Christopher Hitchens
The First Family
The Kennedys
By Peter Collier and David Horowitz
Secker and Warburg 576pp £12.50 order from our bookshop
Napoleon Bonaparte is supposed to have said that, had he been killed as he entered Moscow, he would have gone down in history as the greatest general who ever lived. Similarly, it is essential for the Kennedy myth that its exemplars should die young. If JFK had lived, his Presidency would have been besmirched by Vietnam and the domestic political corruption necessary to sustain the war. As it is, his worshippers can still convince themselves that ‘Jack’ would have made everything different. The rising generation of Americans is brought up to think of Kennedy as the man who had everything. Handsome, charming, witty, graceful, brave – a liberal but a tough guy.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'This book takes in a lot of territory, all solidly researched and footnoted. But dry? Fuhgeddaboutit.'
Patricia T O'Conner on E J White's 'You Talkin' To Me? The Unruly History of New York English'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/tawk-of-the-town
'The identification of a mighty force sparkling intermittently seems to me to constitute the finest and most consistent poetic achievement of Goudie’s book.'
Candia McWilliam on @lachlangoudie's 'The Story of Scottish Art'.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/all-that-glisters
Though 'the hotel had a reputation as the area’s best, its staff were not used to looking after world leaders, so the arrival of Cuba’s new strongman, Fidel Castro, came as something of a shock.'
@dcsandbrook on @simonhallwriter's 'Ten Days in Harlem'.
http://ow.ly/I63850Bvs10