In honor of President’s Day, we thought it’s the perfect time to take a look at a couple of Presidential book & film trends we’ve noticed. Next up: John. F Kennedy.
As you may have noticed, there have been a number of new books written about the personal life and presidency of John F. Kennedy. 2011 saw the release of Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy and the controversial miniseries The Kennedys. And just a couple weeks ago more controversy was added to the already scandalous story of Camelot with the release of Once Upon a Secret: My Affair with President John F. Kennedy and Its Aftermath by Mimi Alford.
Two new biographies have also been written about JFK:
- Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero by Christopher Matthews
- John F. Kennedy by Robert Dallek
2011 was also the 50th anniversary of the unsuccessful Bay of Pigs invasion and the Berlin Crisis both occurring within the first few months of the JFK presidency. A number of books have been written about both incidents but here are a few of the most recent:
- Berlin 1961: Kennedy, Krushchev, and the Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Frederick Kempe
- The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America’s Doomed Invasion of Cuba’s Bay of Pigs by Jim Rasenberger
- My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America’s Presidents (includes Kennedy’s inaugural address and his address to the nation on the Cuban missile crisis).
If you’re more interested in John F. Kennedy, Jr, then you might be interested in reading Fairy Tale Interrupted: A Memoir of Life, Love, and Loss by RoseMarie Terenzio who was once his personal assistant.
Finally, if you’re looking for something a little more fictional, try 11/22/63 by Stephen King — an alternate history tale of one man’s attempt to stop the assassination of JFK. Don’t let the bulkiness of this book deter you; it’s fast-paced and entertaining from beginning to end.
