Meticulously researched, The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings examines the Kennedys as exemplars of the Irish Catholic experience. Beginning with Patrick Kennedy's arrival in the Brahmin world of Boston in 1848, Thomas Maier delves into the deeper currents of the often spectacular Kennedy story, and the ways in which their immigrant background shaped their values — and, in turn, twentieth century America — for over five generations. Bringing together new research, exclusive interviews, as well as his own experience as an Irish-American, Maier brilliantly illustrates the defining role of the immigrant experience for the country's foremost political dynasty.
If you're expecting the same old gossip about the Kennedys, think again. Did you know that when Pope Pius XII was a cardinal, he sat on a sofa in the Kennedy house and that no one ever sat there again? Beginning with the seventeenth-century Irish struggle to defend Catholicism, the author weaves an artful blend of culture and history to introduce the eponymous Boston family--portraying the clan's men with their tragic hubris and uncontrollable hormones. Alan Sklar, whose voice is a deep-voiced delight, manipulates volume and speed to punctuate the long sentences with commas we cannot see. His familiarity with the material allows him to emphasize and minimize with precision, a covetable skill for history narrators. Passing the story through the muse in Sklar's mind doubles the enjoyment of the print version. J.A.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine
About the Author
Thomas Maier is a staff reporter at New York Newsday. He is the author of the critically acclaimed Dr. Spock: An American Life, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and chosen by The Boston Globe as one of the top ten nonfiction titles of the year. He lives in Long Island, New York.
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