His style was urgent and probing versus the steady and reasonable approach adopted by JFK. He was described at one point as being a ‘kind boy within a rude man’. He was attentive and caring when visiting injured soldiers in hospital and rushed to Jackie Kennedy’s side to support her when her first child was still born. Yet he was a family man, tactile and loving to his children. RFK was often an ‘in your face’ individual in his professional life, challenging to colleagues and frequently rude. Regarding the man – his personality and how he differed from and yet complimented JFK - some of the key points I picked up were:

There are many positive statements about the man and his achievements, but there are just as many challenges and counter-views.

RFK’s life is covered in great detail in this book and it does feel like the author played a straight bat (or 'tread a neutral path' for non-cricket followers). This knowledge helps flesh out the detail provided in this book - it's very much a complimentary piece. The JFK bio provides much of the family background missing from this book and also provides the big picture on events impacting Robert Kennedy (RFK) during the period JFK was president. If you’re starting from scratch on the Kennedy clan I'd go as far as to say it's essential pre-reading. Kennedy: 1917-1963 I have to say it was excellent preparation for this book. Having previously read An Unfinished Life John F. The author of dozens of book reviews for The New York Times and The Washington Post, Thomas has taught writing and journalism at Harvard and Princeton, where, from 2007 to 2014, he was Ferris Professor of Journalism. He has appeared on many TV and radio talk shows, including Meet the Press and The Colbert Report, and has been a guest on PBS’s Charlie Rose more than forty times. He wrote Newsweek’s fifty-thousand-word election specials in 1996, 2000, 2004 (winner of a National Magazine Award), and 2008. He wrote more than one hundred cover stories and in 1999 won a National Magazine Award. Thomas was a writer, correspondent, and editor for thirty-three years at Time and Newsweek, including ten years (1986–96) as Washington bureau chief at Newsweek, where, at the time of his retirement in 2010, he was editor at large. Evan Thomas is the author of nine books: The Wise Men (with Walter Isaacson), The Man to See, The Very Best Men, Robert Kennedy, John Paul Jones, Sea of Thunder, The War Lovers, Ike’s Bluff, and Being Nixon.

Robert Kennedy by Evan Thomas