ROBERT F. KENNEDY

Bobby Kennedy was the “relentless, reckless third son of a clan determined to change history,” and the story of this clan ranges from the Irish potato famine to the Cuban missile crisis and beyond, a complicated tale of family, fame and fortune. The Mafia, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and the coming digital age all figure in this fascinating portrait of a man and his times. Lively writing, a wealth of historical detail and wide-ranging references from Aeschylus to Philip Pullman contribute to a work that successfully portrays its subject not as a hero, but as a complex, flawed human being. Aronson points out where the historical record is incomplete or murky and lets readers in on how historians think. The bibliography and source notes are thorough and include a superb list of websites for listening to important political speeches. Exemplary history writing. (Nonfiction. 11+)