The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm: A Thousand Days in London, 1938-1940

Swift, Will

ISBN 10: 0061173568 / ISBN 13: 9780061173561

Published by Smithsonian Books / Harper Collins Publishers, 2008

About this Item

Stated : First Edition. In addition, complete number line including number one. Hard cover in fine condtion with black boards and gold gilt spine lettering. Inscribed by the author on half-title page to former owner (signature not authenticated.) Otherwise interior text block clean & tight; no writing, no markings noted. Contains two sections of glossy black & white photographs in addition to black & white photos in the text. Concludes with section of Source Notes, a Bibliography, and a comprehensive Index. 374 numbered pages. Dust jacket in likewise fine condition; not price clipped. * From the book jacket, ". . . presents a fresh, empathetic interpretation of the ambassadorship of Joseph Kennedy and explores the intricate, often shifting relationships among Kennedy, Chamberlain, Churchill, and, of course, Roosevelt. . . . Drawing on recently released Kennedy family archives, Joseph P. Kennedy's private papers, and using rare photographs of English society and the photogenic Kennedy clan, Dr. Swift, with penetrating psychological insight, brings to life this fascinating family during a dramatic one thousand day period.".

Seller Inventory # M001304

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm: A Thousand Days in London, 1938-1940
• Publisher: Smithsonian Books / Harper Collins Publishers
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061173568
• ISBN 13: 9780061173561
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • History of the 20th Century
  • History

About this title

Synopsis

In The Kennedys Amidst the Gathering Storm, Will Swift presents a fresh, empathetic interpre­tation of the ambassadorship of Joseph Kennedy and explores the intricate, often shifting relation­ships among Kennedy, Chamberlain, Churchill, and, of course, Roosevelt.

Arriving in London in early 1938, the Irish-Catholic Kennedys were welcomed by politicians, aristocrats, and intellectuals, all eager to court America. They finally appeared to have overcome their lifelong status as outsiders. From 1938 to 1940, the Kennedys crystallized their identity as protagonists on the world stage, making public the competitive and clannish intrafamily dynamics that would fuel their mythic rise to power. They all learned from their father's successes—and failures. The older children—Joe Jr., Jack, and Kathleen—took an active part in England's glittering, "last fling before the bombs fall" society, but all nine children charmed, their every move chronicled by the British and American media. John F. Kennedy's path to the White House began in London. As his father's political fortunes dimmed, Jack published a best-selling book and his star rose.

Drawing on recently released Kennedy family archives, Joseph P. Kennedy's private papers, and using rare photographs of English society and the photogenic Kennedy clan, Dr. Swift, with penetrating psychological insight, brings to life this fascinating family during a dramatic one thousand day period.

About the Author

Will Swift, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist, who has been writing about American leaders and British royalty of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries for more than twenty years. He is the author of The Roosevelts and the Royals, which Blanche Wiesen Cook called "a splendid addition to our understanding of the extraordinary Anglo-American partnership," and which Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., called "an excellent book." Will Swift lives in New York City and at the Nathan Wild House in Valatie, New York.