Book Review 9/16/2007 Tony Lawrence

JFK: Reckless Youth by Nigel Hamilton

(Amazon Link)

There's an incredible amount of detail in these 800 plus pages, and that makes it wonderful. At the same time, do I really need to know every minor sexual adventure JFK ever had? I'm not prudish, and certainly JFK's sexuality is an important part of understanding him, but it does get boring, especially in the sections that cover his teen years.

On the positive side, that same exhaustive digging provides rich portraits of the period he grew up in. For anyone fond of history, this is great stuff. I never realized that JFK had Presidential ambitions very early in life and thought (incorrectly) that he was a pawn of his father in his early years. Nor did I appreciate the true idiocy of the PT boat program that of course led to the famous "PT-109" incident. It was also interesting to read correspondence and comments from the time when most of America, including young JFK, was opposed to becoming involved in a war with Germany.

This book ends with JFK heading off to Congress in 1946. I'd love to read more..

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