The epic, definitive biography of Ted Kennedy--an immersive journey through the life of a complicated man and a sweeping history of the fall of liberalism and the collapse of political morality.
Neal Gabler is the author of five books, including three biographies- An Empire of Their Own, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize; Winchell, which was named Time magazine's nonfiction book of the year and was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Walt Disney, which won him his second Los Angeles Times Book Prize and was named biography of the year by USA Today. He has been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Shorenstein Fellowship from Harvard, and a Woodrow Wilson Public Policy scholarship, and was the chief nonfiction judge of the National Book Awards.
“Kennedy’s expansive life has yielded no shortage of biographies,
but [Neal] Gabler’s is on its way toward becoming the most complete
and ambitious. As a character study it is rich and insightful,
frank in its judgments but deeply sympathetic to the man Gabler
regards as ‘the most complex of the Kennedys.’. . . Catching the
Wind lends a cinematic sweep to Kennedy’s legislative
crusades.”—The New York Times
“Particularly today, when partisan divisions in America run so
deep, it’s instructive to recall Kennedy’s skill at working across
party lines and gaining sufficient Republican support to secure an
astonishing array of legislative achievements. . . .
Illuminating,[AD1] and sympathetic . . . Gabler’s study, when
completed, will be the most detailed portrait we have of the man,
and by a considerable margin.”—The Washington Post
“The rich narrative is studded with tasty factoids and lively
quotes, anecdotes and vignettes.”—The Wall Street Journal
“One of the truly great biographies of our time, Catching the Wind
is a masterwork of historical reconstruction. It turns Ted
Kennedy’s combination of decency, carelessness, political
craftiness, and transcendent idealism into a powerful account of
the travails of modern American liberalism. Here is biography
written at the highest level.”—Sean Wilentz, New York Times
bestselling author of Bob Dylan in America and The Rise of American
Democracy
“A mammoth undertaking . . . Neal Gabler has
brilliantly documented the rise of the most consequential
legislator of our day, one who reached Shakespearean heights and
tabloid depths. But the Ted Kennedy story is about much more. It is
the tale of modern American liberalism and the shifting winds of
political morality. . . . Deeply impressive.”—Walter Isaacson, New
York Times bestselling author of Steve Jobs and Leonardo da
Vinci
“With his trademark elegance and insight, Gabler has crafted a
moving portrait of the last Kennedy brother, which is also a
portrait of the last great creative era of governance in the United
States. Gabler has made a specialty of capturing the lives of
architects of the culture, and now Ted Kennedy joins Walter
Winchell and Walt Disney in a gallery of enduring biography.”—Jon
Meacham, author of The Soul of America
“Gabler, a brilliant historian and prodigious researcher, grapples
with all sides of Kennedy’s complex personality. The result is a
landmark study of Washington power politics in the twentieth
century in the Robert Caro tradition. . . . Highly
recommended!”—Douglas Brinkley, New York Times bestselling author
of American Moonshot
“Judicious and thoughtful, Catching the Wind will be essential
reading for understanding the fate of political liberalism in
American history.”—Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of
American Prometheus and The Good Spy
“A triumphant achievement and essential reading for everyone
fascinated by the Kennedys, politics, and governance.”—Booklist
(starred review)
“A vigorous, highly readable . . . book full of triumph and tragedy
and an exemplary study in electoral politics.”—Kirkus (starred
review)
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