The Founding Father

The Story of Joseph P. Kennedy

By: Richard Whalen

Narrated by: Richard Whalen

Length: 26 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Boldly original and fully documented, this unauthorized yet definitive biography tells the almost incredible story of Joseph P. Kennedy, grandson of a poor Irish immigrant, controversial founder of a great American fortune, and father of the 35th President of the United States, John F. Kennedy.

Joe Kennedy, a single-minded capitalist, made big money in booming Wall Street, Hollywood movies, corporate reorganizations, liquor distribution, and New York and Chicago real estate speculation. An early New Dealer who helped elect Franklin D. Roosevelt and dreamed of becoming the first Catholic President, he supported appeasement of Hitler and failed as FDR's pre-World War II Ambassador to London. That seemed to end his dream.

But the ruthless, iron-willed Kennedy rebounded. He shifted his ambitions to his sons and used his showman's savvy to found an image-centered political dynasty, translating wealth into unprecedented power...until tragedy intervened. Jack and Bobby were both assassinated.

Whalen's enduring classic of investigative scholarship was the first book to portray the Kennedys as real people, "warts and all". Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, the fair, balanced, and fearless Founding Father is the starting point of the fascinating Kennedy family saga.

©2005 Richard Whalen (P)2005 Whalen Consulting Group

Critic reviews

"An exemplary biography....Mr. Whalen paces the story well, conveying the strengths and weaknesses of this remarkable person with judiciousness." (The New Yorker)
"In The Founding Father, Richard J. Whalen, a first-rate journalist, presents the product of two years' research, a detailed, lively account illuminating many of the obscure aspects of Kennedy's career, especially his wide-ranging business operations. Yet this fine biography forces the reader to decide for himself what manner of man Kennedy really has been." (The New York Times Book Review)

Read the book, don't listen to it.

I must agree with another reviewer that the narration on this book is ghastly. I couldn't get through the first section. The content is fascinating, but after the 500th "quote/unquote" , I had to turn it off. Really awful and a shame. Authors to stick to being authors and let professional readers do the readings of their books.

Extraordinary Story

Provides an intimate portrayal of a complex man who fathered a dynasty of American politicians. In addition, the activities of Joe Kennedy, and the background from whence he came are finely yet enthrallingly revealed. I learned much more depth about this period of American history, from the treatment of the Irish immigrants, to the stock market, to his inside experience in England, to the nurturing and care of his 9 children. Stimulating and engrossing read. Highly recommended!

Great book ... not so much the reader ...

I've read just about anything and everything Kennedy related that I can get my hands on. So, I was thrilled when this selection popped up on Audible. The book includes some bits of information I haven't read in others, but I found the narration horrendous. There were mispronunciations and worse, in my opinion, the ghastly and inconsistently applied (and oh so irritating over the long haul) usage of "open quote", "quote", and "end quote." I'm usually pretty impervious to the individual idioscyncrasies of readers, but I've got to say those seemingly erroneous blats of "quote!" followed by mumbled, "endquote" peppered throughout really messed up the flow of the narrative for me. With few exceptions, I haven't been impressed when authors read their own works.

A masterpiece

This is a great bio of an amazing individual (whatever one might make of him) and a great business history. The audacity of the man, his ability to spring into whole new areas in the economy, one after another, and quickly grasp and dominate the field, leaves my jaw slack. This works well as a story too, with enough color and detail and new characters appearing, to keep me entertained (between the more finance-techie audios I generally listen to). I can forgive the narration, actually finding it a bit different and quaint, in an alright way, as an archaic Eastern-accented-older guy (the author) paces through his story. If you have the attention span for a book on this big and sweeping of a canvas, perhaps you have the time and temperament for this narration style. The sample displays the writing, style and narration well.

A great human story, invaluable and informative..

over all these years I believed my memory, having never dealt so much with my conscience.. The people and place and times I thought I was familiar with.. There is good and bad being accomplished, all the time. That no-one knows everything and is always right ..

Good Information - Bad Narration

There ought to be a law against an author narrating his own work. There is no doubt that the author was quite scholarly in his research, but the narration is beyond bad. I finally had to give up on it. I just couldn't stand any more of the choppy speech and background noise.

d

I hate to be petty about it, but this bookConte, whatever its merits, is significantly harmed by the author's choice to read his own work. He is halting and his pacing is inconsistent. It's extremely hard to listen.

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The quote/unquote usage was over-taxing. It didn't help the story along, but it was distracting

I'm glad I'm not the only one...

The author is the worst narrator I have ever heard. He speaks painfully slowly. You can hear him turn the pages. I really wanted to read this, but I couldn't bear the narration.