Rating: 
Summary: A Refreshingly Balance Account
Review: Adam Clymer has done what few writers of the Kennedys have been able to accomplish --- he has put myth-making and revisionist rhetoric aside to give a fair and balanced account of Senator Kennedy's career. Love him or hate him, Ted Kennedy is, as Clymer reports, one of the great legislators in American political history. Senator Kennedy's skills are highlighted whether he is setting the agenda in a Democratic majority or protecting his commitment to the poor, national health insurance, education, and civil rights from a Rebublican majority. Clymer clearly shows that this success is based on a simple principle -- put together a first-rate staff and then work harder than your opponents to push forward your agenda. The Kennedy name helps, but its the hard work and attention to detail that sets the Senator and his staff apart from the rest. Finally, it was refreshing, and at times touching, to read how Senator Kennedy's friends and foes, as well as his family members, reflect on the impact he has had on their lives and on the lives all of those he has tried to serve in this country.
Rating: 
Summary: The Author Captures The Essence Of A Potent Public Servant!
Review: Adam Clymer wrote this book capturing the spirit, essences and panorama of a senator judged by all, at all times, without reflection on being a scorned savior. It is so easy to judge Ted Kennedy by his personal failures, but few could take such public discrimination themselves. We all fail at certain times, whether from our own actions or the outside millstones placed upon us without our own asking. Senator Kennedy is no different from each and everyone of us and thus the book shows us more of him for our own discernment! What few know is how large an impact he and his family has made on America's greatness, public policies and world values. Regardless of how you feel about him, you need to know that he is respected by all in Washington whenever one works with him. And he still has the abilities to select the finest staff of any public servant which is a mark of a skilled leader. The Kennedy's are often misunderstood by critics. Some say they have betrayed the middle class values they worked so hard for all to benefit. Others conclude their personal behavior prevents them from leading anyone. Still many just say, they have forgotten from where they came and who they are in the presence of spoiled wealth. The Kennedy's are about helping those in need, distress or giving others the opportunity to help themselves. What I took with me from this book is that, Ted Kennedy has changed because the needs of those looking for a better life in America has changed too! Now Senator Kennedy has a rare and wonderful opportunity. He can block all initiatives to reform Social Security, Medicare and Prescription Drugs Plans. Or Ted Kennedy can help find compromised solutions to our divided philosophies. Good policies create good government and good government is better when individuals are free from encumbered regulations to solve social problems with private and public solutions. The author wrote what others needed to know about Ted Kennedy. He did so in a fashion that will accommodate all readers to learning more about the senator, man and Patriarch of The Kennedy Clan. It is a view if you hate him you must read, and if you love him, you will read and in the end you will come away respecting him.
Rating:
Summary: Resurgence of Edward (not Ted)
Review: Adam Clymer's biography on Edward M. Kennedy is monumental: the result of fastidious research and decades-long stint writing for both the New York Times and Baltimore Sun. What is so skillfully articulated here is a sober account of the Senator's long, strange trip -- from childhood days, under the shadow of older brothers, Jack and Bobby; to the tragedy at Chappaquiddick, effectively incinerating any dreams of securing the Oval Office; to his resurgence as one of the most influential and powerful political leaders in American history. Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography, is what Mr. Clymer achieves. There are no speculations, conspiracy theories, or interviews with shady "informants"; only an astute biography of a man who is as brilliant and perseverant a leader as he is controversial and complicated a human.
Rating:
Summary: A Senate Biography
Review: Adam Clymer, a writer for the New York Times, has written an interesting, and surprisingly unbiased, account of the political life of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. There is emphasis on the political life. Unlike previous biographers, Clymer spares us the detailed account of the Kennedy family's sexual conquests. Instead, we get a very thorough account of Ted Kennedy's legislative accomplishments, and detailed account of each of his Senate races. Though predominantly about Kennedy the Senator, detailed analysis of the Kennedy factor in presidential elections is also given. It is apparent from this work that no serious presidential contender from 1968 to 1992 made a move without first considering whether Ted Kennedy was going to run or not. Entertaining and informative as this book is, however, it does leave out the relationships he had with his brothers, instead focusing on how he was affected by their legacy. And while this book is gossip free, it falls short of capturing the personality of Ted Kennedy. But, it is the best biography of Kennedy out there, and we may have to wait until the Senator's death for a better account.
Rating: 
Summary: A SURPRISINGLY SHALLOW BIOGRAPHY OF A DEEP MAN
Review: He was the "last" brother, the Kennedy who, despite a (mostly) sterling reputation and record in the Senate, will never become president. And so we are delivered yet another Kennedyana kernel, this one by "New York Times" reporter Adam Clymer. The book fails to capture the spirit and humanity of the man; the insights are surprisingly shallow for such a respected journalist. On the Chappaquiddick incident, during which a young female Kennedy supporter was drowned when the car in which Ted was driving went off the road, leaves Clymer writing the shocking news that Kennedy was a bad driver who "probably" was drinking prior to the accident! A faded rose indeed.
Rating:
Summary: The best biography of a current office holder I've ever read
Review: I've often found that biographies are best written after the subject's career has finished. Since Ted Kennedy's career has no end in sight, that poses a problem for anyone wanting to paint this work in progress. Adam Clymer succeeds. First, he focuses on Kennedy's substantive accomplishments rather than the gossip that more interests writers like Joe McGinniss (The Last Brother) or Richard Burke (The Senator). Second, he isolates aspects of Kennedy's legislative style, such as giving credit to others and working across party lines, that serve as generalizable lessons. Third, though the book is fairly long, it moves quickly. Ted Kennedy already has a much longer public life than most, so there is much more to write about. Clymer doesn't make the mistake of wallowing in unnecessary details just to show us all how much research he did. Fourth, although Clymer does not gloss over Kennedy's shortcomings, he is also open in his admiration of Kennedy's accomplishments. The last several pages compare both, and then the whole package against other accomplishments of great senators. The message is clear that Ted Kennedy is a titan. The evidence is hard to refute. Critics of Kennedy differ on issues of fundamental value rather than issues of effectiveness or sheer impact. Ted Kennedy deserves a biography like this, and those of us interested in his long career deserve to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Great, though biased, examination of Edward Kennedy's career
Review: In this book, Adam Clymer offers us a well-written, detailed portrait of the life and career of Edward Kennedy, a man who has long labored under the shadows cast by his ambitious family. Burdened by the expectations the came with the family name and tarnished by the self-inflicted wounds of scandal, he nonetheless persevered to become a force in the United States Senate, one whose career the author ranks as one of the greatest in the history of the institution.
Such a judgment certainly reflects Clymer's bias for his subject. But he does make a convincing case for the influential role that Kennedy has played in the Senate over the past three decades. Clymer conveys Kennedy's love for the Senate, which he argues was reflected in his half-hearted attempts for the White House in the 1970s and 1980s. While some may argue that his failure to win the nomination makes any effort to minimize his presidential campaigns a case of sour grapes, Clymer demonstrates how Kennedy thrived in the Senate in a way his brothers - who seemed to treat their careers there as little more than platforms from which to launch their bids for the White House - never did.
Yet Clymer's biography is not without its flaws. As some reviewers have noted, the book occasionally bogs down in the minutiae of legislative maneuvering, the deals and rules that play such an important role of Kennedy's career (and his mastery of which is one of the keys to his influence). Even more troubling, though, is Clymer's inability to reconcile successfully the powerful senator with the dissolute personal character. He acknowledges Kennedy's personal problems but refers to most of them in passing only, which has the effect of reducing Chappaquiddick to an isolated incident rather than the most tragic example of the personal conduct which has defined the man in the minds of many Americans.
In spite of this, Clymer's book stands as an excellent biography of Edward Kennedy. Detailed, insightful, and well-argued, it will remain for some time the best book about the Kennedy brother who might turn out to have been the most important and influential one of them all.
Rating: 
Summary: Uninspired Reporting and Dry Litany of Legislative Triumphs
Review: Teddy Kennedy is one of the most fascinating American political characters in the last half-century, yet Clymer's book somehow succeeds in making him boring and dry. It's not that I objected to a bland description of Kennedy's legislative accomplishments over the last thirty years (which is what three-fourths of this book is); it's just that I gained no extra insight into the man and what drives him. I have great respect for Clymer's reporting skills with the New York Times, yet it seemed as if this book were written simply by merging a couple hundred memorable quotes from Kennedy's career with stale recitations of Senate bills, cloture votes, and parliamentary maneuvers. It would have been nice to learn a little more about the behind-the-scenes activities behind some of these great public debates, such as Bork, Thomas, Ireland and of course, the Kennedy campaign in 1980. Instead, each is treated like a very, very long newspaper article that doesn't ever end. I had high expectations for this book because I like Clymer's reporting, but I agree with another reviewer that the great Kennedy biography has yet to be written . . .
Rating:
Summary: Uninspired Reporting and Dry Litany of Legislative Triumphs
Review: Teddy Kennedy is one of the most fascinating American political characters in the last half-century, yet Clymer's book somehow succeeds in making him boring and dry. It's not that I objected to a bland description of Kennedy's legislative accomplishments over the last thirty years (which is what three-fourths of this book is); it's just that I gained no extra insight into the man and what drives him. I have great respect for Clymer's reporting skills with the New York Times, yet it seemed as if this book were written simply by merging a couple hundred memorable quotes from Kennedy's career with stale recitations of Senate bills, cloture votes, and parliamentary maneuvers. It would have been nice to learn a little more about the behind-the-scenes activities behind some of these great public debates, such as Bork, Thomas, Ireland and of course, the Kennedy campaign in 1980. Instead, each is treated like a very, very long newspaper article that doesn't ever end. I had high expectations for this book because I like Clymer's reporting, but I agree with another reviewer that the great Kennedy biography has yet to be written . . .
Rating:
Summary: A giant with feet of clay
Review: The best senator in Congress... and Clymer explains exactly why it is so. A flawed man, who by hard work and diligence, becomes an excellent representative and spokesman for the highest ideals of the republic. An outstanding biography, a story you need to know.
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