The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings - Hardcover

Maier, Thomas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465043178 ISBN 13: 9780465043170

Publisher: Basic Books, 2003

Synopsis

474 pages. Book and Jacket appear to have hardly been read and are both in As new condition throughout. A Five Generation History Of The Ultimate Irish-Catholic Family.

About this title

Review:

"Houston Chronicle"
"A fascinating new perspective...."

BookReporter.com
"A colossal work...The Kennedys is a pleasure to read and a legitimate page-turner."

"The Star-Ledger"
"An enlightening and original portrait of an almost mythic family and the Irish-Catholic experience, and a portrait of the United States at its best and worst."

"Providence Journal"
"There is a fascinating, five-generation story to tell here, and Maier does it well...this book reads like a metaphor for the Irish immigrant experience itself."

"Booklist"
"This extremely readable biography not only examines one particular immigrant family but also sheds light on the larger story of Irish Americans from the early twentieth century onward."

"Publishers Weekly"
"[T]he door is open and the time is right for another serious, multigenerational history of America's most fabled clan. Newsday reporter Maier answers the need quite well with this fascinating account."

"Kirkus Reviews"
"A hefty, well documented, glowing account of the Kennedys as a prime example of Irish-Catholic experience in America. [Maier] paints a vivid picture of the anti-Irish, anti-Catholic sentiment that faced immigrants with brogues."

Synopsis:

Meticulously researched both here and abroad, THE KENNEDYS examines the Kennedy's as exemplars of the Irish Catholic experience. Beginning with Patrick Kennedy's arrival in the Brahmin world of Boston in 1848, Maier delves into the deeper currents of the often spectacular Kennedy story, and the ways in which their immigrant background shaped their values-and in turn twentieth-century America-for over five generations. As the first and only Roman Catholic ever elected to high national office in this country, JFK's pioneering campaign for president rested on a tradition of navigating a cultural divide that began when Joseph Kennedy shed the brogues of the old country in order to get ahead on Wall Street. Whether studied exercise in cultural self-denial or sheer pragmatism, their movements mirror that of countless of other, albeit less storied, American families. But as much as the Kennedys distanced themselves from their religion and ethnic heritage on the public stage, Maier shows how Irish Catholicism informed many of their most well-known political decisions and stances.

From their support of civil rights, to Joe Kennedy's tight relationship with Pope Pius XII and FDR, the impact of their personal family history on the national scene is without question-and makes for an immensely compelling narrative. Bringing together extensive new research in both Ireland and the United States, several exclusive interviews, as well as his own perspective as an Irish-American, Maier's original approach to the Kennedy era brilliantly illustrates the defining role of the immigrant experience for the country's foremost political dynasty.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0465043178
• ISBN 13: 9780465043170
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304