• Robert Kennedy

  • His Life
  • By: Evan Thomas
  • Narrated by: Ray Porter
  • Length: 20 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (322 ratings)

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Robert Kennedy  By  cover art

Robert Kennedy

By: Evan Thomas
Narrated by: Ray Porter
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Publisher's summary

Traditionally, Robert F. Kennedy has been viewed as either the "Good Bobby", who saw wrong and tried to right it, or the "Bad Bobby" of countless conspiracy theories. Evan Thomas' achievement is to realize RFK as a human being, to bring to life an extraordinarily complex man who was at once kind and cruel, devious and honest, fearful and brave. The portrait that emerges is unvarnished but sympathetic, packed with new details about Kennedy's early life and his behind-the-scenes machinations. In a clear and fast-paced narrative, Thomas cuts through the mythology to reveal a character who, though he died young and just as he was reaching for ultimate power, remains one of the century's most fascinating men.
©2000 Evan Thomas (P)2006 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

"Thomas' book sheds new light on a man, an era, and a family about whom Americans will probably never know the whole truth." (Publishers Weekly)
"Friends and foes have spun enough myths about RFK to bewilder the casual reader; Thomas sets out to examine the evidence....A solid, judicious life of a politician whose tragic death inspired a generation of what-if history." (Booklist)
"Robert F. Kennedy....is well served by this gracefully written, thoroughly researched, and accessible popular biography....Thomas' narrative, skillfully woven from numerous interviews, vividly reveals a very human Kennedy." (Library Journal)

What listeners say about Robert Kennedy

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

A good book spoiled

I have the hardcover of this very fine book and was looking forward to reviewing it in audio form. However, the narrator uses a voice more common to perhaps a batman comic book, and somewhere along the line a decision was made that rather than simply using a change of voice to indicate quoted material, the author changes his voice in a terribly weak attempt to sound like the quoted character...he does this even with female voices. His attempts at a "Harvard" accent when quoting the brothers Kennedy and other characters in the book is a terrible distraction to otherwise fine material. I give two starts based upon content alone...and that would be higher but the narrator is such a disappointment that the score must be driven down. Perhaps because my most recent audio book was David McCullough's 1776 and he does such a great job I was expecting too much, but this work is very, very difficult to listen to. I mean, really, does he HAVE to try to impersonate Rose Kennedy in order to get his point across?

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

A well researched, well read book. I almost passed on this book based on the couple of reviews that pan the reader. How glad I am that I listened anyway. The book is well researched and, accordingly, has numerous quotations, even "starting in mid-sentence." The reader's change of voice makes it crystal clear what material is the author's and what belongs to the historical characters. I can't imagine listening without such a reading. An audio listener would miss much that the reader would know from the printed page. Just perfect.

Regarding the content, Thomas is masterful. Good biographies put the reader "there." Great ones put the reader "inside the subject." The best ones let the author's understanding of the subject explain how and what the subject was thinking, and the author lays out the rationale so the explanation is real and not mere conjecture. This is true throughout this book, from Bobby's childhood to his actions throughout the complex relationship with Hoover.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Great Book Ruined

I have to agree with the review by Andrew on 3/7/07. I love this biography of one of the most interesting and complex Americans who came from great wealth but became a champion of those who were denied basic human dignity. RFK is the last presidential candidate who truly inspired me and I was looking forward to listening to this biography during a long plane trip. However, the narrator of this wonderful book has ruined it by attempting to mimic voices and accents when quoting various individuals, including using a falsetto for female speakers. And the Boston accent was disasterous. I found the atttempts to mimic extremely distracting. Content deserves 5 stars but the narration warrants only 2 stars.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Mr
  • 04-13-10

Excellent Book, Excellent Narration

Before buying this book I read the reviews and noticed two things in common. Everybody loved the content, and everybody disliked the narrator. Having now listened to the whole book, I agree that the content is brilliant. But I also find that the narration is very well done also. Some of the voices can be somewhat distracting, especially the female ones, but the narrator doesn't miss a beat between switching voices and overall does a very good job.

In short, content and narration are definately 5 star, and I highly recommend this book to all.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

An Excellent Portrait of RFK

This biography is excellently written and well-read. It offers a balanced portrait of a man who, though not perfect, moved at the turbulent center of the times in which he lived and who, in the process, became a symbol of heartfelt dignity and justice to a generation of Americans.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great book, ruined.

Like others here, I would have really enjoyed this book if it had been read by almost anyone else. The narrator's constant use of (really bad) impressions was jarring. He doesn't do any of them particularly well, so one wonders why he was allowed to do them at all. Voices are fine in fiction, but completely unnecessary in a biography.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

eye-opening

The book is well researched and gives a wide-ranging background on Bobbie, which is wonderful -- and eye-opening -- the great and the worst of the man. Gives a good background on the family as well, and the narrator is one of the best I have ever heard -- we will look for his narrations again.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful Book

This book contains great information on RFK. It neither demonized nor cannonized him. It just told his story both good and bad. The narrator is the absolute worst. Suffer through it though, it's well worth it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great read and narration.

Great nook.well delivered. Demonstrated RFK’s fundamental decency how terribly conflicted he was and how deeply he was effected by his brothers death.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Complete Biography

Some don’t like the “voices” the narrator uses. They must not be familiar with other Audible readers who do the same. I was only bothered by the intrusive clicks of the stop and start of the recorder. I’m sure technicians could have edited them out.

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