In the nation's varied memory, Robert Kennedy is a contradictory figure, a hard-bullying McCarthyite obsessed with Hoffa and Castro but also a gentle, poetry-reading herald of a new age bent on stopping the Vietnam War and lifting up the poor. As Evan Thomas (The Wise Men and Man to See) writes, both liberals and conservatives have their own spin on his legacy, with predictably different visions of what he would have done if he had lived to be our 37th president. As it turns out, none of the Good Bobby/Bad Bobby projections are right, and none are completely wrong either. In sorting through the myths and the truths, Thomas provides a detailed portrait of a man centrally engaged in most of the important issues of the postwar era, and concludes that the best way to understand him is "fear":

He was brave because he was afraid. His monsters were too large and close at hand to simply flee. He had to turn and fight them.... He became a one-man underground, honeycombed with hidden passages, speaking in code, trusting no one completely, ready to face the firing squad--but also knowing when to slip away to fight again another day. Although he affected simplicity and directness, he became an extraordinarily complicated and subtle man. His shaking hands and reedy voice, his groping for words as well as meaning, his occasional resort to subterfuge, do not diminish his daring. Precisely because he was fearful and self-doubting, his story is an epic of courage.

RFK was born after the chosen siblings had been established in the Kennedy clan. He originally had low standing in the family hierarchy. Thomas describes how the "runt" of the family, the one not born and raised for power and whose only ambition was to please the father who ignored him, turned into the essential son, the defender of the family and mediator between Joe Sr. and JFK. He fleshes out Bobby's role in JFK's campaigns, his testy relations with Martin Luther King, his middle-ground stance on integration, his performance during the Cuban missile crisis, and his genuine concern for the poor. He reveals the truth behind such events as the vice-presidential appointment of Lyndon Johnson as well as the famous calls from the Kennedy brothers, which got Martin Luther King out of jail. He also tries to untangle the webs obscuring the Kennedys' involvement in Castro assassination plots, their relations with Marilyn Monroe, and RFK's guilt over his brother's death. And finally, he, too, speculates on what kind of president one of history's great what-ifs might have made. The picture he paints--of a sensitive, courageous, and determined man on the verge of achieving greatness--is more complex and human than any we've had before, and reminds us again of the tragedy of RFK's death. --Lesley Reed


From Publishers Weekly
Thomas has made a career writing about Washington insiders (he was co-author, with Walter Isaacson, of The Wise Men). A high-ranking editor at Newsweek, Thomas (an insider himself) has now written a nuanced biography of one of the 20th century's most iconic insiders. Although there are no startling revelations in this capably written, thick book, there is a lot of new information, thanks to the increasing openness of Kennedy's surviving colleagues and the new availability of oral histories, RFK's personal files, declassified national security documents and other sources. As a result, Thomas offers an illumination of the man's failings as well as his strengths, and unravels the complex knot of relationships within the Kennedy family. Portraying RFK as a man whose "house had many mansions," Thomas calls him "the lucky one"Ahe was raised in the shadow of his brothers, and his passion-filled life shined a light into "the family cave" of secrets. Throughout, Thomas highlights the contradictions of Kennedy's personaAhe was an extraordinarily wealthy individual who could act spoiled one day, then express empathy with the have-nots on the next; he was a devoted, sometimes around-the-clock protector of his often wayward older brother, John, but still established his own career; he was shy but sought out publicity; and he was an enthusiastic family man who ran for the presidency despite its obvious risks. Though primarily a tribute to a man whose potential for greatness was cut short, Thomas's book sheds new light on a manAand an era, and a familyAabout whom Americans will probably never know the whole truth. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Since 1996, a number of fine books have investigated aspects of the life and legacy of this enigmatic political idol. If the Kennedys are America's royal family, then Robert F. Kennedy was the tribune of the poor. He is well served by this gracefully written, thoroughly researched, and accessible popular biography by Thomas, the assistant managing editor of Newsweek. This study is not as detailed as Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s uncritical Robert Kennedy and His Times (LJ 8/78) or James Hilty's Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector (LJ 4/15/98), which is the first of two volumes. But Thomas's narrative, skillfully woven from numerous interviews, vividly reveals a very human Kennedy struggling to come to terms with his brother's assassination, his role in wiretapping Martin Luther King Jr., and his fatal decision to take on Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 Democratic primary. Thomas's chilling account of the Cuban Missile Crisis shows Kennedy at his best, while his portrayal of his feuds with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and Cuban president Fidel Castro reveal him at his worst. Thomas convincingly debunks a number of the myths that envelop Kennedy. Highly recommended for public libraries.DKarl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Expect to see Thomas, assistant managing editor of Newsweek in Washington and a frequent talking head on the DC chat shows, on the promotional circuit for this new biography of RFK. Thomas coauthored The Wise Men (1986) with Walter Isaacson and has written biographies of Washington power broker Edward Bennett Williams (The Man to See, 1991) and CIA spooks (The Very Best Men, 1995). He steers a difficult course here, as he observes in a brief introduction to his lengthy source notes, between "hagiography and conspiracy theory," drawing on new interviews with those who knew Kennedy as well as the voluminous written record of his life and political career. Friends and foes have spun enough myths about RFK to bewilder the casual reader; Thomas sets out to examine the evidence, portraying a complex man who changed in significant ways over the course of his 42 years. In terms of Kennedy's character and personality, Thomas' analysis inevitably psychologizes RFK's position in the noisy, aggressive Kennedy clan and then explores the devastating impact of JFK's assassination. In tracing the middle Kennedy's public career, Thomas stresses his use of back channels, going around the chain of command, to obtain information he (or his brother) needed. A solid, judicious life of a politician whose tragic death inspired a generation of what-if history. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
He was "Good Bobby," who, as his brother Ted eulogized him, "saw wrong and tried to right it . . . saw suffering and tried to heal it." And "Bad Bobby," the ruthless and manipulative bully of countless conspiracy theories. Thomas's unvarnished but sympathetic and fair-minded portrayal is packed with new details about Kennedy's early life and his behind-the-scenes machinations, including new revelations about the 1960 and 1968 presidential campaigns, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and his long struggles with J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon Johnson.


About the Author
Evan Thomas is Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek in Washington, D.C. He is the author of The Wise Men(with Walter Isaacson); The Man to See: Edward Bennett Williams, Ultimate Insider; and The Very Best Men -- Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two daughters.

FROM OUR EDITORS

Bookseller Reviews

Within the Kennedy family, Robert was known as either his mother's pet or the runt. In this highly competitive environment, he was oversensitive, moody, and quiet; a mediocre student, an intense, but awkward athlete. But "Mrs. Kennedy's little boy Bobby" was brooding himself into maturity. This biography, the first major R.F.K. life in twenty years, presents the eternal younger brother as a fierce and sullen campaigner, a talented (if ruthless) negotiator not adverse to use back channels. Wise Man author Thomas scrutinizes the mythos surround Robert, including his links to the mob, assassination plots and Ms. Monroe. As Newsweek readers recently learned, his rendering of the Cuban Missile Crises brings it all back closer than ninety miles from home.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Robert Kennedy has been viewed as hero and villain -- as the "Good Bobby" who, as his brother Ted eulogized him, "saw wrong and tried to right it,...saw suffering and tried to heal it" -- or as the "Bad Bobby" of countless conspiracy theories, the ruthless and manipulative bully who plotted with the Mafia to kill Castro and lusted after Marilyn Monroe. Evan Thomas's achievement is to realize RFK as a human being, to bring to life an extraordinarily complex man who was at once kind and cruel, devious and honest, fearful and brave.

Thomas had unusual access to his subject's life. He is the first biographer since Arthur Schlesinger to see RFK's private papers, and he interviewed all of Kennedy's closest aides and advisers, many of whom were forthcoming in ways that they had not been before.

The portrait that emerges is unvarnished but sympathetic, fair-minded and always readable. It is packed with new detail about Kennedy's early life and his behind-the-scenes machinations: his involvement in a cheating incident in prep school; his first attempt at romance; and his many back-channel political operations -- with new revelations about the 1960 and 1968 presidential campaigns, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and his long struggles with J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon Johnson, both of whom were subtly and not-so-subtly trying to blackmail the Kennedys.

In a clear and fast-paced narrative, Thomas cuts through the mythology to reveal a character who, though he died young just as he was reaching for ultimate power, remains one of the century's most fascinating men.

FROM THE CRITICS

Book Magazine

Thomas has succeeded in writing the first full-fledged biography of Robert Kennedy since Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s Robert Kennedy and His Times. Thomas had access to some of RFK's personal papers that Schlesinger did not see, and the result is one of the most readable and compelling political biographies in years. Here the author addresses the complexities surrounding RFK's life and legacy and delves into his struggles for recognition while growing up among the competitive Kennedy clan. Not surprisingly, Thomas concentrates on RFK's relationship with his brother, President John F. Kennedy, and explains how RFK evolved from kid brother to the most important confidant in the administration. The author traces the drama of RFK's integral involvement in the Cuban missile crisis and the civil rights movement, as well as his personal life. After his brother's assassination, RFK's life was clouded by the tragedy, and he became haunted by a sense of his own mortality. In the closing chapter, Thomas writes a moving account of RFK's ill-fated 1968 campaign for the presidency. One can only ruminate on the might-have-beens had RFK lived, but Thomas, to his credit, does not sentimentalize this biography. Instead, he delivers an even-handed, temperate account of a complex man who would be president. —Glenn Speer

Publishers Weekly

Thomas has made a career writing about Washington insiders (he was co-author, with Walter Isaacson, of The Wise Men). A high-ranking editor at Newsweek, Thomas (an insider himself) has now written a nuanced biography of one of the 20th century's most iconic insiders. Although there are no startling revelations in this capably written, thick book, there is a lot of new information, thanks to the increasing openness of Kennedy's surviving colleagues and the new availability of oral histories, RFK's personal files, declassified national security documents and other sources. As a result, Thomas offers an illumination of the man's failings as well as his strengths, and unravels the complex knot of relationships within the Kennedy family. Portraying RFK as a man whose "house had many mansions," Thomas calls him "the lucky one"--he was raised in the shadow of his brothers, and his passion-filled life shined a light into "the family cave" of secrets. Throughout, Thomas highlights the contradictions of Kennedy's persona--he was an extraordinarily wealthy individual who could act spoiled one day, then express empathy with the have-nots on the next; he was a devoted, sometimes around-the-clock protector of his often wayward older brother, John, but still established his own career; he was shy but sought out publicity; and he was an enthusiastic family man who ran for the presidency despite its obvious risks. Though primarily a tribute to a man whose potential for greatness was cut short, Thomas's book sheds new light on a man--and an era, and a family--about whom Americans will probably never know the whole truth. (Sept.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Since 1996, a number of fine books have investigated aspects of the life and legacy of this enigmatic political idol. If the Kennedys are America's royal family, then Robert F. Kennedy was the tribune of the poor. He is well served by this gracefully written, thoroughly researched, and accessible popular biography by Thomas, the assistant managing editor of Newsweek. This study is not as detailed as Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s uncritical Robert Kennedy and His Times (LJ 8/78) or James Hilty's Robert Kennedy: Brother Protector (LJ 4/15/98), which is the first of two volumes. But Thomas's narrative, skillfully woven from numerous interviews, vividly reveals a very human Kennedy struggling to come to terms with his brother's assassination, his role in wiretapping Martin Luther King Jr., and his fatal decision to take on Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey in the 1968 Democratic primary. Thomas's chilling account of the Cuban Missile Crisis shows Kennedy at his best, while his portrayal of his feuds with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover and Cuban president Fidel Castro reveal him at his worst. Thomas convincingly debunks a number of the myths that envelop Kennedy. Highly recommended for public libraries.--Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Terry Golway - New York Observer

With subtle foreshadowing and an objective eye, Evan Thomas makes the case that Bobby Kennedy's transformation came from within. Even the worldly and the cynical will take away from this biography a greater appreciation of the Kennedys in general and Robert Kennedy in particular. And it is always good to remember, in such times as ours, that Bobby, like his brothers Jack and Joe, was a young man who died for his country.

Michael Lind - The New York Times Book Review