About the Author

Richard Reeves is the author of presidential bestsellers, including President Nixon and President Kennedy, acclaimed as the best nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine. A syndicated columnist and winner of the American Political Science Association's Carey McWilliams Award, he lives in New York and Los Angeles.

Reviews

Michael Elliot Newsweek A magnificent book....Reeves tries "to reconstruct [Kennedy's] world from his perspective." He succeeds triumphantly, forcing us to read the early 1960s in a fresh way.

Time magazine The best non-fiction book of the year.

Bill McKibben New York Daily News The power of JFK and of this book is strong enough that it illuminates our present day as well.

Bruce W. Nelan Time Fresh and fascinating material....The Bottom Line: A cool, clear look at the way JFK dealt with his crises.

Derek Shearer Los Angeles Times Book Review President Kennedy...is the best study that I've read of what it's like to be President.

Geoffrey C. Ward The Boston Globe Reeves' portrait of Kennedy and his presidency is both persuasive and compelling; the reader puts it down with the feeling that this is what it must have been like to be at the center of power at a time when the center very nearly did not hold.

Michiko Kakutani The New York Times [A] narrative that leaves us not only with a new understanding of Kennedy as President, but also with a new understanding of what it means to be President.

Peter Braestrup Chicago Tribune An uncommonly cool, compelling portrait of a modern president.

Rory Quirk The Atlanta Journal/The Atlanta Constitution A skillful blend of history and character study....Informative and provocative...Reeves offers the nation's 35th president without adulation and without tears.

According to Reeves, Kennedy had little ideology. ``And he had less emotion. What he had was attitude . . . .'' Based on hundreds of interviews and close study of presidential papers and telephone transcripts, New Yorker writer Reeves ( Reagan Detour ) traces JFK's thoughts and actions through his nearly three years as president. No previous profile has included as many details on how he dealt with the Bay of Pigs, the conflict with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev over Berlin, the Cuban missile crisis, Southeast Asia and other foreign policy issues. On the domestic front, Reeves offers fresh material about JFK's equivocating initial response to the civil rights movement and the bold decision to integrate Southern universities that followed. Nor does Reeves ignore the inner life of the White House, bringing into sharper focus JFK's physical disabilities, the preliminary plans for the 1964 campaign and the role Attorney General Robert Kennedy played as ``a sort of surrogate President'' at crucial moments. Precise and penetrating in its analysis, Reeves's microscopic examination of Kennedy during his presidency makes for compelling reading right down to such trivialities as his little economies (he was ``cheap in the way rich people often are''), and even his throwaway lines as, after seeing one popularity poll, JFK quipped, ``Jesus, it's like Ike. The worse you do, the better they like you.'' Photos. First serial to American Heritage; BOMC and History Book Club alternates; author tour. Photos. (Oct.)

Michael Elliot Newsweek A magnificent book....Reeves tries "to reconstruct [Kennedy's] world from his perspective." He succeeds triumphantly, forcing us to read the early 1960s in a fresh way.
Time magazine The best non-fiction book of the year.
Bill McKibben New York Daily News The power of JFK and of this book is strong enough that it illuminates our present day as well.
Bruce W. Nelan Time Fresh and fascinating material....The Bottom Line: A cool, clear look at the way JFK dealt with his crises.
Derek Shearer Los Angeles Times Book Review President Kennedy...is the best study that I've read of what it's like to be President.
Geoffrey C. Ward The Boston Globe Reeves' portrait of Kennedy and his presidency is both persuasive and compelling; the reader puts it down with the feeling that this is what it must have been like to be at the center of power at a time when the center very nearly did not hold.
Michiko Kakutani The New York Times [A] narrative that leaves us not only with a new understanding of Kennedy as President, but also with a new understanding of what it means to be President.
Peter Braestrup Chicago Tribune An uncommonly cool, compelling portrait of a modern president.
Rory Quirk The Atlanta Journal/The Atlanta Constitution A skillful blend of history and character study....Informative and provocative...Reeves offers the nation's 35th president without adulation and without tears.