Read too much like a history book.........very difficult to plow through. Joseph Kennedy was an interesting and formidable character but this read could not keep my attention. Three stars for amazingly researched. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to be granted this ARC and to St. Martin’s press.

The Ambassador is a very interesting and well detailed book. The depth of details on the pages brings it all to life. You can easily picture yourself as a fly on the wall listening to the conversations. I had an opinion of Joe Kennedy, and it was not very favorable based on other details I have read. His anti-Semitic and fascist beliefs are hard to bear and difficult to relate. Given his beliefs and dispositions it is amazing he was appointed ambassador. Joe was unqualified, untrained, and totally unreliable having failed at previous positions prior, other than his own self interest in order to better his position and wealth. His failure to see that he was the problem, his opinions were wrong and not that of the State Department is startling. However it appears that being strong willed, opinionated and unloyal to a fault find it easier to blame others, something we still see today, creating havoc where ever they go.

The Ambassador is a thoroughly researched biography of Joseph Kennedy, focusing primarily on his time as the ambassador to the Court of St. James on the eve of WWII. During this time Kennedy became a highly controversial figure and strongly disliked by the White Houses. Ronald in particular seeks to definitively answer the question: Was Joseph Kennedy a Fascist sympathizer? Using newly available source, Ronald confirms the condemning truth.

This biography contains many interesting details and provides a new perspective on one of the least-studied Kennedys. The book is a bit dense and definitely intended more for hardcore history fans than those seeking a casual read about Joseph Kennedy. I think Ronald did an excellent job with her project but the book does not have widespread appeal.

I found “The Ambassador” to be a very interesting examination of Joseph P. Kennedy’s 2 ½ year term as Ambassador to the Court of St. James just prior to and during the beginning of WWII.

Author Susan Ronald begins by giving us the basics about Kennedy’s background: his Boston Irish roots, his matriculation to Harvard, and his very successful career as a businessman on Wall Street and in the movie and imported liquor industries. Charismatic and charming, but also highly aggressive and very outspoken, Kennedy turns to politics, supporting FDR and his New Deal and becoming head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. But he wants more—maybe to run for President in 1940 if FDR doesn’t want a third term; or Vice President, if he does. Believing a stint as Ambassador to England will give him the necessary, heightened visibility to achieve this goal, he convinces FDR to appoint him.

Except, there’s one huge problem: Kennedy is wholly unsuited to the job--both generally as any kind of ambassador and specifically as Ambassador to a Great Britain threatened by Nazi Germany. Egotistical, self-aggrandizing and self-promoting, thoroughly obtuse, and always, always “on the make” for himself and his family, Kennedy knows nothing about diplomacy and has zero interest in learning. Worse, he admires what Hitler and National Socialism has accomplished, believes Fascism is the “coming thing,” and has absolutely no faith in England’s ability to win a war—a war which he believes would be economically ruinous for everyone. So, he aggressively supports Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement, and when that fails, turns defeatist, bad-mouthing England’s competence and war-making ability to anyone who will listen, including King George VI and Roosevelt. The result? Well, old Joe Kennedy never did run for either of the two top jobs and indeed, never again held a post in any administration.

It’s a fascinating tale, very well written, that examines not only Kennedy, but the politics and personalities of the era. Readers will learn something about FDR, King George, VI, Chamberlain, Churchill, Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Under Secretary Sumner Welles, Hitler, Von Ribbentrop, Mussolini and, of course, Kennedy’s children including Joe, Jr., Jack, Rosemary, and Kathleen.

A word of caution. If you’re a Kennedy fan, you may not like this book because it is intensely critical of the patriarch of the family. While it gives “the Ambassador” credit for being a good father, that’s about the only nice thing author Ronald has to say about him. And while her treatments of Jack and Kathleen are mostly favorable, her portrait of Joe, Jr. is not flattering.

But if you’re interested in the run-up to and beginning of World War II and the various forces and personalities in play, then you may just find this a welcome addition to your library.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this work.

Susan Ronald obviously rigorously researched Joe Kennedy's life for The Ambassador, but that very rigorous research made this book a bit hard for me to get through. The Kennedy family patriarch is a very interesting character, and an oft-untold member of the Kennedy family, and there were many interesting facts throughout the book.

I've read many other books (both historical fiction and nonfiction) about the Kennedys, but I hadn't delved into the patriarch that much. This book was well-organized. I thought it was meticulously researched and chock full of interesting details. That being said, at times it may have been TOO researched, and the sheer volume of information seemed overwhelming and a bit of a slog to get through. I did come away from the book learning much more about Joe Kennedy (and how eerily similar his false facts and nonsense is to 45) and have added several books from the bibliography to my reading list.
I would recommend this to others who are interested in this time period or the Kennedy family.

Having read many books on the Kennedy family, this was the first one that was mostly about the patriarch, Joe. loaded with details and facts ,this well researched book is for anyone that really wants to delve into this story. I appreciate the authors accurate observations, but I found that at times I had to push myself along to finish this book. I gave it a four star rating as I feel that if this is in your wheelhouse, then this book is for you.

Ronald's well-documented biography bursts with new information relating to Joe Kennedy's career, politics, and family life, especially in the period of his ambassadorship to the Court of St. James. The reader learns especially of the intensity of Joe Kennedy's drive for political standing and great wealth, as well as of his relentless lust for life. In short, Ronald makes clear that Joe Kennedy allowed nothing to get in the way of any of his plans and desires, large or small..

We read so much about the Kennedys, but typically only hear about Joe’s role as the patriarch, not as the man and leader he himself was. I enjoyed this look into that part of Kennedy’s life, although I wish it had taken a more macro view of his larger professional career.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book.
Was a slog of a read. I had trouble getting through it despite the fact that there was interesting information about Joe Kennedy that I had not known. I am a fan of the period and really wanted to like this book more.

Another excellent book by Susan Ronald, in which she shines a bright and revealing light on one of the more unsavory American personalities and diplomats of the 20th century, Joseph Kennedy, and his tenure as ambassador to Great Britain as a result of his closeness to FDR. Ronald reveals Kennedy's fascist sympathies and bigotry as well as his unbridled ambitions for himself and his family in his quest to establish the Kennedy clan as America's preeminent family. The historical and biographical details Ronald has managed to assemble in this book are as insightful as her sharp analysis.