Rating: 
Summary: An intimate book that you won't put down
Review: Robert Kennedy was shot down before he could reach his highest potential. Written by a Newsweek reporter, this book does not exagerate RFK's life or make any claims about what Kennedy would have done if he had lived. This book is as unbiased and accurate as is possible on a figure that meant very different things to different people.
Rating:
Summary: "RUNT OF THE LITTER" TO "LEADER OF THE PACK"
Review: Since the basic details of Robert Kennedy's political career are fairly well known, I plan to devote the bulk of this review to Evan Thomas' description of "Bobbie's" struggle to be truly accepted in his own family.Robert Kennedy was born too late to be one of his father's favorites. As Thomas describes it, Joe senior, the ex-bootlegger millionaire, had ambitions for his sons. These ambitions were first centered around his eldest son, Joe junior, his first born. This son was to be President of the United States. Because Joe (the father) only showed his love through praise for major achievements, and believed that winning was everything, his sons had become highly competitive with one another. This competitiveness probably caused Joe juniors death in WWII. It seems that number two son, John (Jack), had a war experience that dad had enhanced to make it seem a much greater act of heroism than it actually was. In order to outdo his younger brother, Joe junior volunteered for an extremely dangerous mission, one which cost him his life. Although he grieved, Joe senior wasted no time in switching his plans to his second son, Jack, and eventually did succeed in getting Jack elected President. One might ask where Robert was all this time. As "little brother," little in both stature and in importance in the family, his job was to help out his big brother. This was the only way he could get dad's attention, and rarely, an expression of approval. Robert did his job and did it well, but for many years, no matter how many scrapes he got Jack out of, went unappreciated. He finally did come into his own during the period of the Cuban Missile Crisis, when it was his advice that his brother, the Presidnt followed, and which worked. from this point on, he was accepted as a near equal. It had been a long struggle, but he had finally become important in the family hierarchy and eventually was to earn his father's grudging respect. The story of his political career from the "red-baiting" advisor to Joe McCarthy, to the overzealous "crime buster," through the changes that led him to be a spokesman for the underpriveleged, to his campaign for the Presidency in his own right, and, finally, to his assassination, is well known so I won't dwell on the details here. Robert Kennedy's true struggle in life was to be a son who was loved by his domineering father. I believe, and Thomas so indicates, that he was finally successful in doing this. From "runt of the litter" to a socially conscious, "probably would have been successful Presidential Candidate," he came a long way. After reading Thomas' biography, you come away feeling that the nation was made significantly poorer by Robert Kennedy's assisination.
Rating: 
Summary: Something of a mixed bag
Review: The fact that author Evan Thomas secured a degree of Kennedy family cooperation in this book (from Maxwell Kennedy) and became one of the only people other than Arthur Schlesinger Jr. to get access to RFK's papers raised expectations for this book, in the mind of this reader. Those expectations were disappointed. Factually, there's almost nothing new here. It just goes to show that Schlesinger's monumental volumes about Robert Kennedy are unlikely to ever be surpassed. This book certainly doesn't do it. The best Thomas can do is engage in educated speculation. And this is what he does, particularly in the chapter called "Intrigue," where Thomas tries to connect RFK's father, JFK's alleged womanizing, the FBI, and the Mafia in a way more credible than, say, Oliver Stone has. Ultimately, though, Thomas is still just speculating. Credit Thomas, however, for admitting it. He clearly states in his text where there's evidence for what he writes, and where there isn't; where the evidence is good, and where it isn't so good. Ultimately, the best parts of this book are those that discuss RFK as a person: a scared & lonely youth, a rude but loyal friend, a vastly overworked partner to his brother, a man with a soft spot for dogs and ice cream and girls and extreme impatiece with bureaucracy. Thomas's best insights, in fact, are those about RFK's lifelong battles with fear and his crushing workload. After all this, it would've been nice to read some perspective about RFK's life at the end of the book.....regretably, like RFK's life, Thomas's book ends abruptly with the Senator's assasination.
Rating:
Summary: Middle Of The Road Biography- Not Much New
Review: The recent Book Sons And Brothers by Richard Mahoney puts the Kennedy Brothers legacy and their times in far greater historical urgency than this work. This book seems to have an ulterior motive in it's dubious attempt to debunk the blatant Conspiracy, specifically in JFK's death. As an example in Thomas's fine book on the CIA_ The Very Best Men..he talks of a possible Cuban Exile conspiracy egged on by the Agency, yet backtracks here to go with the Establishment's clear failure in showing any curosity or honesty when so many hands on witnesses at Parkland and Bethesda Naval Hospital know the Official story is a sanctioned lie. Though the Author's focus is on Bobby( though it's crisply written, there's not much that is really galvanizing such as the Author's unawareness of both Kennedy's- and the forces allayed against them, these factions were certainly more than even rabid Exiles, the Mob and hawks in the Agency- it actually goes deep into the Political-businesss- Military apparatus)), after Jack died..this became an anything goes country, thus allowing Johnson to become President was akin to giving the car keys to a drunk...that's the saddest legacy for us all..
Rating: 
Summary: Revising RFK
Review: The Robert Kennedy in this book is neither the "Brother Protector" nor the "Last Patrician" of recent biographies. He is also not the object to which Arthur Schlesinger devoted a thousand pages of hagiography. The Kennedy here is a man groomed from youth to be, at best, a Duke of York, never a Prince of Wales. Oldest brother Joe was the original heir to the Kennedy dynasty, then on his death, the mantle passed to John. It never seems to have occurred to John that Robert would ever be more than a close advisor, or perhaps a foil. The image of "Bobby the Cutthroat" suited JFK's purpose and allowed the President to appear more diplomatic and charming. Despite the family's jokey fatalism, no one ever expected JFK to die. It seems that Robert never quite a chance to recover from his brother's death, but thrust himself further and further into national politics, perhaps in an effort to prove himself, perhaps only to achieve his own identity. This book is just long enough and no longer. It lays to rest the conspiracy theories, but Kennedy remains a figure more of potential than action. RFK's image remains ambiguous and that is the charm of this biography. He was handsome, sensitive, and oddly, the most vulnerable of the Kennedy brothers.
Rating:
Summary: Might be the best RFK biography
Review: There have been quite a few biographies of Robert Kennedy. Like his older brother Jack Kennedy, RFK's youth and vitality, struck down so violently, captivate readers the world over. For many years, Bobby Kennedy was seen as the ultimate liberal, who read poetry and would end wars and help the poor and hungry. More recently, scholars like Michael Knox Beran have painted a different portrait of RFK. Others have painted him as the reason for JFK's assassin. With all of this, why is there any need for a new biography?
The answer is hindsight. Thomas has the advantage of having all of this scholarship to work with. His biography, therefore, has a very balanced feel. It is very readable, and, while the writer admires RFK, there is no hero- worship. Some of the writing is uneven, like the chapter on the connections regarding JFK's assassination, and the parts on JFK's womanizing and Mob connections seem a little white washed. Other than that, though, it is a great book that could be looked upon as the definitive work on this extraordinary man.
Rating:
Summary: not very good
Review: this biography is a little bit boring and there are false informations. there are a few photos.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliantly written biography
Review: This biography on RFK stands alone alongside Arthur Schlesinger's 'Robert Kennedy and His Times' as the best & most balanced biography on Bobby Kennedy.
More concise than Schlesinger's but just as absorbing, Thomas takes us through Kennedy's life at breakneck speed. A 'Newsweek' journalist, Thomas writes like a dream. From the breathtaking introduction to the tragic conclusion, the book is unputdownable.
Bobby comes across as a human being rather than a secular saint (and all the better for it) Thomas balances the evidence & draws conclusions based only on that (it puts to bed, once and for all, those ridiculous Marilyn Monroe rumours, as well as the more far-fetched Castro assassination stories that far too many biographies have taken as fact rather than mucky half truths & downright lies).
RFK was a complex person, but overiding his complexity, at his core a compassionate, passionate & decent man. I defy anyone not to be deeply moved by the concluding chapter. The last line of the book moved me to tears.
He would have been one of America's greatest presidents. The values he articulated & issues he cared about are still so relevant, which is why he is such a contemporary figure.
Thomas's biography of this complex, fascinating & most admirable of the Kennedy brothers, does him proud. As long as biographies on Bobby are read & written, this one will remain indispensable.
Rating: 
Summary: A scandalous book!
Review: This book deserves 1 star for what it contains, but there are a few cute and rare photos of Bob, so I put two stars to this book. The writer distorts the truth and even invents some stories! I've got 30 books about Robert Kennedy and this is one of the least good ones. I you want to know the TRUTH about Robert Kennedy, buy "Robert Kennedy and his time" by Arthur Schlesinger, it's the best about the subject, otherwise check "a common good", "the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys" and many others.
Rating:
Summary: A scandalous book!
Review: This book deserves 1 star for what it contains, but there are a few cute and rare photos of Bob, so I put two stars to this book. The writer distorts the truth and even invents some stories! I've got 30 books about Robert Kennedy and this is one of the least good ones. I you want to know the TRUTH about Robert Kennedy, buy "Robert Kennedy and his time" by Arthur Schlesinger, it's the best about the subject, otherwise check "a common good", "the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys" and many others.
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