The Kennedy Women - Softcover

Leamer, Laurence

4.11

2,234 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804113610 ISBN 13: 9780804113618

Publisher: Ivy Books, 1995

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In this searingly honest story, social historian Laurence Leamer provides an in-depth, but highly sensitive, look at the mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters who helped forge a family legacy of fortitude and political triumph. The Kennedy Women chronicles five generations of women to offer a bold, compelling account of this famous dynasty. Brimming with triumph and tragedy, courage and compliance, self-sacrifice and self-delusion, it is more an epic saga than a story of distinguished cultural history. From the slums of Boston to the Court of St. James's, from Hollywood to the White House and beyond, Leamer shows how the female influence of faith and courage can be traced every step of the way. Receiving unprecedented cooperation from family members, Leamer interviewed scores of relatives and close associates, and gained access to hundreds of personal documents to reveal the Kennedys as never before.

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From the Inside Flap:

"A FRESH AND UNVARNISHED PORTRAIT OF A FASCINATING, TALENTED, AND DEEPLY FLAWED FAMILY."
?Boston Herald

Laurence Leamer was granted unheralded access to private Kennedy papers, and he interviewed family and old friends, many of whom had never been interviewed before, for this incredible portrait of the women in America?s "royal family." From Bridget Murphy, the foremother who touched shore at East Boston in 1849, to the intelligent, independent Kennedy women of today, Laurence Leamer tells their unforgettable stories.

Here are the private thoughts of Kathleen, the flirtatious debutante in prewar England . . . the truth behind Joe Kennedy?s insistence that his mildly retarded daughter, Rosemary, be lobotomized . . . the real story behind Joan and Ted?s whirlwind romance . . . Jackie?s desire for a divorce from JFK in the 1950s . . . Pat Lawford?s disastrous Hollywood marriage . . . how Caroline discovered her cousin David?s death by overdose, and more.

Tough enough to withstand the unimaginable, these Kennedy women soldier on in the name of their extraordinary family and what they believe is right.

"MASTERFUL . . . AN ENDLESSLY FASCINATING READ . . . A wealth of beautifully rendered social detail, at times reading like a realist novel by Edith Wharton . . . [A] page-turner from start to finish."
?The Dallas Morning News
From the Trade Paperback edition.

About the Author:

Laurence Leamer has written many bestsellers, including The Kennedy Women, The Kennedy Men, and Sons of Camelot. He lives in Washington, D.C. and Palm Beach, Florida.

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