The Kennedy Brothers : The Rise and Fall of Jack and Bobby

"A lucid investigation of the devotion between the brothers and their loyalty to Joseph Kennedy, the family patriarch." --Library Journal

Eight years apart in age, John F. and Robert F. Kennedy were wildly different in temperament and sensibility. Jack was the leader--charismatic, ironic, capable of extraordinary growth and reach, yet also reckless. Bobby was the fearless, hardworking Boy Scout--unafraid of dirty work and ruthless about protecting his brother and destroying their enemies. Jack, it was said, was the first Irish Brahmin, Bobby the last Irish Puritan.

As Richard D. Mahoney demonstrates with brilliant clarity in this impeccably documented, magisterial book, the Kennedys lived their days of power in dangerous, trackless territory. Mahoney gives us the Kennedy days and years as we have never before seen them. Here are Jack and Bobby in all their hubris and humanity, youthfulness and fatalism. Here, also, is American history as it unfolds. With a new foreword by David Talbot, The Kennedy Brothers is a masterful account of two men whose legacy continues to hold the American imagination.

"A vivid fraternal portrait of Jack and Bobby Kennedy as co-participants in the crises of their times, setting in motion forces that would lead to their destruction...Mahoney is an excellent storyteller." --Publishers Weekly

"A haunting evocation of the fire-and-ice political partnership between Robert and John F. Kennedy . . . A graceful dual biography that demonstrates why the questions lingering after their murders are as enduring as the Kennedys' magic." --Kirkus Reviews

Previously published as Sons & Brothers: The Days of Jack and Bobby Kennedy