Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero

By: Chris Matthews

Narrated by: Holter Graham

Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

“What was he like?”

Jack Kennedy said the reason people read biographies is to answer that basic question. With the verve of a novelist, Chris Matthews gives us just that. We see this most beloved president in the company of friends. We see and feel him close-up, having fun and giving off that restlessness of his. We watch him navigate his life from privileged, rebellious youth to gutsy American president. We witness his bravery in war and selfless rescue of his PT boat crew. We watch JFK as a young politician learning to play hardball and watch him grow into the leader who averts a nuclear war.

What was he like, this person whose own wife called him “that elusive, unforgettable man”? The Jack Kennedy you discover here wanted never to be alone, never to be bored. He loved courage, hated war, lived each day as if it were his last.

Chris Matthews’ extraordinary biography is based on personal interviews with those closest to JFK, oral histories by top political aide Kenneth O’Donnell and others, documents from his years as a student at Choate, and notes from Jacqueline Kennedy’s first interview after Dallas. You’ll learn the origins of his inaugural call to “Ask what you can do for your country.” You’ll discover his role in the genesis of the Peace Corps, his stand on civil rights, his push to put a man on the moon, his ban on nuclear-arms testing. You’ll get, more than ever before, to the root of the man, including the unsettling aspects of his personal life.

As Matthews writes, “I found a fighting prince never free of pain, never far from trouble, never accepting the world he found, never wanting to be his father’s son. He was a far greater hero than he ever wished us to know.”

©2011 Chris Matthews (P)2011 Simon & Schuster

Better than Expected

Would you consider the audio edition of Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero to be better than the print version?

Yes. Like most people I enjoy reading, and am often startled that the narrators do not sound like the "voices in my head" that my imagination conjures when I read. When I began listening to this I was expecting SCHOLARLY bass. But Holter Graham fits the era of the Kennedy administration, who were very young in comparison to the politicians of the time, and presented themselves as youthful and idealistic. Once I adjusted to the narration I loved it.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero?

There were several moments: that the stories of Joe Kennedy's heavy hand was not a myth, that Jack Kennedy was always in pain and struggling with health issues while presenting his comparative youth as an asset thus presenting himself as athletic and energetic, the moment when I realized that it is impossible to tell if John Fitzgerald Kennedy was idealistic or just practical.

Have you listened to any of Holter Graham’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Holter Graham does an excellent job of the different voices in Hunting Ground and Cry Wolf. He moves from Native American male, middle eastern male, middle America female beautifully without pulling the listener from the book and thinking "wow he's really good at that". And more importantly the listener doesn't think "meh, no one sounds like that". This book is obviously very different from those novels, and he handles straightforward narration well.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This is a biography of someone who has been written about more than any politician in recent years, so there was nothing so new that would rise to laughter or tears. It would be a rare person that didn't know exactly how tragically this ends.

Any additional comments?

The important thing to know about this book is that it covers the early years of Kennedy's life, which allows the reader to see that there is a consistency in Kennedy's presentation of himself both as an "Irish mucker" in prep school, and an astute observer of national and international issues while still an undergraduate at Harvard. Unlike some books that boost sales by concentrating only on the days before, during and following the asasination, or even just the presidency, this one shows the reader how the core people loyal to Kennedy and he to them, became a team. Still I agree with earlier reviewers that at the end of the book we don't really know what Kennedy was like, which is John Kennedy's own criteria for a good biography. But the book is worth reading because it places all aspects of his life in context.

Knowing Jack Kennedy

Having lived through his presidency and remembering him pointing at my six year old self and giving me that great smile and wave. I've always wanted to know the man better. His memory is burned into mine,he saved my life because he found an alternative to thermonuclear war. He made me proud of my Irish-catholic roots, and made me a Kennedy democrat. Chris Matthews has done a great job of bringing him back to life, and showing him to us warts and all.

A new Look ar what we already thought we knew!

Where does Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Chris Matthews has pealed away the layers og the private Jack Kennedy and through first hand accounts has given us a new understanding of a man we thought we knew. I was intrigued and surprised at the same time.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Jack Kennedy

What does Holter Graham bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

An real feel for each of the players.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The senatorial campaign

Any additional comments?

Chris Matthew this is a home run!!! Can't put it down!!!

Good insight on JFK - Well-written book.

I've read many books on JFK, and this one is a favorite. Great detail and well-researched. Enjoy!

Superb

An unforgettable President, a true patriot, charming. One of the greatest World War 2 heroes

GREAT but WAY TOO LONG!

What did you love best about Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero?

TOO political, not enough meat

What other book might you compare Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero to and why?

I can't say, I don't read that many political books

What about Holter Graham’s performance did you like?

He did the dialects well and I felt like he knew the era very well, as well as the president!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No - and NO WAY could I do that.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed learning the history very much! I just wish there was more detail about the LIFE of the Kennedy's and not SO much politics!!! That got rather draining! I wanted to leave it, but hoped that right around the corner I would get more 'juice'....never did.

An adoring fan gets too familiar with JFK

This is not an objective view of JFK's life. The aim is to answer the question, "What was he like," so Matthews often dips into conjecture to try and get into JFK's thought process. This leads to a lot of "I believe," "I think," and "In my opinion." This cast a shadow of skepticism on the book for me. After hearing those phrases so many times I started to wonder how much of the book was actually based on documents versus speculation. When Matthews writes "Jack thought" or "Jack worried," is that based on a diary entry, a conversation with a friend, or just Matthews assuming he can speak for Kennedy? At the very least it was unclear, and I ended up having to base my understanding of situations in the book on other, more objective biographies of Kennedy that I've read. The voice acting is pretty good. It's refreshing to hear a younger voice reading a presidential biography when so many are done by stiff college professor types. But the JFK accent is bad. I think Graham would agree with me, as he seemed to abort his attempt at imitating JFK about halfway through every quote.

What Might Have Been?

What you'll get is well-researched information on what formed this pragmatic man, the life-style that hard-wired his thinking process, the extent of the physical, and tremendous emotional tribulations, that shaped his values, the experiences of friends and people he allowed to get a little close--written by an author that openly professes to admire his subject matter. That's what you'll get here...no political slants, no new secrets that hint at what might have been, no sensational tales from a blindsided wife. Kennedy remains as elusive as ever, (as does Mona Lisa's smile) but the insights to this family, and the potentially devastating historical moments were good, sometimes chilling, reading. Upon finishing, I was not consumed with the folly of asking myself 'what might have been'; instead I ask 'what could be.'

JFK imperfect yet heroic

I am a real fan of JFK, so I was predestined to like this book. The book is well researched from the outside, which gives the book an interesting perspective of JFK from many external angles. It does not have much first hand material, but it has a lot of material from many other sources. I found the writing compelling and would recommend this to anyone interested in JFK or his times. There were a number of aspects of the story that were new to me and were presented powerfully. I got the feeling that Matthews modulated his opinions of JFK as his research uncovered the less admirable aspects of his subject, yet, in the end JFK remains a hero.

Well researched and written book, poorly narrated

Would you listen to Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero again? Why?

I'm not sure as the narration by Holter Graham was so poor as to be distracting. As someone who was a young adult when Jack Kennedy was President, I found Mr. Graham's attempts to react JFK's accent surprisingly off the mark. (Unlike Craig Wasson's rendition of JFK in 11.22.63 which was uncannily accurate!) Names of important people of the time were also improperly pronounced which is inexcusable for a narrator..

What did you like best about this story?

Mathews did his homework and gave the listener an in-depth sense of who JFK was--his strengths and weaknesses and made it very interesting. JFK came more to life as a deeply troubled and gifted man--more than anything I had ever read before.