- Hardcover: 498 pages
- Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; First Edition First Printing edition (Nov 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0316359556
- ISBN-13: 978-0316359559
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.5 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
423,993 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #67 in Books > Biography > Social & Health Issues > Gambling Addiction
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Product Description
With its meticulously documented and compulsively readable portrait of JFK as a man whose reckless personal behavior imperiled his presidency, this monumental work of investigative journalism reveals the Kennedy White House as never before. The book argues that President Kennedy's private life and personal obsessions -- his character -- affected the affairs of the U.S. and its foreign policy far more than has ever been known.
From the Back Cover
JACK KENNEDY HAD IT ALL
And he used it all – his father's fortune, and his own beauty, wit, and power – with a heedless, reckless daring. There was no tomorrow, and there was no secret that money and charm could not hide.
In this groundbreaking book, award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh shows us a John F. Kennedy we have never seen before, a man insulated from the normal consequences of behaviour long before he entered the White House. His father, Joe, set the pattern with an arrogance and cunning that have never fully been appreciated: Kennedys could do exactly what they wanted, and could evade any charge brought against them. Kennedys wrote their own moral code.
THE CONTROVERSIAL AMERICAN BESTSELLER
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Men wanted to be like him, women wanted to be with him. And most of them were! This book charts the amazing private world of Jack Kennedy where anything was possible and he got whatever he wanted which involved the Mafia, Marilyn, Sinatra and the Brat Pack, assasination attempts on Castro, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Cuban Missile Crisis, alleged buying of the elections, the cover up of his first marriage and the endless womanising from all the male members of the Kennedy's. All this from a man who was trusted by millions and is still seen by many as one of the best loved US presidents.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have never understood the abiding mainly uncritical fascination with the Kennedys, and this book has enough evidence to convince anyone of the family's malign influence on modern politics.
The Kennedy's rise benefitted from the early TV age,and fully exploited it's power to dazzle an undiscerning and unconcerned electorate . This corrosive effect has persisted up to the recent eulogies for Ted's demise.
Their story is the story of modern political power - somehow the soap opera of their lives,filtered through an acquiescent press, plays out as an entertainment for the people,who seem unable and unwilling to recognise the abuses it conceals.
This book is a terrible unending litany of the family's corruption ,immorality,and cynicism - an indictment of the inequality and privilege which blights the land of the free.
The book is eminently readable,moving through the masses of evidence quickly and logically.
Attribution is slightly lackadaisical, but as everyone has a Kennedy story and the main protagonists are not around to complain, the reader has to judge for himself.
Strikingly,much of the evidence incriminates the witnesses,as though ,as in war,all seems fair in promoting the inexorable trajectory of the President.
All this just reinforces the strange truth of American political life -everything is seen and known,but nothing changes - the reality of western democracy.
Packed with information (a lot of bad stuff happened)this is recommended reading for anyone interested in the reality of modern power.
The Kennedy's rise benefitted from the early TV age,and fully exploited it's power to dazzle an undiscerning and unconcerned electorate . This corrosive effect has persisted up to the recent eulogies for Ted's demise.
Their story is the story of modern political power - somehow the soap opera of their lives,filtered through an acquiescent press, plays out as an entertainment for the people,who seem unable and unwilling to recognise the abuses it conceals.
This book is a terrible unending litany of the family's corruption ,immorality,and cynicism - an indictment of the inequality and privilege which blights the land of the free.
The book is eminently readable,moving through the masses of evidence quickly and logically.
Attribution is slightly lackadaisical, but as everyone has a Kennedy story and the main protagonists are not around to complain, the reader has to judge for himself.
Strikingly,much of the evidence incriminates the witnesses,as though ,as in war,all seems fair in promoting the inexorable trajectory of the President.
All this just reinforces the strange truth of American political life -everything is seen and known,but nothing changes - the reality of western democracy.
Packed with information (a lot of bad stuff happened)this is recommended reading for anyone interested in the reality of modern power.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found this book to be the first, and to-date, the best documented account of Camelot. Mr Hersh should be applauded for his courage to take on the myth of an American martyr and bring it back into propper perspective. President Kenedy and his brothers Robert and Ted have always been heros of mine. I have always known however that these men could not possiblly have been the saints the media protrayed them to be. I personally see nothing wrong with confronting a hero's socalled warts as well as his achievements. In fact, Mr Hersh's approach, in my mind, lends credibility to the human aspects of Kennedy thereby making him a more believable human being then the media created icon that was Kennedy before this book.
Thank you Mr Hersh!
Thank you Mr Hersh!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Invention of a flawed hero?
What are politicians for? Do we need them for inspiration - to lead us. Or perspiration, to make things work? Read more
Published 5 days ago by Stewart Murray
Not as much fun as some of the others
This is a much more serious book compared to Nemesis, Bobby & Jackie and America's Queen. It covers alot of the shocking political scandals regarding bribery etc, but I found it... Read more
Published 5 months ago by jeburt
The Dark Side of Camelot
The first part of this book is good as it is more about Joseph Kennedy Sr and how he made his fortune through bootlegging and friendship with mobsters. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Mrs. E. Souter
Kennedy's Dark Side
An excellent piece of expose reportage. The FULL picture of the Kennedy presidency and the very dark side of American politics.
Published 11 months ago by Tacitus Mona
Dark Side of Camelot
Well written, dense and seemingly well researched. A good and exciting read. As to content this is an amazing divergence from what the world was given in those heady days of the... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Acheron
The Dark Side Of Camelot
This is a great book it gives complete details as to what was going on in the White House during President Kennedy's days. Read more
Published on 14 May 2010 by Ramsey Anne Hodges
The Green Knight
The Dark Side of Camelot
This book is the antithesis of a great deal of what has been described as the "Kennedy literature. Read more
This book is the antithesis of a great deal of what has been described as the "Kennedy literature. Read more
Published on 17 Feb 2009 by Justinian
Shag-a-thon
How we weren't all blown to smithereens while JFK, RFK, and Teddy were skinny-dipping in the White House pool with Fiddle and Faddle and assorted other White House dollybirds, East... Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2008 by Ms. K. Hall
A mile-wide credibility gap.
This book has too many things wrong with it to list. It says alot that Hersh could devote 14 pages to the scandal of the 'first marriage' without one shred of genuine... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2007 by B. A. Chiverton
A new angle on an old story
There are few people who don't have some idea about the real man behind the president. The true extent to which power corrupted is quite amazing to discover. Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2001 by T. Richardson
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