An Unfinished Life Audiobook By Robert Dallek cover art

An Unfinished Life

John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963

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An Unfinished Life

By: Robert Dallek
Narrated by: Richard McGonagle
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An Unfinished Life describes the birth of the Kennedy dynasty, the complexity of Jack's early years, and the mixture of adulation and resentment that tangled his relationships with his mother, Rose, and his father, Joseph. Forced into the shadow of his older brother, Joe, Jack struggled to find a place for himself until World War II, when he became a national hero and launched his career. Dallek reveals for the first time the full story of Kennedy's wartime actions and the true details of how Joe was killed, opening the door to Jack's ascendancy.

Here is the gripping story of Jack's transformation from an awkward speaker into a brilliant politician with irresistible charm. The audiobook carries us from Jack's work as a senator from Massachusetts, through the fiercely contested 1960 campaign against Nixon, and takes us on to the White House itself.

An Unfinished Life also discloses for the very first time that Kennedy was far sicker than we ever knew. While laboring to present an image of robust good health, Kennedy was secretly in and out of hospitals through-out his life, so ill that he was administered last rites on several different occasions. Here is a vivid portrait of a man who, because he knew how close he was to death, lived as much as he could - sometimes hurting others in the process.

Never shying away from Kennedy's weaknesses, Dallek also brilliantly explores his strengths. The result is a portrait of a bold, brave, human Kennedy, once again a hero.

©2003 Robert Dallek (P)2003 Time Warner AudioBooks. A division of the AOL Time Warner Book Group. Historical Politics & Activism Presidents & Heads of State Franklin D. Roosevelt Vietnam War Socialism Imperial Japan Middle East Self-Determination Imperialism Latin America American Foreign Policy Russia Historical Nonfiction

Critic reviews

"Sets the historical record straight...pitch-perfect prose...hands-down the best biography of JFK...a truly remarkable achievement." (Douglas Brinkley, author of The Unfinished Presidency)
"In this riveting tour de force...Dallek delivers what will most assuredly become the benchmark JFK biography for this generation...[He] is to be thanked for providing this thoroughly researched, well-sourced, responsible and readable biography that has for so long been wanting in Kennedy scholarship." (Publishers Weekly)
"...riveting and well-documented biography." (New Yorker)
"Richard McGonagle brings the president to life, mimicking the famous accents so well that his renditions of Kennedy speeches compare favorably to Kennedy's own renderings." (AudioFile)
Detailed Background Information • Compelling Narrative • Readable Biography • Great Gateway Book • Wonderful Story
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I’m a sucker for Kennedy info and this was a solid balance of facts and storytelling. A nice walk through a brief but obviously impactful life. I found myself wondering how my life (Born in’85) would be different if things went differently for this family in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.

Great listen

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Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would definitely recommend if you wish to gain an unbiased timeline on JFK

Have you listened to any of Richard McGonagle’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I enjoyed the reading

Great starter to Kennedy for me

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As some other reviewers said, this narrative is just the facts, the details of Kennedy's political carrier for the most part, with about half devoted to his presidential years. Good but not great. Narrator Richard McGonagle is very good in his narration and doing Kennedy's Boston accent without going over the top, He was better then the book was.

Just nthe facts

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greatly enhanced my all around knowledge of JFK, his upbringing, and his vision for America and why he might have been killed for standing FOR Americans, in the warpath to usurp our natural liberties.

greatly enhanced my knowledge of his story!

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narrator excellent, story dragged. I did like some of the private items. kind of boring

boring

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good book to listen to but the voice switching to emulate accents and the music between chapters was a little much

good but not great book kinda like Kennedy himself

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The narration was good, except for the between-chapter musical interludes, which seemed silly, considering the content. I was disappointed in a lack of more personal history leading up to the presidency. I just didn't learn much than I already knew, though the detail on his handling of the Cuban crises was interesting.

A mediocre telling

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Overall I really enjoyed this book and felt as if I came away knowing more about the time in which Kennedy lived.

Good informative book

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My 8 year old received an assignment to do a biography on a famous person. Of course looking to Mom for direction I search my memory for a name and a face of a person I would consider a hero...ah John Kennedy. I listened to the book and gave my daughter tibbits, and then at the end Robert Dallek answered a nagging question for me... Why would I choose Kennedy? (I barely knew him, and I was only three years old when he died.) I enjoyed this book...and my daughter talked about him like an uncle.

Remembering Kennedy

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Goos for the best historians of this particular period. "So do not ask what your contry can do,but ask what you can do for your country" JFK.

Outstanding Bio. A must for all Americans .

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