First published 2009
Edward Kennedy opens his memoir as the youngest of nine children in America's most prominent political family. He describes growing up under the expectations that shaped all the Kennedy siblings and his early role in brother John's presidential campaign. After winning his Senate seat in 1962, Kennedy began learning the craft of legislation while navigating personal tragedies that would mark his entire career. He addresses the deaths of his brothers and his own struggles with unprecedented honesty. The memoir covers his Senate work on civil rights, Vietnam, and healthcare reform, the cause that drove much of his legislative career. Kennedy writes about the controversies that shadowed his public life and his midlife marriage to Victoria Reggie, which transformed his personal world. He recounts his tough reelection fight against Mitt Romney and his later endorsement of Barack Obama. Throughout, Kennedy examines how family tragedy and public service intertwined to create a political career spanning five decades in the Senate.
Genres: biography, history, family, 20th-century, american, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: personal-journey, political-drama
Setting: America, United States
Period: 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s
532 pages · Hardcover · Twelve