Review: John F. Kennedy: an idealist without illusions
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 21, 2012
There is no doubt that even now, almost fifty years after his assassination, there's an attraction that we have with John F. Kennedy and his all-too-brief presidency.  The shooting of him while he was riding in that motorcade in Dallas on November 22, 1963, had a profound effect on many people, not only here in the in the U.S. but around the world.  Many of us can recall exactly where we were and what we were doing when we first heard that our 35th president had been assassinated.  United Nations Ambassador Adlai Stevenson declared of the assassination: "All of us... will bear the grief of his death until the day of ours."In his unfortunately short administration, John Kennedy led this country to put a man on the moon, championed the cause of Civil Rights, motivated thousands of young Americans to join the Peace Corps in his pursuit to wipe out poverty and ignorance in the developing world, improved Social Security benefits and the minimum wage at home, agreed to a nuclear test ban treaty with the Soviet Union, and stared down Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis.And this short book,John F. Kennedy, A Life, asks: "So who was this man, really? And why does he matter to us today, almost 50 years after his death?"This is a recent Kindle edition, and though to this reader, it was too short, it was well put together.  It's a fast read, but it was well formatted by the editors of New Word City.  And it stood out in that not was is only well laid out, but the numerous photos scattered throughout were sharp, clear and well chosen for the various chapters of Kennedy's life as is was portrayed here. There is no diverting off to his dalliances; this book sticks to the facts.It was also interesting to find that the editors had chosen to include relevant hyperlinks throughout the book.  Most of these lead to Wikipedia articles, which can be useful for people who are unfamiliar with such topics as Barry Goldwater, Cypress Point Golf Club, PT-109, Dealy Plaza, the John Birch Society, and U-2 spy planes.  For those who have a Kindle with a Wi-Fi or 3G wireless connection, this might be useful and possibly interesting.Subjective Ratings:4-stars for literary merit5-stars for excellent formatting, good use of photos and hyperlinks5-stars for the authors' honest descriptionDon't think if this as a great literary work or analysis of the man and his time, as it's not that.  If you want more depth in a Kindle edition, try the authoritative and excellentAn Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917 - 1963by Robert Dallek.  Should you prefer a fictionalized account of that day in Dallas, you'll find it in Stephen King's recent11/22/63, a bestseller that is a fascinating read.As the editors state, it's a brief biography, and in that it's well done.