Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga, retailer Doris Keanrs Goodwin (Author), B&W Photographs (Illustrator)

The saga begins on a bitter cold winter's day in 1863 with the baptism of John Francis Fitzgerald and comes to its dramatic climax when his grandson, and namesake, John Fritzgerald Kennedy,is sworn in as president in Jan. 1961. In those 100 years the families rose from poverty and obscurity to a glory and glamour unmatched by any other family in the history of the United States. The Book has 19 pages of pictures of the families, plus pictures on the inside front cover and front end paper, also on the inside back cover and back end paper. This is a Book Club Edition.

"Dr. Goodwin writes wonderfully about American politics, the Irish Catholic immigration and integration into the polical landscape of Boston, and two families, both with terrific strengths and well noted weaknesses. The writing on Rose Fitzgerald and Joe Kennedy, Sr are particularly good. One gets a retailer visceral feel of destiny as the desire to succeed, almost at any cost, throughout her well researched and written work. Much has been written about "plagarism" or a lack of proper footnoting (corrected in the paperback edition). I would encourage all potential readers to not allow such an unfortunate circumstance in her many years of teaching and writing to get in the way of reading this important piece of U.S. history. This book is a well researched and incredibly well written and readable account of immigration, politics and the rise of 19th Century immigrant families to economic, social and political prominence." Amazon Review