This was my first long-read about JFK and it is long, yet the thoroughness did not feel dry or disjointed. The author's careful reading of history and the world in which JFK was born, raised, and came of age helped situate me in the importance of this historical moment and JFK as a figure of history. I look forward to the next volume!

My review appears here: https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/11241-fresh-look-pre-camelot-kennedy-frederick-logevall-s-jfk

A public figure’s early formative years are always viewed through the lens of what that individual later becomes—opera singer, four-star general, legendary quarterback, celebrity cook, and so on. When it comes to the life story of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, these “early years” take on added significance in light of a century-defining act of political violence—the Kennedy assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

On that day, the so-called “Camelot Presidency” came to a tragic end.

In his sweeping new biography, JFK, Pulitzer-Prizewinning historian Fredrik Logevall recounts the story of this dynasty son’s rise in the years before his 1960 presidential campaign. Logevall’s stated goal is to delve deeper into Kennedy’s origins than past biographers, but also to prove that the “more we understand Kennedy and his coming of age … the more we understand the United States in the middle of the [20th] century.”

Attempting to separate the man from the myth is, in Kennedy’s case, no easy task. Even now, decades after his assassination, the Camelot mystique still clings to his all-too-brief tenure as commander-in-chief.



For Logevall, “any serious attempt to recreate Kennedy’s world as he experienced it requires suspending as much as possible the knowledge of how it all turned out.” By doing so, history “can look the man right in the eye, not up in adulation or down in disdain.”

Born in 1917, “Jack” Kennedy grew up within the sheltered world created and perpetuated by his father, Joseph, a hugely successful banker and, eventually, the mercurial US Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London. In a family of extraordinary wealth, a Kennedy son was, from the outset, being groomed to attain the highest office in the land.

At the beginning, however, that person was supposed to be Joseph Kennedy, Jr., the patriarch’s oldest son. After his death in a B24 bomber explosion in 1944, the mantle fell to the next in line, JFK.

Much of JFK centers on the tumultuous 1930s and the worldwide conflagration following Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939. Two years earlier, Jack and his friend Lem Billings spent several months on an undergraduate tour of Europe, including a visit to Munich and Nuremburg, where “Nazi fever” was running strong. The trip turned out to represent a pivotal point in the young Kennedy’s views on world affairs. Just as importantly, he began the journey away from his father’s isolationist approach to understanding the need to grapple with the fast-approaching global conflict.



JFK’s “determination to form independent judgments rather than simply echo his father’s assessments or give in to lazy isolationist clichés about ‘foreigners’ grew stronger,” the author writes. So did his “willingness to view world affairs in contextual, dispassionate terms—a contrast with his father, who tended always to view the outside world mostly in terms of what it meant for himself and his family.”

Another pivotal event (in a life crowded with them) occurred in the South Pacific in 1943. The patrol boat Kennedy commanded, PT 109, was attacked by a Japanese destroyer. Kennedy’s bravery in saving members of the shipwrecked crew led to decorations for heroism and, later, a bestselling book about the traumatic event. All of this helped pave the way for an eventual run for public office, first as a congressman and later as a senator from the state of Massachusetts.

The author succeeds in avoiding “looking down in disdain” at JFK, as this is by and large an admiring biography of the future president. In the interests of a comprehensive account, Logevall doesn’t shy away from cataloguing Kennedy’s philandering and, in more detail than before, his many physical ailments. The writing throughout this lengthy biography is smooth, well-reasoned, and never hyperbolic.

JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century is a solid achievement, the first volume in a projected two-volume biography covering the life of our most glamorous president.

An educating journey through the life and political rise of John F Kennedy. But this is not just a very good biography, it is a thorough look at the history of JFK's immediate family and how they rose from Irish immigrant to political dynasty with so many personal beliefs that were considered to be insurmountable blocks to success at the time. The culture in which he was raised stressed personal sacrifice and family loyalty. JFK was the best pieces of his era and culture rolled into a man who would change the nation.
It is very obvious to any reader that Fredrik Logevall did an enormous amount of research on JFK and his era. His Pulitzer is set in this era too. As a professor of history, he shares his knowledge in such a manner that the book is as easy to read as if he were telling you the story himself. A very vivid biography of a man who we assumed we knew well. This is volume one of a two part biography. Volume two is already on my reading radar.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
This book is far more than just a biography of JFK. It is a sweeping overview of the politics, the history, the Kennedy family from JFKs birth until he declared for president in 1956. It describes his life and loves.
This is not historical fiction and becomes tedious at times but readable considering its length.

Fredrik Logevall’s “JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956” provides readers a lengthy, detailed look into President Kennedy’s life up through 1956. This 816-page biography is a bit intimidating at first glance, but is a really enjoyable read that never once felt like a chore.

Logevall crafts a clear picture not just of JFK and his life, but of his personality and its evolution. The book is incredibly well-researched and dives deeper than any work on JFK’s life that I’ve read. The author also provides a good deal of history and context of JFK’s broader family.

It’s hard to believe but after finishing this lengthy read, I was compelled to read and learn more. Many of the stories or events covered in this book were new to me; those that weren’t new still provided additional details and depth. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in history, biographies, U.S. Presidents, JFK, or the Kennedy family.

As far as biographies go, this work by Logevall is one of the more detailed ones I've read. It is a chunk of a book, coming in at just over 900 pages, and while the focus is on JFK, there are several chapters dedicated to his family, including a few generations back in Irieland. I've read a lot on the Kennedy family, JFK being the center of my focus, and what I enjoyed about this book is that I didn't feel that he was sensationalized like he was in so many other biographies. Logevall wrote about who he was as a person and how his family and upbringing helped shape him. He wasn't just the man who would be President and eventually assassinated at that post, and he wasn't the dreamboat celebrity that so many liked to focus on. I was very happy to get to add this book to my Kennedy collection. *Advance copy provided by the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

A solid examination of the life of JFK. I enjoyed the author's ability to both captivate me with JFK's story and to keep me interested in the twists and turns of America during Kennedy's lifetime. I commend historians that are able to take two books and twist them effectively and interestingly into one.
I have recommended this book to many, purchased it for several (the holidays are around the corner), and will probably consider this one of the books that goes on my to-read again shelf.
Well done and deserving of praise.
Readers that enjoy biography, 20th-century American history, and/or a well-told story will enjoy this work by Logevall.

The first book of a two volume biography of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
In this book, we learn a lot about JFK's parents and events that shaped them. Joe Kennedy was the boss and he ran the show. He had been raised to always defer to his older brother, Joe, Jr. Jack, as JFK was known, was a sickly child. It was during his many bouts of illness that he developed a love of reading and retaining knowledge. He was a product of boarding school, along with all his siblings. Joe, Jr. was groomed from a very early age to go into politics. Rose's father, Honey Fitz, was very active in Boston politics as well, so Rose was no stranger to families with high political aspirations.
Kennedy was taught from an early age, by his father, to take advantage of his position and his money. A so-so student, he got by with a lot because of his personality. He traveled widely; one eventful trip in 1939 to Germany, served to shape his later opinions on Hitler. He served in World War II, and the sinking of PT-109 has been covered in depth in other materials about JFK. Shortly after this, Joe Jr.'s plane was shot down and his body was never recovered. Joe Sr. was shattered by this event and he set his sights on Jack, to take over the mantle worn by Joe, Jr.
Jack ran for Representative from Massachusetts, but always had an eye on a higher office. The attitudes of the Kennedy men toward women were learned at their father's knee. His romance and marriage to Jacqueline Bouvier takes up several pages.
This book looks at the good and the bad in his life. It introduces Kennedy to those who were born after he had already died. This will be a good addition to anyone interested in the back story of one of the presidents of the United States.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49350179-jfk" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581398131l/49350179._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49350179-jfk">JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1910.Fredrik_Logevall">Fredrik Logevall</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3623256391">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Those of us still remaining who remember the Kennedy years, especially his assassination, might not have been old enough to understand why we were so grieved at his passing. He has been buffeted by history and reputation, the latter of which has chosen in the popular mind to rest on his womanizing and style. There is some knowledge of his handling of the biggest crisis of modern times, the Cuban Missile Crisis, some superficial discussion of what he might have done in Vietnam and of course his untimely death. Reading this book will give those non-specialists of us a deeper insight into his actual politics and thoughts. Surprisingly, he was a very intelligent and mature man, maybe the last we’ve had since then. But he was also a political animal in the truest meaning of the word: he compromised and was swayed by the currents of the day. <br /><br />This biography, it should be emphasized ends with the election of 1956. A reader might be tempted to think that this was the unimportant, or even uninteresting part of JFK’s life, but that would be a mistake. You absolutely cannot understand JFK’s life unless you read about his pre-presidency. <br /><br />Some of the salient points that emerge are his internationalism. He was as home in Europe as he was in America, he travelled far and wide. <br />He was a very sickly person, at least on two occasions almost dying of illness. <br />He was a brave person as attested to the PT 109 episode and other decisions in his life. <br />His womanizing is dealt with, but it emerges that he is somewhere between a heartless cad, as they used to say, and a man who was looking for love. He certainly didn’t disturb lower status females with his attentions, they being reserved for the jet set females he hung around with. <br />Tragedy is always a part of the!enmesh family and those that befell his sister Rosemary, brother Joe, and sister, Eunice are well-told. <br />All this makes the reading of the Kennedy saga always bittersweet.<br /><br />The book itself is beautifully and clearly written, and, despite its considerable heft, a pleasure to read. There are good photographs throughout, presented just at right point in narration. It helps, too, for the reader to know that some of the scenes described can now be revisited by films and documents on the Internet. Needless to say, from such an acclaimed historian, the documentation is exhaustive.<br /><br />This is the kind of book that colors your life and inhabits your dreams . The outgoing baby boom generation might need to reconsider Kennedy’s status in order to come to terms with our own lives which were indelibly stamped with this man’s imprint. He was, for many males at least, a template, if not a model. And he was certainly hard to measure up to. <br /><br />You can’t but help while reading this book wanting to see the next volume ASAP.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/46083675-bill-deef">View all my reviews</a>

JFK
Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956
by Fredrik Logevall

Random House Publishing Group - Random House
Random House
Biographies & Memoirs | History
Pub Date 08 Sep 2020



I am reviewing a copy of JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 through Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley:


John F Kennedy was born on May.29.1917 and was assassinated November 22.1963. He was born in the midst of the First World War, and came of age during the Second World War.


John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Kennedy knew political ambition from a young age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history. And while portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have come and gone in the decades since his untimely death, these accounts all fail to capture the full person.


John F Kennedy was born at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, is today a national historic site. When the boys were Noble and Greenough Lower School The principal of the school, Miss Myra Fiske, had interviewed the boys in the spring of 1924 and liked what she saw. But soon the Kennedy boys would be taunted and bullied because most of the boys in the school were Protestant while they were Catholics. Being an Irish and Catholic caused a real stigma in those days.



The Kennedy brothers did not have a room of their own at the family home, instead when they were home from school on the Holidays they would find a room that was available.


At the age of seventeen Jack became sick which the doctors eventually attributed to allergies and likely collitis, he was sent home with the orders to follow a proper diet and to avoid emotional stress.



When Joe graduated from Choate in 1933, there father sent him to the London School of Economics to study with Harold Laski, the distinguished socialist theorist and economist, before matriculating at Harvard. The recommendation for this came from the recommendation of Harvard Law School Professor Felix Frankfurter.



On September.25.1935 John F Kennedy who was eighteen boarded the French ocean liner Normandie, along with his parents and his sister Kathleen (Kick). They were bound for England. The prior spring Jack had applied to both Harvard and Princeton and was accepted to both. He decided he would rather go to Princeton his Father did not disagree but insisted he too spend a year the London School of Economics, as his brother had, under the tutelage of the left-wing economist Harold Laski. But John F Kennedy once again became sick and was hospitalized for more tests.


On January. 18, 1936: Kennedy wrote, “My blood count this morning was 3500. When I came it was 6,000. At 1500 you die. They call me ‘2,000 to go Kennedy.”


He would go on to write again on January 27 “They haven’t told me anything, except that I have leukemia, and a rare blood disorder.



John F Kennedy’s family connections got him into places and positions that he may not have otherwise gotten into Such was the case in October 1941, when he became an officer in the Navy Reserve and was assigned to the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C., the same posting Joe Junior had turned down the previous spring.



On January 3, 1947, John F. Kennedy was sworn in as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the Eleventh District of Massachusetts. He was almost thirty and looked even younger With his boyish smile and big shock of hair. A few old hands on Capitol Hill mistook him for a college student on hiatus from his studies and working as an aide. Kennedy was not bothered or at least did not show that he was bothered by the lack of attention.




In the Spring of 1951, John F Kennedy attended a dinner party in Georgetown where he met twenty Jacqueline Lee Bouvier, who at the time was just shy of being twenty two, and had just graduated college.




on January 20, 1953, John F Kennedy attended Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Inaugural Ball with Jacqueline Bouvier on his arms. In June of that same year John and Jacque were engaged. The engagement was announced on June 23, 1953, and the announcement ran in newspapers all throughout the country.




1954 turned out to be John F Kennedy’s nightmare, the first major problem that year had been with him since his birth and had been made worse by injuries suffered in the South Pacific during the war. He had been in acute pain at various times during 1953, even entering George Washington University Hospital for a few days in mid-July for what were officially deemed “malaria” complications. At his wedding, in September, friends worried that he might not be able to kneel at the altar—or get back up if he did. The second problem had to deal with McCarthy. For four years, ever since the Wisconsin demagogue burst onto the scene with his notorious speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Kennedy’s strategy had been to bob and weave, to keep private his misgivings about McCarthy’s charges and tactics and to say as little as possible publicly.



JFK Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956, not only talks about his political career, but talks of the health issues that plagued him throughout his life, as well as his indiscretions, but it also shows the human side of a president that set a new standard for what that means, a president who wanted to move our nation forward in a positive manner, which left him idealized by many, but hated by some too.



I give JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 five out of five stars!



Happy Reading!

How can anyone think that they can write a biography on JFK. Many people, really most people, view him as a Myth and a Legend. But Fredrik Logevall has captured the Man. This book starts with the background of JFK’s forefathers coming from Ireland and how they blended in with the non-catholic families all around them. It ends as he is almost selected to run as the Vice Presidential candidate along side Adlai Stevenson. Although he was not selected, the Convention was his springboard into greater political heights.
Although, I have read a number of books on JFK each one of them presents him as either on a pedestal or down in the sewer. However, Mr. Logevall has been able to write an evenhanded book that does not shy away from the flaws nor does he try to hide the greatness that lead to the years of Camelot, which will be covered in the second volume.
I think this is the most well rounded and complete biography of those early years that has been written. Anyone that has an interest in JFK’s life, both personal and political, should read this book. But it also covers other areas of US History during that time and how he was involved. His heroic actions in World War II or his reaction to the Red Scare and more. All of these times have been a major part of shaping this country. Kennedy was there for so much of it. The second volume, of course, will address issues like the Cuban missile crisis, the Vietnam war and more.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone with any interest, even a passing interest, about John Kennedy and his times. No matter if you love home, hate him or have not even thought about him this book will give everyone something to think about especially in today’s turmoil.

This is the first book of a two book biography of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

The first book covers the background of his parents, especially the controlling Joe Kennedy. and shows how “Jack” alongside his brother Joe Jr., was groomed for politics from the time he was a child.,

Kennedy’s childhood, education, and romance with Jackie, as well as his military service and the death of his older brother, are covered in-depth. The book ends just as he is deciding whether to run for President.

This excellent work really sheds light on the whole man by looking at his early life and not just his presidency. It looks at the stressors in his life as well as the accomplishments. What I love most about this is that it introduces Kennedy in a personal way to those of us who were born after his lifetime.

Those interested in US history and presidential biographies will enjoy this book.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary.

John F. Kennedy was known for his charisma, loyalty, and philandering, but his defining characteristic, Fredrik Logevall argues, was his intellectual curiosity. <i>JFK</i> opens with perhaps the best demonstration of this, his 1939 travels in Europe (when his father, Joseph Kennedy Sr., was U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom), which often endangered himself and inconvenienced others, yet which he turned into his senior thesis and a subsequent best-selling book (<i> Why England Slept </i>).

This first volume of a planned two-volume biography covers the Kennedy family from 1848, when JFK's great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland, to 1956, when JFK became a national figure. His identity was shaped by his boarding school and college years, his travels in Europe, and his admittedly undistinguished terms in Congress. It is an overall flattering portrayal of all of the Kennedys -- even Joseph Sr., with whom John was not afraid to disagree, comes across as less of a bigot and more of a typical wealthy patriarch of the era -- but only to a matter of degree.

The prose keeps the 800-page work from becoming a chore to read. For general readers wishing to learn more about JFK as a person to researchers aiming to better place his foreign policy in context, this is a valuable addition to all types of bookshelves.

Finally got a chance to dive into this. I have read 3-4 books about JFK but thought this might provide new insight. The good definitely did as I was able to get new insight into how he evolved into the Presidency. The author did a great job of blending relevant history with Kennedy and how much of it shaped his background. I also felt that the author did well relating the good, the bad, and the ugly. I still believe that JFK on the whole was a remarkable individual but by no means perfect. His family background certainly defines many of his actions. The author provides incredible research of the times and the man. It took me a long time to read this but it was worth it. This is one of the better treatments of JFK

I learned so much about JFK and his family by reading this book. If you find the Kennedy family fascinating, this is the perfect book for you.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley.

This work from an accomplished historian and writer is tremendous. This was not my first book on the Kennedy's but likely was the best-researched. This is volume one of a two-volume set. This work covers the first 39 years of JFK's life. You will feel like you are "there"! I would highly recommend this work. Even if you think you have read much of JFK, you will learn new things and the writer provided excellent context.

Yes, there have been many biographies on JFK and yes, I have read them all but this deep dive by Pulitzer Prize winner Logevall added some new insight into the picture of our 35th president. He tells the story of American history and how it directly corresponds to JFK’s life and his rise to power.
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We are in the middle of an election cycle and I just got done the last few weeks watching the Democratic and Republican Conventions. Logevall went in depth about JFK’s first visit to the convention and it’s what originally made him a political rising ✰. The convention information fascinated me, especially with it being so timely.
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I always find information about the Kennedy Family fascinating. The political dynasty that our country has known is more then that. They are a close knit family that was competitive in the political field and in sports with each other but had each other’s backs always. What always impressed me is the Matriarch Rose. How does a mother have so many kids, keep them all engaged and raise them to do so many important things? Rose kept an index card system with pertinent information for each child (which I got that idea from her and I think is brilliant) she would leave our current events articles that she thought was important for the kids to read and set up reading areas through the house to encourage reading. Family time was above all important to the Kennedys and I think as the years have gone by that hasn’t changed.
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This book also included beautiful pictures and some written letters. One I found so interesting was a letter he wrote home from Choate asking if he could be the new baby Teddy’s Godfather. Swipe to see.
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This book is available This Tuesday, September 8. Thank you to #NetGalley and #Randomhouse for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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#quarantine#foffimreading#bookclub#bookblog#bookreviewblog#bookaddict#bookcommunity#goodreads#bookishbounds#sept2020#netgalley#randomhouse#jfk#fredriklogevall

JFK by Fredrik Logevall is an absolutely fantastic read. Logevall gives you an inside look at JFK that provides us with a sense of who he truly was, good and bad. A well-researched book dedicated to truth while maintaining a sense of honor and respect.

My first biography of John F. Kennedy was a comic book. One image that has always remained in my memory is of the Kennedy family at the dinner table, father Joe quizzing his children on current events.

My family never talked about current events or politics at the dinner table. When my school friend Christine asked if my family was going to vote for Kennedy I was clueless. I had never heard of him. Then she asked if we were Democrats, but I had never heard of them either. Finally, in exasperation, she asked if we were Catholic or Protestant, because if we were Catholic we were voting for Kennedy, and if we were Protestant we were going to hell.

In great duress, I ran home to ask mom these vital questions. In one moment I learned of our politics, our religion, and eternal damnation.

I was in sixth grade when my teacher took told us the president had been shot and sent us directly home. All those long blocks I fretted, feeling vulnerable, wondering if the Soviets could take over since we had no president to protect us. I remember gathering in my grandparents' living room, watching the black horse and carriage as it passed Carolyn and John and black-veiled Jackie.

Every home had Kennedy souvenirs, a book, a photograph.

Over the years his image was tarnished. We doubted his authoring of his Pulitzer Prize winning book Profiles in Courage (which I unsuccessfully tried to read as an early teen). There was his multitude of affairs before and after marriage. We heard that his daddy bought his political offices. We doubted his leadership, blamed him for Vietnam.

Who was the real John F. Kennedy?

I opened volume one of Fredrik Logevall's biography JFK hoping to understand this man, this icon, this American president.

It is a marvelous study of the man in context of his times and his family, from his childhood to his decision to seek the presidency.

Plagued with health problems, careless about his person, a man of great intelligence and inquisitiveness and charm, a womanizer, a workaholic, a man of unquestionable courage, a family man who did not hesitate to veer from his father's beliefs, the real Jack Kennedy was complicated and everything you thought he was and somehow more than what you thought he was.

Believe the hype about this book. I enjoyed it as a biography and as an exploration of the times and the political process. I look forward to reading the next part.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

Absolutely fantastic. This is a look at JFK that gives us a sense of who he truly was, good and bad. The book is exhaustively researched, dedicated to going beyond rumor and folklore. He develops Kennedy as a multifaceted and flawed individual whose life was at times heroic and at others, unscrupulous. He presents the complex individual that JFK was with accuracy and depth. I sensed reading this that the author was more so on a personal journey, entirely dedicated to creating a mosaic of Kennedy that revealed his dichotomous life: that of his public and personal lives. JFK was dedicated to a more hopeful and just country yet continuously betrayed those closest to him. The author manages to reveal these aspects of Kennedy without bias or conjecture. This is a meticulously researched book dedicated to truth while maintaining a sense of honor and respect. Can't wait for the next one to come out!