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Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years (Hardcover)

by David Talbot (Author)
3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Ltd; First Edition First Impression edition (4 Jun 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1847370829
  • ISBN-13: 978-1847370822
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 293,982 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Product Description

Robert F. Kennedy was the first conspiracy theorist about his brother's murder. In this astonishingly compelling and convincing new account of the Kennedy years, acclaimed journalist David Talbot tells in a riveting, superbly researched narrative why, even on 22 November 1963, RFK had reason to believe that dark forces were at work in Dallas and reveals, for the first time, that he planned to open an investigation into the assassination had he become president in 1968. BROTHERS also portrays a JFK administration more besieged by internal enemies than has previously been realised, from within the Pentagon, the CIA, the FBI and the mafia. This frightening portrait of sinister elements within and without the government serves as the background for the emotionally charged journey of Robert Kennedy. Reading it, you can absolutely believe any number of people would have been happy for both brothers to meet a sticky end. The tragedy, not just for America but for the world, is that since their murders no one has had the nerve to stand against the dark forces they challenged in quite the same way.


About the Author

David Talbot was the founder and long-time editor-in-chief of Salon.com, the award-winning website for news and commentary. He lives in San Francisco.
Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A big subject in the hands of a fine writer - extremely enjoyable to read. , 28 Feb 2008
I am one of those who can remember exactly where I was on the 23rd of November, 1963, when President John F Kennedy was assassinated. I was in the study hall, in school. Contrary to all normal practice, the black and white TV at the top of the hall, which was normally confined to limited weekend use, was switched on, and we students, in stunned silence, watched the news. Many of us felt that we had lost someone very close to us; very important to us. I was 15 years old and had a reverence for JFK that was quite common at that time throughout all age groups and throughout much of the world.

As the years passed the Kennedy era as a legend was attacked and effectively dismantled. I remember reflecting, many years later, on how naïve I had then been to hold any politician, indeed any person, in such high regard. I put it down to immaturity but nevertheless felt a sense of loss that was hard to explain and impossibly un-cool to talk about. More recently I have found myself sometimes arguing against the fashionable view that the Kennedys were ineffective and morally corrupt. Richard Revees' 1994 book "President Kennedy - Profile of Power" reviews the 1000 day presidential reign in fine and objective style. More recently I read Seymour Hersh's 1997 book "The Dark Side of Camelot" which is a withering attack on everything to do with the Kennedy clan, and left me amazed at the intensity of his condemnations and of his determination to interpret all actions and motives of both John and Robert Kennedy in the darkest of terms. So, I must admit that it was with a growing sense of relief that I read Davis Talbot's wonderful book "Brothers", which deals comprehensively and objectively with the Kennedys political lives and deaths, and leans very much towards the conclusion that while these men were no saints, that saints are rarely candidates for high political office, and that, on balance, the loss to murder of these men was the wider world's loss also. The reader is given much background and reports from the most recently released documentation to allow him or her to arrive at their own opinion. The content is always interesting and in the hands of an obviously talented writer, is never dull or boring.


In one passage Mr Talbot relates that at the convention in August 1964 - which gathered to endorse the incumbent Lyndon Johnson - Robert Kennedy made a speech to a Democratic Party which was still highly emotionally charged with the loss, less than a year previously, of JFK in Dallas. Bobby Kennedy himself was still virtually immobilized with grief. When he came to the podium he was greeted with a massive ovation which lasted for 22 minutes. His speech was about his fallen brother, and ended with a quote from Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet:

"When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he shall make the face of heaven so fine,
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun".

Apparently the Johnson camp took exception to a perceived unkind reference to the plain-talkin' Texan as being the "garish sun"; others received the speech and the quote as the tribute to their lost leader that it actually was. At this stage many, many hard-nosed conventioneers were in tears. We are told that when the speech ended that Bobby Kennedy made his way to a nearby fire escape where he sat sobbing for fifteen minutes. I personally, in the reading of this passage of this always absorbing book, felt much the same way.




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32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Problems with the CIA, FBI, and Military . . . and a Call for an Unlimited Inquiry into the JFK Assassination, 4 Jun 2007
By Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews
(TOP 10 REVIEWER)      
If you think you know all there is to know about the Kennedy presidency, you will learn more than you expect from reading the new material in Brothers. If you don't think you know enough yet to satisfy you, Brothers is a must read.

The title of the book is a little misleading. Brothers is really focused on RFK and a few of his most loyal lieutenants. The lieutenants were so close to the Kennedys that they felt like and were treated like brothers.

As time passes, historical events become clearer. But if you wait too long to render judgment, you lose the testimony of those who participated in the events. Brothers is unusual in that sense: It adds the views from 150 new interviews, but unavoidably loses some perspective as many witnesses are no longer available and many important documents remain classified.

Here are some of the new perspectives Brothers brought to my attention:

1. JFK wasn't really in control of the CIA and military while he was president. The CIA was off running anti-Castro operations in violation of direct presidential orders. The Bay of Pigs invasion was planned by the CIA from the beginning as a ploy to trigger an American military invasion of Cuba which the Joint Chiefs supported.

2. Some in the Pentagon were pushing for a preemptive nuclear strike on the Soviet Union in 1961.

3. JFK and RFK had so little confidence in the Secret Service that they were planning to put presidential protection under the attorney general's office.

4. The Cuban missile crisis was more dangerous than I believed. The Soviets had many more troops than the CIA believed and those troops were equipped with tactical nuclear weapons and permission to use them against an American invasion of Cuba.

5. JFK planned to withdraw from Vietnam after the 1964 election.

6. RFK began his own private investigation of JFK's assassination and concluded that he needed to dismantle the CIA if elected in 1968.

7. Those who were in the best position to judge in Dallas thought that there was more than one gunman.

8. Some of those with RFK in Los Angeles thought that there was more than one gunman there.

9. A group of CIA dirty tricksters were present in both Dallas and Los Angeles when the assassinations occurred. You are left to draw the inference that the CIA assassinated JFK and RFK, but there's no direct evidence to sustain the point.

I found that the book tended to try to cover too much ground. As a result, any particular set of evidence was covered quite quickly. In light of the many books that have been written on these subjects, it would have been useful to address those books and try to straighten out incorrect viewpoints from at least the most influential of those books. For example, the cases for and against multiple gunmen in Dallas and Los Angeles receive relatively little attention, even though much has been written on this subject.

Ultimately, the book raises a fundamental point: We have experienced some national tragedies beginning in 1963 which include these assassinations, the Vietnam War, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Isn't it time that we made it a priority to understand what happened and what went wrong, so we can avoid repeating the mistakes? If we let sleeping dogs lie, they may awake and bite us again.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Brothers by David Talbot, 20 Sep 2007
By Martin Hay "mnhay27" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I actually wasn't expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did. "Brothers" falls more into the category of "why-dunnit" than "who" and I usually find such works a little tedious and long-winded. However, Talbot rarely over-emphasises a point and weaves many fascinating and engaging tales into his narrative. That said, there are some important points , such as the issue of Secret Service protection, that were only touched upon and could have been explored at least a little.

As Jim DiEugenio has pointed out, Talbot's take on the Kennedy saga has altered drastically over the last decade or so. Way back in 1992, he wrote an artice on the movie JFK, in which he criticised Oliver Stone's theory that Kennedy was fighting a government opposed to peace and social justice and that this led directly to his assassination. In "Brothers," Talbot has made a 180 degree turn and now presents much evidence supporting Stone's controversial view. In my opinion, this speaks volumes about the integrity of the author. Unlike the majority of Kennedy researchers, talbot is clearly more than ready to go where the evidence leads him.

Nonetheless, there are a few problems with "Brothers," the biggest of which is his treatment of the Jim Garrison investigation. Although it appears that Talbot is trying to take an objective stance, he ends up whitewashing the appalling behaviour of Walter Sheridan and doesn't acknowledge the government coordinated campaign to de-rail Garrison's probe. The New Orleans evidence is key to the conspiracy to kill Kennedy and the attack on Garrison deserves a more accurate treatment.

All in all, an enjoyable read that has inspired me to look into the RFK murder - something I had vowed not to do after spending so many years on JFK! Buy it, but buy Bill Davy's "Let Justice Be Done" too to fill you in on the details of the Garrison case.
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