"Bohrer’s book, which covers the period of RFK’s life from November 1963 to June 1966, is tightly packed with detail, much of it fascinating and even moving. It will satisfy the Kennedy true believers and interest students of politics." - The Washington Post
"The bookshelves already groan with Kennedy titles, but Mr. Bohrer makes a worthy contribution by examining a critical chapter in Robert Kennedy's public life, the period from 1963 to 1966 . . . Mr. Bohrer ably captures Kennedy at his lowest moment, far from Camelot, as he traveled the world, took public-speaking lessons, overcame his fear of crowds and grappled with JFK's legacy." - The Wall Street Journal
"This well-researched narrative details Robert Kennedy’s life in the three years that followed his brother John’s assassination, as he grappled with extreme grief, competed with his rival Lyndon B. Johnson, and tried to figure out his next political move." - The New York Post
"Mr. Bohrer proves that the personal is political, showing readers how Bobby Kennedy’s evolution from shadow to savior was, in fact, revolutionary… how Bobby Kennedy, who aged a lifetime in three years, grew from the president’s brother to a man who might have become the president himself." - Rachel Treisman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Jack Bohrer has brought us a new, vivid and absorbing look at Robert Kennedy's surprising transformation into the audacious hero exalted by American progressives today." - Michael Beschloss, author of PRESIDENTIAL COURAGE
"A fascinating study of a man whose political journey was as complex as he was. Bohrer puts us right there in the swirl of history, capturing the soft-hearted and hard-headed idealism that convinced generations of Americans of our own capacity to push the world to where it should be." - Cody Keenan, Chief Speechwriter for President Obama
"In this elegant and meticulously-researched book, John R. Bohrer recounts RFK's three years after his brother's 1963 assassination and illuminates the many crossroads he faced in becoming his own man. This book makes Kennedy's personal and public crucible come alive with a host of unforgettable characters." - Thomas Maier, author of WHEN LIONS ROAR: THE CHURCHILLS AND THE KENNEDYS
"Bobby Kennedy's journey between JFK's assassination and his own is one of the most remarkable political transformations in American history. For anyone inspired by the passion and courage revealed in RFK's final years, Jack Bohrer brilliantly captures Kennedy's evolution from political hatchet man to becoming the compassionate hero who still inspires the world a half century later." - Joe Scarborough, Co-Host, MSNBC's Morning Joe
"Jack Bohrer has brought us a meticulously researched and vividly detailed account of the period when Bobby Kennedy, the President's brother, became Robert F. Kennedy, a giant in his own right. As Bohrer movingly chronicles, RFK demonstrated a capacity for leadership, courage and idealism our politicians would do well to summon today." - Betsy Fischer Martin, former Executive Producer of Meet the Press and Executive in Residence, American University School of Public Affairs
"Fast-paced and full of new detail, Bohrer's reevaluation of RFK's wandering years signals the arrival of an unusually gifted writer and historian." - Matt Bai, author of ALL THE TRUTH IS OUT
"Bohrer is a beautiful writer . . . this is an exceptional book . . . I would strongly recommend it without reservation." - Presidential historian Mike Shaw's Executive Power blog
05/15/2017
On streets and college campuses from New York to Mississippi, as well as Latin America and South Africa, huge crowds gathered for Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy (1925–68), younger brother of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Originally, they cheered Bobby as the personification of John's progressive legacy. Eventually, they lauded him for his own achievements. As a federal prosecutor, attorney general, senator, and Democratic presidential candidate, he advocated peace in Vietnam and spoke against regime change and apartheid. Rivals branded him a ruthless opportunist who leveraged the Kennedy name to electoral success. From independent journalist Bohrer, this biography focuses on the turbulent period 1963–66, when Bobby grieved the loss of his brother and forged his own political path. Later chapters concentrate on politics and Bobby's troubled relationship with President Lyndon B. Johnson. While Larry Tye's Bobby Kennedy and Arthur Schlesinger Jr.'s Robert Kennedy and His Times boast more distinguished pedigrees and longer page counts, this work makes its mark. VERDICT Although Kennedy was not quite as revolutionary as the title implies, Bohrer's elegiac and exhaustive account reveals a potentially transformational leader whose life was dramatically cut short by his assassination in 1968.—Michael Rodriguez, Univ. of Connecticut
2017-04-16
Freelance reporter and TV news producer Bohrer debuts with an inquiry into the transformation of Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968) from hard-nosed political operative to inspirational presidential candidate.When John F. Kennedy was murdered in 1963, his brother Robert had never held elective office, nor seemed likely to. As JFK's campaign manager and later as attorney general, he stepped on many toes and made few friends; the word most often used to describe him was "ruthless." Grief-stricken and increasingly marginalized by a paranoid Lyndon Johnson, RFK was profoundly uncertain about his future. After a desultory quest for the 1964 vice-presidential nomination was vetoed by Johnson, he won a Senate seat in New York and began building a national constituency around a radical social welfare program and skepticism about the administration's Vietnam policy. Growing up in wealth and privilege, he had had little experience with the effects of racism and poverty; as a senator, his efforts to advance his brother's civil rights legacy led him to a wholehearted embrace of their victims in contentious and even dangerous circumstances. To young people, especially, he began speaking passionately of a "revolution now in progress," peaceful if possible, but demanding advances in individual dignity and in economic and political freedom. Bohrer presents this thorough and well-researched narrative in an evenhanded style, leaving evaluation of this still-controversial politician to readers. Oddly, he ends his story in early 1966, two years before RFK definitively broke with Johnson, running a long-shot presidential campaign that ended with Kennedy's assassination; the implication is that Kennedy's political transformation was complete by this time and all that followed was merely consequential. The author also leaves it to readers to ponder the continuing relevance of this long-dead senator who stood for many as "a bridge for a country that was tearing apart." A poignant sketch of a lost champion of social justice from an age when it could still be said that "politics is still the greatest and most honorable adventure."
