History (Again)
Presidents USA
The Christian Science Monitor
The Dallas Morning News
The Tailored Man
The Wall Street Journal
The Washington Post
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The Best Books of 2023 – Science Fiction And Fantasy (A Year-End List Aggregation)

The Best Books of 2023 – Graphic Novels And Comics (A Year-End List Aggregation)

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JFK Jr.'s Close Friends Share Intimate, Never-Before-Told Stories in Revealing Book Excerpt (Exclusive)

In 'JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography,' we hear about the life and tragic death of John F. Kennedy's only son, who died at age 38

Liz McNeil is an Editor at Large at PEOPLE, where she's worked for over 30 years.

On Nov. 25, 1963, three-year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. saluted his assassinated father’s casket in a televised funeral procession. That heartbreaking image came to symbolize the nation's loss.

The world never stopped watching as the little boy grew into a movie-star-handsome magazine editor, married Carolyn Bessette and then died at age 38 on July 16, 1999, when the plane he was piloting crashed off Martha’s Vineyard, also killing Carolyn, 33, and her sister Lauren, 34.

For more on JFK Jr., pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday, or subscribe here .

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Before her husband’s funeral, Mrs. Kennedy asked military personnel to teach John how to salute his casket.

Philip M. Hannan, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington

"I saw John Jr. salute [that day]. I was standing by him. I thought, This is the picture that will live. I saw the reaction of the people across the street. It was an instantaneous reaction; they broke down, especially the women ... I had heard Mrs. Kennedy say, 'John, salute.' I knew then that this was probably the most poignant picture of the century."

John grew up in New York City, where his mom moved with him and Caroline in 1964. She enrolled him at the private Collegiate School.

David Clarke, schoolmate

"He had this big mop of hair. You’d see him wandering around the halls, shirttails hanging out, his tie ripped off to one side, his hair a mess. He was known for losing blazers."

He transferred to elite Andover in 1976 and had to repeat his senior year when he failed math before starting at Brown University in 1979. He was easily distractable but his name and charm brought advantages — and fun.

William Cohan, schoolmate

"One weekend, he invites me down to [the family’s apartment at] 1040 Fifth Avenue. I walk in and it’s mind-boggling. And his mother’s there. And then John goes into his room and decides he wants to get high, takes out the bong, smokes a bowl, pours the bong water out onto Fifth Avenue from his bathroom."

Gary Ginsberg, college friend

"I met John in the second-to-last row of a history class. One day ... neither of us had any clue what was really going on. John had to give an answer, and it was so inane. But after he finished his two-minute response, the professor’s nodding vigorously. 'John, that was so insightful.' That’s when I realized it was what John always referred to as 'the JK Factor.'

"There’s no table in a restaurant? Then one appears. He’d always look at me with that sh---eating grin and go, 'JK Factor.' "

Anne Marie Fox

He got his law degree from NYU in 1989 and passed the bar exam on his third try. He dated actress Daryl Hannah off and on but met and fell for Calvin Klein publicist Carolyn Bessette in 1992 before formally ending things with Hannah.

Robbie Littell, best friend

"[Carolyn] intrigued him more than anyone he’d ever met. A force of nature. He said he wanted to marry her. He was adamant."

They wed on Sept 21, 1996 on Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia.

George Kyriakos, wedding guest and Carolyn’s hairdresser

"John slept in my then-wife Jackie’s and my room the night before the wedding. Which is crazy — there was this huge mansion where everybody had rooms, and John was sleeping on a cot in our room. It was the whole don’t-sleep-with-the-bride-the-night-before-the-wedding thing."

Gogo Ferguson, who hosted their wedding

"We lit the church with all the candles and flashlights we had because by the time we got her in her dress and I drove her down the road in my truck, it was getting dark. There was no electricity. John and Carolyn stayed at our house that night. Someone had the great idea of putting rose petals all the way up our driveway and into our bedroom, which ended up a complete mess. That was gonna be the honeymoon suite."

The press attention intensified — and while John was used to it, Carolyn was overwhelmed.

Sasha Chermayeff, college friend

"She genuinely felt she was in danger. The paranoia set in when she kind of let her mind spin off: 'What if somebody wants to kidnap me?' After they got married, it just escalated and escalated and escalated. John was five years older. And being followed, it’s very different for a 200-lb. man than for a woman alone. By then she was thinking, 'They’re spying on me. They’re stalking me. Now my life is being afraid.' "

John got his pilot’s license in 1998 and found an escape in the skies.

Robbie Littell

"That was some of the happiest times he ever had. Floating around with the buzzards in his Buckeye [plane]. It was the freedom. But most of all, it was getting away. Flying made him super happy. Free spirit, in control, doing something, you know ... a James Bondian endeavor. Playing James Bond."

Gary Ginsberg

"He said, 'It’s the only place I can go where no one is bothering me. I have complete silence, and no one can get to me except the air traffic controllers.' Maybe that gives you insight into what he was really dealing with on the ground."

RoseMarie Terenzio, friend and assistant

"When he got his plane, the Cessna, you have to have a tail number, and he wanted 529 because that was his dad’s birthday — May 29. When he went to reserve that number to register it with the FAA, that one was taken. He ended up buying the number from the person who had it. The tail number on both of John’s planes was N529JK."

John was trying to keep George magazine afloat, fighting with Carolyn and worried about the looming death from cancer of his cousin Anthony Radziwill. In May 1999, he broke his ankle paragliding. John and Carolyn’s relationship hit a low point the week of July 12. Though accounts vary, John spent at least one night at the Stanhope Hotel.

Sasha Chermayeff

"They were spiting each other. Maybe Carolyn was trying to make him worry [by not coming home]. So then he did it the next night. He was not with her those last two nights. The Stanhope thing was tricky. I think he went there to meet [former girlfriend] Julie Baker. Everybody always asks me, 'What do I think would’ve happened?' Anything was possible."

Julie Baker

"I spoke to John for the last time the night before he passed. There is a rumor going around that I was with him at the Stanhope [that night]. This is not true. He was at a baseball game and wanted me to meet up with him and his friend after to grab a drink. I was away, so I couldn’t. I did however grab a quick lunch with him (which we often did) at the Stanhope a few days before the accident."

On July 16, he spent the day at the office. The plan was to fly to Martha’s Vineyard to drop off Carolyn’s sister Lauren, 34, and then fly to Hyannis, Mass., for his cousin Rory Kennedy’s wedding. But they ended up leaving later than planned.

RoseMarie Terenzio

"I got to John and Carolyn’s apartment, where I was staying until my air conditioning got fixed, at 9:30 or 10:00. They had two phones — one in the kitchen, and then a fax machine. Only three or four people had that number. I picked up the fax phone and it was Carole [Radziwill, Anthony’s wife]. She said, 'Oh thank God you’re there.' I said, 'Carole? It’s Rose.' She said, 'Where are they? They didn’t land in the Vineyard.' No one knew where John was. [RoseMarie spoke to John’s flight instructor Bob Marena.] He said the flight took off at 8:39. That’s when I panicked.

"Then Ann Freeman, Carolyn and Lauren’s mom, called . . . She was panic-stricken. She said something like, 'I told him never to take two of my girls up at the same time.' She was angry. Crying. It was panic, shock. Disbelief."

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the cause of the accident as the “pilot’s failure to maintain control of the airplane, which was a result of spatial disorientation. Factors in the accident were haze and the dark night."

Jeff Guzzetti, NTSB investigator, Office of Aviation Safety

"His flight path into the water is consistent with what is known as a graveyard spiral. The airplane makes a spiral nose-down . . . kind of like going down a drain. The plane went into one final turn and it stayed in that turn pretty much all the way down to the ocean. He went in seven miles from Martha’s Vineyard.

"I don’t think the passengers knew what was happening to them. They might’ve felt a little G-force pushing them down in their seats, like, 'This feels a little bit weird.' You would’ve heard the rush of air over the fuselage accelerate or get louder, during the final fatal plunge. Perhaps feel yourself accelerating a little bit. And then they hit the surface of the water and it’s over. Now, the pilot is different. I would expect that the pilot would be very confused and perhaps a little frightened because the instruments may have not been matching up with how he was feeling. The impact forces were tremendous."

"A week later, I got a big brown box from the mail room. I think it was from the NTSB. There was his wallet. It was all water-damaged and warped. And one crutch. I sent it to [John’s sister] Caroline [Kennedy]. I just cried."

On July 22, the USS Briscoe brought members of the Kennedy and Bessette families to scatter the ashes for a burial at sea.

Barry C. Black, Navy chaplain

"Caroline clutched the urn . . . I calmed her, and we went down. Contorted with grief is not even an adequate description. She put the ashes in. As the ashes were pouring, she reached her hand into the water to put some water back on her [as if she thought], 'I’m not going to let go of his hand.' They dropped flowers as the ship was sailing. They embraced one another as if that human closeness would somehow mitigate the ache.

Robbie Littell

"I’ve heard they cut a tree down in Irish culture when someone dies young because they only lived half of their life. And I like to say, here’s a guy who lived twice as hard as anyone else. Twice as well as anyone else . . . I think of the loss, not so much my loss, but his loss — of not being able to experience life which he loved so much. The loss was going to come when the stories faded — and I didn’t want to lose the stories."

From JFK JR.: An Intimate Oral Biography by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil. Copyright © 2024 by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil. Reprinted by permission of Gallery Books, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, LLC

JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography by RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil is on sale July 16, and available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

The Best Books to Read This July

Our picks for the 15 standout new releases of the month.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

This month, pile your nightstand with a novel about family fortunes and the secrets that come along with them, a biography of a tragic American prince with stories from the people who knew him best, a peek inside the life and process of one of our most accomplished filmmakers, and so much more. Here are T&C 's picks for the best books of July 2024.

Random House Books for Young Readers Long Island Compromise

The Fletcher family seems to have everything that anyone could want. There are sprawling houses, well-educated children, and a sterling reputation among friends and neighbors. But, of course, there's a dark spot: the long-ago kidnapping (and eventual, mostly safe return) of patriarch Carl has cast a shadow over the family for generations. In this smart, sprawling, darkly comic novel, the author of Fleishman Is In Trouble tells the tale of the Fletchers across the years, giving readers an intricate, unforgettable story of family, money, and faith, and how all three can wreak havoc even when it's least expected.

JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography

Much has been written and said about John F. Kennedy, Jr., though not all of it by people who actually knew him. In this new oral biography from RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil, JFK Jr.'s closest friends open up about who he was outside of the spotlight and what made him such a compelling figure that we're still besotted even 25 years after his untimely death.

How complicated can a trip to Greece get? Very, if you're art historian Elizabeth Clarke, who's headed to a Mediterranean island to acquire a rare sculpture but finds herself in a much more complicated—and possibly dangerous—situation that any traveler might expect. The gripping, delicious debut novel by C. Michelle Lindley brings together ideas about art, ethics, gender, power, and the economy of culture and somehow makes them into a novel that's just beginning to be read beneath an umbrella by the sea.

Anyone's Ghost

August Thompson's debut novel follows David, a New Hampshire teenager working at a convenience store, as he meets Jake, a cool, slightly older coworker, and his world is expanded. The friendship the two form is complicated and life-changing, and Thompson's touching, unforgettable story follows the two across the years as their relationship changes, but their shared history continues to hold them together.

Women in the Valley of the Kings

When one thinks of an Egyptologist, the idea that comes to mind might be of an Indiana Jones type academic, sprung from the classroom to dig for artifacts. In Kathleen Sheppard's fascinating new book, however, the world of women who helped uncover the secrets of Ancient Egypt is explored. Using travelogues, diaries, and maps, the rarely told stories of the women who helped create our understanding of the history of the world are brought to the forefront here, both correcting a lacking historical record and also sharing thrilling tales of adventure and discovery.

If you've watched the trailer for Jon M. Chu's Wicked as many times as we have, you know that the filmmaker has a flair for storytelling. This new memoir proves that it's just as effective off screen as it is on. In Viewfinder , Chu shares the story of growing up as a first-generation Chinese American in Silicon Valley, working at his parents' restaurant before attending USC and making his way to become one of the most lauded directors of his generation. Chu's story about finding your voice and learning how to use it will resonate with longtime fans and newcomers alike, and will certainly help to tide us over until Wicked hits the big screen in November.

Seeing Through: A Chronicle of Sex, Drugs, and Opera

Composer Ricky Ian Gordon, whose operas have included The Remembrance of Things Past and The Garden of the Finzi - Continis , can write for more than just the stage. In this memoir, Gordon shares stories from a life marked by creative milestones and devastating loses, shedding light on the trials that happen behind the scenes of the beautiful performances for which he's known.

The Bright Sword

In The Bright Sword , Lev Grossman turns his eye to the knights of the Round Table—and conjures up a Camelot that you've never read before. In this Arthurian epic, Grossman tells the tale of a young night named Collum, who arrives in Camelot hoping for a spot at the legendary Round Table. When he gets there, he learns he's too late: King Arthur died two weeks ago, and there's just a handful of lesser-known knights left—like Sir Palomides—and Merlin's apprentice, Nimue. Still, the rag-tag group sets out to attempt to reclaim Excalibur and rebuild Camelot. It's a magical, enthralling tale that you won't be able to put down.

All This and More

If you were the type of kid who loved the choose-your-own-adventure books, Peng Shepherd's newest, All This and More , has to be on the top of your summer reading list. In the story, 45-year-old Meek's life is in shambles. She wins the opportunity to star in a groundbreaking new reality TV show called The Bubble , where contestants can chose different life choices—and their memories will adjust accordingly. So, she begins to reconstruct her life, but glitches begin to appear in the show. A powerful, thought-provoking story about the choices we wish we made.

Catalina , Karla Cornejo Villavicencio's debut novel (following her nonfiction work, The Undocumented Americans ) follows Catalina Ituralde, an undocumented college student who is navigating the world of Harvard and elite education as her grandfather faces deportation. As Random House notes, Catalina is "part campus novel, part pop song" and "unlike any coming-of-age novel you’ve ever read—and Catalina, circled by a nimbus of chaotic energy, driven by a wild heart, is a character you will never forget." It's true: Once you finish Catalina , you won't be able to stop thinking about Catalina, or her story.

It's 1087, and there's a plague devastating Bari, a coastal Italian town. When a lowly monk, Brother Nicephorus, starts to have dreams featuring Saint Nicholas, he interprets them as a call to action. He soon teams up with Tyun, a charismatic treasure hunter, and they set out to steal the 700 year old bones of the long-dead Saint to save the city. It's a deeply entertaining work of historical fiction—and we can never resist a good heist story.

The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us

The World After Alice

In Lauren Aliza Green's debut novel, Brooklynites Morgan and Benjamin surprise their families with the news they're getting married—and soon gather everyone in Maine for the nuptials. There's history between their families: 12 years ago, Benjamin's sister Alice, who was also Morgan's best friend, jumped off a bridge and her body was never found. That past timeline is intertwined with the present of their marriage, and the fraught relationships between the families come to the fore as they navigate the lasting grief and bitterly held secrets. As Ann Napalitano wrote in her blurb, The World After Alice "glimmers with fine writing and notes of human insight."

Juno Dawson's fantasy series, Her Majesty's Royal Coven , continues to delight in this short prequel novel which brings readers to the reign of Henry VIII and the start of the coven other none other than Anne Boleyn. Even if you haven't read the other books in this series, this imagining of witchy Anne Boleyn—full of magic, courtly intrigue, and more—is an absolute delight.

At the beginning, Jane and John seem to be a perfect match. Each complements the other, and as a pair they'd like to think they're stronger than the sum of their parts. But as their relationship develops—they move and move again, they have a child, they cope with the ups and downs of life—that early promise becomes more difficult to recall. In Sarah Manguso's difficult, impossible to put down novel, their relationship is laid bare and the ways in which we try to find contentment, or even just muddle through, are examined with searing skill. Yes, everyone will be talking about this one, but please don't share it with any friends still in a honeymoon phase.

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

Adam Rathe is Town & Country 's Deputy Features Director, covering arts and culture and a range of other subjects.

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JFK's only grandson is doing political coverage for this outlet. It's not a surprise

Jack Schlossberg has got a new gig.

The son of Caroline Kennedy and the only grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy will serve as a political correspondent for Vogue ahead of the 2024 general election. And while many younger followers of Schlossberg, 31, may be more familiar with his "silly" TikTok presence , the Kennedy family member is not shying away from his "family's legacy of public service."

"I take that very seriously, and I want to contribute in my own way. I have big dreams, but I also know that I’m trying to make a positive impact today," he told Vogue, who announced his new role on Wednesday.

Schlossberg went to Yale for undergrad and followed in his grandfather's footsteps to Harvard, where he graduated from its law school and also earned an MBA. Online, his social media is filled with quirky takes and impressions.

He told Vogue he plans to take the "fun" strategy in his new position.

"If you're going to ask people to think about something serious, you need to make it entertaining or fun. That's what all the great leaders do," Schlossberg said. "You can't just hammer people with how bad stuff is. You've got to bring some positivity and good energy to the things you think are important."

MSNBC and Fox News agree: The CNN Presidential Debate was a grisly mess

Jack Schlossberg talks Kennedy legacy, TikTok, 2024 election

Schlossberg called his grandfather his "hero" and his administration a "blueprint" for how "progressivism can work in America."

He has gotten "really nerdy" by binging JFK's speeches, he said, and is proud of his grandfather's legacy, which has "inspired a whole generation of people to enter public service."

Schlossberg also reflected on his ability to connect with young people, especially online, where people respond better to authenticity.

"I'm just having a good time. I'm a fun, wacky guy," he said. "I'm a silly goose, a silly goose who's trying, just trying, to get the truth out there."

Ahead of the 2024 election, Schlossberg said he's "worried" that things "will actually go badly in daily life if Trump wins," adding: "That's looking more and more likely every day."

"People will lose their health care, voting rights will continue to be under attack, our elections will be way less safe, and we're going to pull out of all of our alliances," he said. "It's going to be a lot more work for younger people in the long run to have to clean that up than it is to show up and vote one day out of the year."

First Biden-Trump debate: The 5 weirdest moments

He recognizes civil rights as one of young people's top concerns, and he is uneasy about issues like the environment and the high-stakes 2024 election. But Schlossberg still tries to "stay positive" about the political landscape.

"For some reason, these days, that’s a unique perspective. That says a lot about our media environment," he said. "To me, if you're going to talk about stuff, it's a responsibility to try to make it a little bit better."

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

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An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 Hardcover – May 1, 2003

Print length 848 pages
Language English
Publisher Little, Brown and Company
Publication date May 1, 2003
Dimensions 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
ISBN-10 9780316172387
ISBN-13 978-0316172387
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Editorial Reviews

From publishers weekly, from the new yorker, about the author, product details.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0316172383
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown and Company; First Edition (May 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 848 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780316172387
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0316172387
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.6 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches
#1,898 in Presidents & Heads of State Biographies
#3,233 in Political Leader Biographies

About the author

Robert dallek.

Robert Dallek is the author of Nixon and Kissinger, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, among other books. His writing has appeared in the The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Vanity Fair. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Society of American Historians, for which he served as president in 2004–2005. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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Customers say

Customers find the book brings up interesting information and new information on JFK. They also describe the biography as a really good overview of his life and an epic journey. Readers praise the writing style as well-written and elegant. However, some find the story pace slow and take a while to finish.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book well-written, well-sourced, and informative. They also appreciate the presentation and unique and intelligent style.

"Robert Dallek's biography on John F. Kennedy is very well titled . It is a work that leaves you a little unsatisfied...." Read more

"...The book was well written and held my attention to the end." Read more

"...One is left with an image of a man with great style and charm ...." Read more

"... This book is well written , well sourced, and very informative...." Read more

Customers find the book brings up interesting information and new information on JFK. They also appreciate the sensitive and professional treatment of facts. Readers say the book is well written and holds their attention to the end.

"...it and the Kennedy family have concurred as to his sensitive and professional treatment of facts which were damaging then and avoided but have a..." Read more

"...The book was well written and held my attention to the end ." Read more

"A very good biography about JFK. It's a thorough book that is about a 1000 pages long. But when a book is very good it reads fast. This one did!..." Read more

"...This book is well written, well sourced, and very informative ...." Read more

Customers find the biography a good overview of JFK's life. They also say it's a solid read, and fascinating. Readers say it reveals information about his early life, his serious almost life-long medical issues, and his political command and command of the issues. They say it is perfect for Kennedy admirers, and feels like an epic journey.

"This was a very detailed account of the comparatively short life of JFK...." Read more

"A very good biography about JFK . It's a thorough book that is about a 1000 pages long. But when a book is very good it reads fast. This one did!..." Read more

"...one of the strengths that Dallek brings out in this easy to read and compelling (except as noted)biography of one of the most talked and written..." Read more

"...Overall this was a fascinating look at a leader who rose to the challenges that his time in office produced and raises interesting questions about..." Read more

Customers find the book well-balanced and candid, with a fair, unvarnished telling of the story.

"A well balanced and candid look at a president that has as many myths and faults as any of our presidents." Read more

"Dallek's book is a fair , unvarnished telling of the story of one of the most popular and compelling political figures of the twentieth century." Read more

" Well balanced , thoughtful and thorough review of JFK's life and presidency. Does a good job of exploring the "why's " as well as the facts." Read more

" Positive but balanced ..." Read more

Customers find the story pace of the book too detail oriented and slow.

"I agree with Norman Ravitch that this book drags ...." Read more

"I want to like this book, I really do. But it moves along so slowly . I had to just stop midway through. Enough is enough...." Read more

"I gave up after 522 pages. This is one of the most tedious and boring biographies I have ever read...." Read more

"...It's good but definitely too long and takes a long time to read ." Read more

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IMAGES

JFK A Complete Biography 1917
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JFK Biography Book. The Living JFK by Robert B. Webb. 1964 Hardcover
JFK: A Complete Biography 1917-1963 by William H.A. Carr
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COMMENTS

JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic, yet still elusive, thirty-fifth president. "An utterly incandescent study of one of the most consequential figures of the twentieth century."—Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the ...
The Best Books on JFK
Read. 1 JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall. 2 Prelude to Leadership: The Postwar Diary of John F. Kennedy by John F Kennedy. 3 Profiles in Courage by John F Kennedy. 4 Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen. 5 The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam.
The 11 Best Books About John F. Kennedy
Vincent T. Bugliosi, the prosecutor who tried cult leader Charles Manson, turns his attention to the assassination of JFK in Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy ...
An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917
Robert Dallek is the author of Nixon and Kissinger, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, and An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, among other books. His writing has appeared in the The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Vanity Fair. He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Society of ...
Amazon.com: John F. Kennedy: A Biography: 9780312281298: O'Brien
John F. Kennedy creates an absorbing, insightful and distinguished biography of one of America's most legendary Presidents. While current fashion in Kennedy scholarship is to deride the man's achievements, this book describes Kennedy's strengths, explains his shortcomings, and offers many new revelations. There are many specialized books on ...
JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
My first biography of John F. Kennedy was a comic book. One image that has always remained in my memory is of the Kennedy family at the dinner table, father Joe quizzing his children on current events. ... "JFK" is a masterfully written, impeccably researched book about John F. Kennedy's life from birth to the cusp of winning the presidency in ...
Jfk: Coming of Age
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic, yet still elusive, thirty-fifth president. "An utterly incandescent study of one of the most consequential figures of the twentieth century."—Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the ...
John F. Kennedy: A Biography by Michael O'Brien
3.99. 226 ratings15 reviews. John F. Kennedy creates an absorbing, insightful and distinguished biography of one of America's most legendary Presidents. While current fashion in Kennedy scholarship is to deride the man's achievements, this book describes Kennedy's strengths, explains his shortcomings, and offers many new revelations.
New JFK biography aims to chronicle a complex life
The first of a two-volume set, "JFK" aims to give the clearest picture yet available of the 35th president set against the historical, political, and cultural context of a pivotal age. The book begins with great-grandfather Patrick Kennedy's arrival in Boston during the Irish potato famine and runs through Jack's childhood, studies at ...
JFK by Fredrik Logevall
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN: 9780241972014. Number of pages: 816. Weight: 585 g. Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 44 mm. MEDIA REVIEWS. The most compelling biography I have read in years - Max Hastings, Sunday Times. Excellent . . . shaping up to be the definitive account of JFK's life - Daniel Finkelstein, The Times, Book of the Week.
The Best Biographies of John F. Kennedy
Dallek provides a devastating early indictment of JFK's personal behavior, but more than half of the book is reserved for Kennedy's presidency where his personal affairs take a back seat to the nation's issues. Overall, Dallek's biography provides the best combination of insight, balance and color of any of the JFK biographies I ...
JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
ISBN. 9780812997132. JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, (1917-1956) is a 2020 biography written by historian Fredrik Logevall. Published by Random House in September 2020, the work examines the education, military service, and political career of an American president who had acquired a great deal of his knowledge of International ...
The 15 Best Books on President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy and PT-109 by Richard Tregaskis. In the early morning hours of August 2, 1943, US Navy motor torpedo boat PT-109 patrolled the still, black waters of Blackett Strait in the Solomon Islands. Suddenly, the Japanese destroyer Amagiri loomed out of the darkness, bearing directly down on the smaller ship. There was no time to get out of the way - the destroyer crashed into PT-109 ...
Best Books about JFK (76 books)
James Hepburn , very good book on JFK ! 76 books based on 40 votes: JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died & Why It Matters by James W Douglas, On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison, Rush...
Life of John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Born Brookline, Mass. (83 Beals Street) May 29, 1917. In all, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy would have nine children, four boys and five girls. She kept notecards for each of them in a small wooden file box and made a point of writing down everything from a doctor's visit to the shoe size they had at a particular age.
JFK: Volume 1: 1917-1956
An absolutely incredible first volume of biography on John F. Kennedy from his birth in 1917 until just after the Democratic National Convention in 1956, where he came extremely close to winning the Vice Presidential nomination. ... John F. Kennedy in this superb book is first and foremost a man, and a member of that family rather than a ...
The Best Books To Learn About President John F. Kennedy
The first in a multi-volume new biography of John F. Kennedy encompasses the early years of Kennedy's career, his youth and Harvard education, the story of PT-109, his affair with a suspected Nazi spy, and more. ... Learn More About Book. John F. Kennedy: A Biography by Michael O'Brien. Lists It Appears On: Best Presidential Bios;
PDF A Picture Book Biography of John F. Kennedy
A Picture Book Biography of John F. Kennedy Eight of the Kennedy children, Hyannis Port, 1928. [PX 93-49: P16] ... book about the start of the war called Why England Slept. While he was studying in ... John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, and their two children, John Jr. and Caroline, had fun family time on Cape Cod at the Kennedy ...
JFK Jr.'s Friends Share Never-Before-Told Stories in Revealing Book
In a revealing new book, 'JFK Jr.: An Intimate Oral Biography,' close friends share never-before-told stories about the final days of John F. Kennedy Jr., the famed son of slain president John ...
The Best Books to Read This July
Much has been written and said about John F. Kennedy, Jr., though not all of it by people who actually knew him. In this new oral biography from RoseMarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil, JFK Jr.'s ...
JFK's only grandson is doing political coverage for this outlet. It's
Jack Schlossberg has got a new gig. The son of Caroline Kennedy and the only grandson of the late President John F. Kennedy will serve as a political correspondent for Vogue ahead of the 2024 ...
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The main attraction of 40k is the miniatures, but there are also many video games, board games, books, ect. that are all connected in the 40k universe. This subreddit is for anything and everything related to Warhammer 40k. Members Online. Got inspired by a recent post so decided to visit Warhammer World. It's brilliant.
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An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
John F. Kennedy : An Unfinished Life 1917-1963. $86.79. (1,120) Only 1 left in stock - order soon. An Unfinished Life is the first major, single-volume life of John F. Kennedy to be written by a historian in nearly four decades. Report an issue with this product or seller. Print length.
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Cities near Elektrostal. Places of interest. Pavlovskiy Posad Noginsk. Travel guide resource for your visit to Elektrostal. Discover the best of Elektrostal so you can plan your trip right.

Nonfiction Books » History Books » American History » Books on American Presidents

JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall

Prelude to Leadership: The Postwar Diary of John F. Kennedy by John F Kennedy

Profiles in Courage by John F Kennedy

Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen

The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

1 JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall

JFK: COMING OF AGE

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The Best Biographies of John F. Kennedy

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The 15 Best Books on President John F. Kennedy

An Unfinished Life by Robert Dallek

JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century by Fredrik Logevall

A Thousand Days by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

The House of Kennedy by James Patterson

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy and PT-109 by Richard Tregaskis

The Kennedy Brothers by Richard D. Mahoney

Two Days in June by Andrew Cohen

Prelude to Leadership by John F. Kennedy

Counselor by Ted Sorensen

Once Upon A Secret by Mimi Alford

JFK and the Unspeakable by James W. Douglass

The Death of a President by William Manchester

JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton

Mary’s Mosaic by Peter Janney

The Man Who Killed Kennedy by Roger Stone

On the Trail of the Assassins by Jim Garrison

Book Scrolling

The Best Books To Learn About President John F. Kennedy

The Best Book About John F. Kennedy (Appears on 10 Lists)

#2 (Appears on 4 Lists)

#3-5 (Appear on 3 Lists)

JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton

President Kennedy: Profile of Power by Richard Reeves

#6-14 (Appear on 2 List)

JFK: The Presidency of John F Kennedy by Herbert Parmet

John F. Kennedy: A Biography by Michael O’Brien

Kennedy by Theodore Sorensen

Libra by Don DeLillo

Once Upon a Secret: My Affair With President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath by Mimi Alford

The Dark Side of Camelot by Sy Hersh’s

The Kennedy Half-Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy by Larry J. Sabato

JFK The Last 100 Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President by Thurston Clarke

#15-60 (Appear on 1 List)

November 22 by Bryan Woolley

A Cruel and Shocking Act: The Secret History of the Kennedy Assassination by Philip Shenon

A Question of Character: A Life of John F. Kennedy by Thomas C. Reeves

All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy by Edward Klein

America’s Queen: A Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis by Sarah Bradford

American Tabloid by James Ellroy

Assassination Science: Experts Speak Out on the Death of JFK by James H. Fetzer

CIA Rogues and the Killing of the Kennedys: How and Why US Agents Conspired to Assassinate JFK and RFK by Patrick Nolan

Cold Case Kennedy: A New Investigation into the Assassination of JFK by Flip de Mey

Conversations With Kennedy by Benjamin C. Bradlee

Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen

Crossfire: The Plot That Killed Kennedy by Jim Marrs

End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy by James L. Swanson

History Will Prove Us Right: Inside the Warren Commission Investigation into the Assassination of John F. Kennedy by Howard P. Willens

Jack: A Life Like No Other by Geoffrey Perret

JFK: The Second Plot by Matthew Smith

John F Kennedy by Alan Brinkley

John F Kennedy and a New Generation by David Burner

John F. Kennedy by Robert Dallek

John Kennedy: A Political Profile by James MacGregor Burns

Kennedy by Hugh Brogan

Kennedy & Nixon: The Rivalry That Shaped Postwar America by Christopher J Matthews

Kennedy and the Promise of the Sixties by W. Rorabaugh

Killing JFK: 50 Years, 50 Lies: From the Warren Commission to Bill O’Reilly, A History of Deceit in the Kennedy Assassination by Lance Moore

Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years by Barbara Leaming

Prelude to Leadership by John F. Kennedy

Promises Kept: John F Kennedy’s New Frontier by Irving Bernstein

Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Vincent Bugliosi

Strange Peaches by Edwin Shrake

The Day Kennedy Died: Fifty Years Later: LIFE Remembers the Man and the Moment by The Editors of LIFE

The Death of a President, November 1963 by William Manchester

The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys by Doris Kearns Goodwin