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

Great Reading

If you could sum up Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero in three words, what would they be?

great presidential history

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

His service during WWII

What about Holter Graham’s performance did you like?

Easy to listen to and understand.

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

I laughed at President Kennedy's sense of humor; and I cried at the intense pain he experienced every day of his life.

Any additional comments?

I think that this is the most comprehensive book ever written about Presiident John Kennedy. I now understand not only him, but what his wife must have suffered during their marriage. It is very difficult watching helplessly as a loved one suffers in pain. I now understand the good cop bad cop he and Bobby played during his time in the White House. Although I was young during his presidency, I still remember the thrill and excitement that his election brought to my family and the world.

Life cut short

Privileged son, chronically sick body, war hero, award winning author, congressman, senator and president are some of the defining elements that built the leader Kennedy came to be. A ruthless politician and legendary womanizer as well. In spite of his shortcommings, Kennedy had a unique skillset that made him a key reason for the US ability to survive the cold war, survive standoffs with communism in our backyard of Cuba, as well as spread his ambitions and wings to inspire the country to reach for the moon. Matthew'€™s book is a great read on a very inspiring leader with all the character flaws on full display as well

Not the best biography, but you learn something new

First of all, most of this book is about Jack Kennedy before he became president. The book does make some interesting points, such as the fact that it was Jack’s own desire for history that drove him into politics - not his father.

While the part of the book that is about his presidency, portrays Kennedy as a visionary, I have some reservations about the way he was portrayed as a congressman and a senator. In these chapters, my impression is that the author puts too much weight on how Kennedy wanted to portray himself to others (balancing the hardliners and the liberals), not what he actually thought himself. There’s no doubt that Jack Kennedy was a complex figure, but I think he deserved more respect in the pre-presidential part of this book.

In short however, this book added to my knowledge about Jack Kennedy, even though I’ve read several biographies about him before. But the narrator, as some has pointed out, is completely terrible. Sometimes it is hard to hear what he says, other times he mispronounces words, and yet other times he reads wrong. At one point, the narrator says Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy for instance, while the book itself says Robert Francis Kennedy. No wonder Chris Matthews narrated his new RFK book himself.

A Must Read if you love the Kennedys

If you could sum up Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero in three words, what would they be?

A Must Read

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

New Information on the difficulty of an Irish Catholic becoming President in that period of US History

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

He has just the right amount of Mass accent to bring the book alive

Reframing history

I have read a lot of books on JFK and the Kennedy family. Nothing in this book was new to me but Chris Matthews reframed Kennedy’s life in a way to give a different perspective on the man behind the image. I do agree with another reviewer that the end seemed a bit rushed. The Bobby chapter had me shaking my head when I heard reference to Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy. I found hardback and softcover versions of the book and the error was there in hardback but later corrected. You would think it should have been corrected for the audio recording, but no. I had never heard Holter Graham before. While not initially impressed, he did grow on me

Really good read

This is a well written bio. World and American politics. you get a glimpse of the boy, the young man, and things I did not know about his lifelong health problems. This is no a tell all but interesting insight into how he thought. Plans he made. I have never read a book about Mr. Kennedy I enjoyed more. If this writer is to be believed he was alot more savy, well rounded than most portrayals. I hope you will give it a chance.

Remembering JFK

Chris Mathews reads the forward and Holter Graham takes us on another wonderful piece of History with our beloved president. It's always amazes me with all the stories written there is something new you will learn...a must audio book!!!

Excellent. Exceeded my expectations.

One of the finest biographies I have listened to or learned from. Well done. historically accurate and objective, but with infused, heart-felt empathy vs cold academic analysis. Let the word go forth, this is and honorable and Noble work.

Best book on audible for Kennedy

I really enjoyed this book as well as the narrator. I appreciate the Boston accent at times but that could be because I’m from chicago and not Boston. The author earlier in the book did a great job at describing Kennedy the person and then it became more about the history he made as a servant to the people. Enjoyable listen and helped me to gain a greater appreciation for Kennedy’s presidency.

Much new info on JFK

Very interesting book that provides details on President Kennedy's life that I had never known. As with other books I've read on the Kennedy brothers, I am always struck at how they never had to work but yet had plenty of money for multiple homes and lavish travel.

In this book, I wondered what the outspoken Matthews would have written had some of the things he so warmly and nicely wrote about Kennedy (e.g. breaking the law to file for his congressional election, continually running around on Jackie, getting drunk while in the White House, remaining out of the country while Jackie miscarried) had been done by a conservative like Reagan?

I guess we live in a different age now when things like drinking, smoking, sex, and all parts of one's private life are open for public scrutiny. I preferred the old system JFK and others operated in when reporters and the public respected one's private life.