A well-researched history of an egotist who toyed with world affairs.
A close look at a devastating diplomatic failure.
British American biographer and historian Ronald examines two calamitous years in the life of business mogul, serial philanderer, and overbearing patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy (1886-1969), during which he served as America’s ambassador to the Court of St. James’s as Europe became engulfed in war. The coveted ambassadorship was a position Kennedy had lobbied for and believed he deserved as a reward for backing Franklin Roosevelt’s election bids in 1932 and 1936. Roosevelt wanted to count on Kennedy’s loyalty—and the 25 million Catholic votes he could bring if the president decided to run for a third term—while at the same time getting the opinionated businessman out of the U.S. Drawing on biographical and archival sources, Ronald portrays the gruff, egotistical Kennedy as spectacularly unsuited to a diplomatic post. Blunt, outspoken, and tactless, he was adept at films and finance but knew little about foreign policy. The author’s detailed, well-populated narrative traces Kennedy’s daily doings, family relationships, self-serving projects, womanizing, and fraught service, in which he repeatedly proved to be an embarrassment, making public statements, for example, without government approval. Quickly, he was “deemed insufferable” by the White House and the State Department. British officials called him “the worst sort of self-promoter.” As German aggression intensified, Kennedy remained staunchly isolationist, partly because he wanted to keep his eldest sons out of combat, partly because of his fascist and antisemitic sympathies. He insisted that war could be averted by making sweeping economic and political concessions, such as letting Germany take over Europe. He backed Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policy and loudly insisted that Britain would be roundly defeated. Once Britain entered the conflict, Ronald writes, Kennedy “seemed incapable of understanding that Britain was at war for its very existence.”
A well-researched history of an egotist who toyed with world affairs.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-23872-6
Page Count: 464
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2021
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.
A carefully curated personal portrait.
First ladies’ roles have evolved significantly in recent decades. Their memoirs typically reflect a spectrum of ambition and interests, offering insights into their values and personal lives. Melania Trump, however, stands out as exceptionally private and elusive. Her ultra-lean account attempts to shed light on her public duties, initiatives, and causes as first lady, and it defends certain actions like her controversial “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” jacket. The statement was directed at the media, not the border situation, she claims. Yet the book provides scant detail about her personal orbit or day-to-day interactions. The memoir opens with her well-known Slovenian origin story, successful modeling career, and whirlwind romance with Donald Trump, culminating in their 2005 marriage, followed by a snapshot of Election Day 2016: “Each time we were together that day, I was impressed by his calm.…This man is remarkably confident under pressure.” Once in the White House, Melania Trump describes her functions and numerous public events at home and abroad, which she asserts were more accomplished than media representations suggested. However, she rarely shares any personal interactions beyond close family ties, notably her affection for her son, Barron, and her sister, Ines. And of course she lavishes praise on her husband. Minimal anecdotes about White House or cabinet staff are included, and she carefully defuses her rumored tensions with Trump’s adult children, blandly stating, “While we may share the same last name, each of us is distinct with our own aspirations and paths to follow.” Although Melania’s desire to support causes related to children’s and women’s welfare feels authentic, the overall tenor of her memoir seems aimed at painting a glimmering portrait of her husband and her role, likely with an eye toward the forthcoming election.
A slick, vacuous glimpse into the former first lady’s White House years.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781510782693
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.
Rootin’-tootin’ history of the dry-gulchers, horn-swogglers, and outright killers who populated the Wild West’s wildest city in the late 19th century.
The stories of Wyatt Earp and company, the shootout at the O.K. Corral, and Geronimo and the Apache Wars are all well known. Clavin, who has written books on Dodge City and Wild Bill Hickok, delivers a solid narrative that usefully links significant events—making allies of white enemies, for instance, in facing down the Apache threat, rustling from Mexico, and other ethnically charged circumstances. The author is a touch revisionist, in the modern fashion, in noting that the Earps and Clantons weren’t as bloodthirsty as popular culture has made them out to be. For example, Wyatt and Bat Masterson “took the ‘peace’ in peace officer literally and knew that the way to tame the notorious town was not to outkill the bad guys but to intimidate them, sometimes with the help of a gun barrel to the skull.” Indeed, while some of the Clantons and some of the Earps died violently, most—Wyatt, Bat, Doc Holliday—died of cancer and other ailments, if only a few of old age. Clavin complicates the story by reminding readers that the Earps weren’t really the law in Tombstone and sometimes fell on the other side of the line and that the ordinary citizens of Tombstone and other famed Western venues valued order and peace and weren’t particularly keen on gunfighters and their mischief. Still, updating the old notion that the Earp myth is the American Iliad, the author is at his best when he delineates those fraught spasms of violence. “It is never a good sign for law-abiding citizens,” he writes at one high point, “to see Johnny Ringo rush into town, both him and his horse all in a lather.” Indeed not, even if Ringo wound up killing himself and law-abiding Tombstone faded into obscurity when the silver played out.
Buffs of the Old West will enjoy Clavin’s careful research and vivid writing.Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21458-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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