That is, Dallek has enough space to comment on most aspects of Kennedy’s life, both positive and negative. At 711 pages of text, it is rather weighty, and lengthy enough to be topically comprehensive. Whatever else I might say, An Unfinished Life is not a minor work. I am not going to totally disparage the good just because it was not better. Thus, if you’re looking for an easy-to-read survey that also has academic bona fides, this is a solid choice. It might not be – in my opinion – great literature, but it is solid history. Though my feelings are mixed, it’s fair to note at the outset that a general consensus seems to have arisen around An Unfinished Life as being the standard one-volume biography on JFK.

I was surprised, at finishing this, to find myself so entirely unmoved.

Nevertheless, these virtues also drain An Unfinished Life of anything resembling vitality, making it curiously lacking. The result is a sober-minded, judicious book, which avoids mythmaking, self-righteous personal judgments, and unprovable speculation. He seems to write in such a manner as to tamp down the wild passions on either side of the Kennedy divide. In this heated atmosphere, it is perhaps fitting that Dallek’s biography is so pointedly even-keeled. Kennedy has always drawn strong opinions, and to his detractors, he was both politically and morally compromised. Of course, for as many people who admired – even worshipped – the slain president, there was an equal number who despised him.

For Kennedy partisans, it was easy to believe that – had he have lived – he would not have made the same fateful mistakes as his successors. However, as of November 22, 1963, it seemed that he was ready to put to use the hard lessons he had learned.įollowing Kennedy’s death, the United States stumbled and lurched its way forward, through the war in Vietnam, grudging progress on civil rights, and social unrest. As author Robert Dallek points out, Kennedy had stumbled early in his presidency, in both the domestic and international realms. Kennedy that stems in large part from the fact that he was cut down in his prime, at the height of his powers. Kennedy, 1917-1963Īn Unfinished Life is an appropriate title for a biography of the 35th President of the United States. Robert Dallek, An Unfinished Life: John F. “The sudden end to Kennedy’s life and presidency has left us with tantalizing ‘might have been’s.’ Yet even setting these aside and acknowledging some missed opportunities and false steps, it must be acknowledged that the Kennedy thousand days spoke to the country’s better angels, inspired visions of a less divisive nation and world, and demonstrated that America was still the last best hope of mankind…”

An unfinished life book jfk