The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys

Front Cover
Macmillan, 1991 - Biography & Autobiography - 932 pages
In its drama and scope, Doris Kearns Goodwin's "The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys" is one of the richest works of biography in the last decade. From the wintry day in 1863 when John Francis Fitzgerald was baptized, through the memorable moment ninety-eight years later when his grandson and namesake John Fitzgerald Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States, the author brings us every colorful inch of this unique American tapestry. Each character emerges unmistakenly, with the clarity and complexity of personal recollection: "Honey Fitz" Fitzgerald, the mayor of Boston and founder of his dynasty; his independent and shrewdly political daughter, Rose, and her husband, the cunning, manipulative Joseph P. Kennedy; finally, the "Golden trio" of Kennedy children--Joe Jr., Kathleen, and Jack--whose promise was eclipsed by the greater power of fate. With unprecedented access to the Kennedy family and to decades of private papers, Doris Kearns Goodwin has crafted a singular work of American history: It is at once the story of an era, of the immigrant experience, and--most of all--of two families, whose ambitions propelled them to unrivaled power and whose passions nearly destroyed them.
 

Contents

The Immigrant World
3
Pageants and Processions
21
The Other Boston
40
Great Expectations
58
Apprentice to the Boss
71
A Long Courtship
77
The Boy Politician
92
A Most Energetic Mayor
110
Policing Wall Street
436
The Model Son and the Pied Piper
456
Children of Privilege
475
Tempting the Gods
494
Arrival in London
512
At the Court of St Jamess
531
Peace for Our Time
548
The Long Weekend
574

Eyes Full of Laughter
130
Guilty as Charged
151
A Child of Mary
174
The Mayors Daughter
190
Harvard College 12
208
Banking could lead a man anywhere
234
The Balance Shifts
242
THE KENNEDYS 19151940
265
A Stranger Among Friends
267
Learning the Tricks of the Trade
289
Separation and Resolve
301
The Wall Street Racket
322
This is a gold mine
339
Growing Up Kennedy
349
The Young Mogul
369
Gloria needs handling 7
381
The Queen Kelly Curse
398
Riding the Roosevelt Special
419
Hostages to Fortune
590
THE GOLDEN TRIO 19411961
619
The Circle Is Broken
621
Hero in the Pacific
645
Forbidden Romance
661
Now its all over
683
Shadowboxing
698
The Young Congressman
722
The Lone Survivor
742
Shooting for a Star
750
Triumphant Defeat
769
Burying the Religious Issue
787
A Tip of the Hat
809
Notes
819
Bibliography
891
Index
905
Copyright

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About the author (1991)

Doris Kearns Goodwin was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 4, 1943. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Colby College in 1964 and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University in 1968. She taught at Harvard University and worked as an assistant to President Lyndon Johnson during his last year in the White House. She has written numerous books including The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, Wait Till Next Year, and The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, and Leadership: In Turbulent Times. She has received numerous awards including Pulitzer Prize in history, the Harold Washington Literary Award, the Ambassador Book Award for No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II, and the Lincoln Prize and the Book Prize for American History for Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.

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