[.ca] Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White ... (ISBN 0375504494)

Fascinating:
Though I haven't read any other books about the Kennedy administration, and consequently cannot say if this one is better or worse than others on the same topic, this one caught my attention. The book appears to be well researched and documented and gives the reader a real feel for what the Kennedy White House must have been like, warts and all. I found the view to be balanced, presenting both the strengths and the personal foibles of the people involved. The book is full of fascinating historical dichotomies; for example, it shows how the administration would deal with war with Russia over Cuba during the day, and then party at night. (One must maintain one's standards, even in the face of nuclear annihilation.) The reader also gets a real sense of tremendous responsibilities and burdens that go with living in the White House. To digress a bit, what I really got from this book was a reminder of what politics in the USA used to be like, when politicians were more interested in doing what was best for the country, before the citizens of all political persuasions allowed it to become so bitterly and unproductively polarized. There used to be dialog between the political parties instead of ranting; there used to be pragmatic compromises and solutions instead of unyielding positions; and there used to be respect for the concept that reasonable minds can differ. Camelot, indeed. That reminder alone makes this a worthwhile read.

Fair and enticing: interesting and easy readI just finished:
I just finished Grace and Power : The Private World of the Kennedy White House by Sally Bedell Smith, and it was a terrific read from start to finish. It reads like a very long and interesting magazine article and is, hence, not gossipy, but factual and interesting. It's a well-constructed account of the days from the election to JFK's assassination; it covers both the political and social history of JFK's brief time in the White House. Thousands of sources are called upon as the author has painstakingly pieced together her story. There is much in the book that is new information about the Kennedys and their days in the White House, though not being a Kennedy aficionado, I was not aware of what was old and what was new. I felt the book was very fair and did a wonderful job of calling forth the duality of the Kennedy panache and mystique coupled with the huge burden of tragedy that seemed to be part of their heritage. I'd highly recommend this book.

A compelling read-- what the reviewers have to say:
Grace and Power is a compelling read, and I highly recommend it. Instead of offering my own comments, I thought Amazon readers should hear what the professionals-- reviewers, historians, columnists and feature writers around the country-- have been saying about the book. I took these quotes from the author's website, www.sallybedellsmith.com . Washington Post Book World (page one review by William E. Leuchtenburg, Professor of History Emeritus at the University of North Carolina): "Sally Bedell Smith has written the nonfiction beach book of the season...she is in firm command of the vast Kennedy scholarship...The book is impressively well researched and smartly written. It is rich in character sketches, anecdotes and accounts of events" Los Angeles Times (page one review by Gary Indiana): "A gracefully written tell-all that really does tell a story worth reading...Smith's portrait of Jackie is irresistible...One falls in love with her all over again." The New York Times (William Safire column): "A stunning new history... \owritten\c with taste and sensitivity... prodigiously researched... The reader is placed right there in the salons of Georgetown and upstairs at the White House" Liz Smith (syndicated columnist): "A ravishingly readable book" Houston Chronicle (review by Fritz Lanham, Books Editor): "Smith writes neither to make idols nor to break them. She's unblinking but fair-minded in her assessment of the Kennedys and their friends, and she writes lucidly and engagingly... Grace and Power really does make you feel that you've stepped inside the private quarters of the White House" New York Daily News (Sherryl Connelly): "Stylistic grace and authoritative reporting...the ultimate account." The Philadelphia Inquirer (Karen Heller): "The White House that Smith presents is an elite circle of brilliant men and elegant women...In this history, Jacqueline Kennedy emerges as a more engaged, substantial and controlling presence." The Boston Globe (Recommended Summer Reading by David Mehegan): "The background is the thousand days of the Kennedy administration, and the big events are here. But the narrative tension is in the tight circle around Jack and Jackie Kennedy... If we did not already know the ending, one might say this book reads like a novel" San Francisco Chronicle (Carolyne Zinko): "What emerges is the complex nature of the relationship between the president and first lady, a marriage strained by his infidelity yet preserved in part by her tolerance of it; the transformation of the White House into a royal court of sorts... and the degree to which the president manipulated his advisers and the press, for good and bad." Daily Mail (London): "Riveting history...Grace and Power paints a lively picture of this `social' White House, but though Bedell Smith captures its glamour she never falls in love with it... Throughout the book, Bedell Smith deftly manages to include the weightier events of those Cold War years without either trivialising them or lessening the fun of her lighter gossip." Newsweek: "Smith has made a career out of turning the lives of bold-faced names into meticulously researched biographies...Smith chronicles Jack and Jackie's highs and lows, heroic diplomacy, prodigious infidelity and a sparkling intellectual and social life unsurpassed by their successors." Dallas Morning News (Joy Dickinson): "A book that puts journalistic integrity above gossip but includes juicy details."

A New Dimension to The Kennedy Presidency:
The eye-catching "Vanity Fair" cover from a couple of months ago drew me into the preview article about this book. From that article, which was well-paced and interesting, it was a short distance to buying "Grace and Power." The Kennedy family is of course fascinating, and there always seems to be another book about a family member or the family itself. That said, "Grace and Power" effortlessly and compellingly plumbs into the texture of the relationship between Jacqueline Kennedy and her husband. This book does what other Kennedy books have wanted to do: Provide truly new information about the Jackie and JFK that does not rehash old gossip or re-spin oft-told tales. Ms. Smith has clearly worked hard on getting the surviving members (they're getting on in years) of the White House inner circle to tell stories and provide insights on incidents and relationships hitherto unknown. In sum, "Grace and Power" effectively walks the line between cultural history and the historical information associated with a book that will be of interest to readers with serious interest in how the JFK White House worked.

"Camelot" re-revealed magnificently...:
The essence of "Camelot" wasn't necessarily the inspiring leadership of John Kennedy (although this certainly doesn't hurt the Camelot mystique) or the seemingly serene picture of the youngest elected President and his equally youthful wife, rather it was a culture, indeed an attitude or mystique that many historians have tried to capture with heretofore moderate to little success. In this light, Sally Bedell Smith has presented her attempt at synthesizing the mystique with the well documented history of JFK's administration and has succeeded fabulously with "Grace and Power". The perspective that Smith presents is one that many historians have missed...in a day when JFK administration books abound, Smith gives us a whole new view into the Kennedy family. Right from the beginning of this work, we delve into the personal and behavorial side of both the new President and his First Lady and see how they are in turn affected by the avalanche of the media and policy machine. JFK's full medical history (recently made public in Robert Dallek's magnificent work "An Unfinished Life") is further explained by Smith with many new nuances and she describes how these many maladies not only affected his work as President, but his family life as well. Indeed, we see JFK's covert doctor (Max Jacobson..."Dr. Feelgod") administering to Jackie as well (during periods of stress or depression) and it's this level of new information, presented not in a tawdry gossipy style, but in fair and elegant prose, that really made this work hard for me to put down. JFK's dalliances with many other women comes to be a main theme at the beginning of the story and we see how Jackie's attitude of benign acceptance at this behavior is formed over time in the White House. At the same time, Smith suceeds in presenting JFK as a loving Father and husband...further enhancing this mysterious component of JFK's behavior. The social scene at the JFK White House is comprehensively descibed...at times offering a counter-balance with what is happening in the world and I thought this added a fullness to the Kennedy story that is usually missing from many otherwise excellent JFK works. For example we see the dinners and the guests who attended them given equal importance in the book while the emotion and stress of the Cuban Missile Crisis is distracting the President. How JFK reacts at these events (i.e. away from "work") is a fascinating new look at the Crisis and Administration as a whole and is this new information that I mentioned that should be the selling point for this work. Closing out the book, Smith eloquently descibes the before and after affects of the assasination on all the participants (old girlfriends as well as close family friends) and tries to philosophize on what the tragedy meant to each. Historians may argue that the level of scholarship pertaining to Presidential history is lacking (although, I thought Smith did an admirable job describing the events that she did cover), but clearly the focus of this work was not a historical narrative but a genuine social/historical synthesis. Supported by many new interviews and research, Sally Bedell Smith has added immensly to the monumental amount of literature surrounding the JFK administration and given us a unique perspective that should be used by all as an emotional target for that magnificent and tragic time. A fairly quick read (about 470 pages of readable text) and lively written, I would recommend this book very highly.