Brothers

The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years

By: David Talbot

Narrated by: Mel Foster

For decades, books about John or Robert Kennedy have woven either a shimmering tale of Camelot gallantry or a tawdry story of runaway ambition and reckless personal behavior. But the real story of the Kennedys in the 1960s has long been submerged - until now. In Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years, David Talbot sheds a dramatic new light on the tumultuous inner life of the Kennedy presidency and its stunning aftermath. Talbot, the founder of Salon.com, has written a gripping political history that is sure to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.

Brothers begins on the shattering afternoon of November 22, 1963, as a grief-stricken Robert Kennedy urgently demands answers about the assassination of his brother. Bobby’s suspicions immediately focus on the nest of CIA spies, gangsters, and Cuban exiles that had long been plotting a violent regime change in Cuba. The Kennedys had struggled to control this swamp of anti-Castro intrigue based in southern Florida, but with little success.

Brothers then shifts back in time, revealing the shadowy conflicts that tore apart the Kennedy administration, pitting the young president and his even younger brother against their own national security apparatus. The Kennedy brothers and a small circle of their most trusted advisors - men like Theodore Sorensen, Robert McNamara, and Kenneth O’Donnell, who were so close the Kennedys regarded them as family - repeatedly thwarted Washington’s warrior caste. These hardline generals and spymasters were hell-bent on a showdown with the Communist foe - in Berlin, Laos, Vietnam, and especially Cuba. But the Kennedys continually frustrated their militaristic ambitions, pushing instead for a peaceful resolution to the Cold War. The tensions within the Kennedy administration were heading for an explosive climax, when a burst of gunfire in a sunny Dallas plaza terminated John F. Kennedy’s presidency.

Based on interviews with more than 150 people - including many of the Kennedys’ aging “band of brothers,” whose testimony here might be their final word on this epic political story - as well as newly released government documents, Brothers reveals the compelling, untold story of the Kennedy years, including JFK’s heroic efforts to keep the country out of a cataclysmic war and Bobby Kennedy’s secret quest to solve his beloved brother’s murder. Bobby’s subterranean search was a dangerous one and led, in part, to his own quest for power in 1968, in a passion-filled campaign that ended with his own murder. As Talbot reveals here, RFK might have been the victim of the same plotters he suspected of killing his brother. This is historical storytelling at its riveting best - meticulously researched and movingly told.

Brothers is a sprawling narrative about the clash of powerful men and the darker side of the Cold War - a tale of tragic grandeur that is certain to change our understanding of the relentlessly fascinating Kennedy saga.

©2007 David Talbot (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

interesting book about the Kennedy brothers lives.

This book covers both death of John and Robert Kennedy and all the associated mystery behind them.

One of the best.

A fantastic and easy to read history of the Kennedy years. When it comes to the assassinations, the author clearly has his own beliefs, however, instead of trying to convince you of his own beliefs, he encourages you to ask your own questions and seek those answers. The narrators character voices are distracting and at times simply obscure caricatures of various stereotypes, but overall he does a great job.

If you enjoyed Bill O'Reilly's "Killing Kennedy"

What did you love best about Brothers?

The interviews conducted by the author with associates of JFK and RFK.

What other book might you compare Brothers to and why?

"Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot".

"and we call ourselves the Human race"

This is much appreciated a very good read America back then is very ambivalent and angry it seems, it's beyond me how it is the USA that acts small and paranoid Generals and hawks, when communism posed absolutely no threat It is very sad that President Kennedy wasn't allowed to continue the world would be a much better place had he,

Thorough

Thorough and chilling account of key figures, relationships and circumstances in US History. Excellent overall.

Well researched, fascinating look into Kennedys

This book takes a deep, well researched dive into the Kennedy brothers 1,036 day term in office and how they managed to anger two powerful forces in America: the CIA, and the Mafia. Interviewing people who surrounded the brothers, as well as using well documented information, the author lays out a well thought out argument as to why both of these groups wanted them dead, how America has let itself down by not brining to justice the true killers of these men.
My ONLY complaint about this book was how the reader of the book tried to mimic the Kennedy Massachusetts accent (annoying) and went into a falsetto voice for women (patronizing).

Good Book

Book was very good. Would have liked some footnotes but good. Maybe one or he better JFK assassination books out there. Was happy the author did not interject too much of his radical Liberalism into it like some of his other books. Overall very happy with this book.

Great book

The performance was good but a tad annoying when he is faking female voices. Not sure that was totally necessary or effective.

Politically biased, but still fascinating

Many intriguing anecdotes and characters unearthed here, though the author's penchant for seeing events and players as awful and sinister, when conservative/Republican, and wondrous and hope-filled, when progressive/Democrat, was embarrassingly clear. Every disgraced lefty politician, from Gary Hart to Bill Clinton, was not an arrogant, hubris-filled source of his own downfall...no. They were always, maybe, the victims of the huge, shadowy force(s) that killed the Kennedys because they wanted to "change things."

Net net, I came in thinking that JFK was probably the victim of a CIA/Mob plot; much evidence was supplied by the author to support this hunch. RFK probably believed this, too. He may have fallen victim to the same "company men" when it looked clear that he would win the Democratic presidential nomination after the CA primary and the call from Mayor Daley. But suggesting the CIA was "right wing" missed the point: CIA was, and is, the Deep State of yore. It eliminates Kennedys, Trumps, Bidens (?) or whoever may threaten their control of the US empire. Only those getting close to reform...are removed.

Great book

One of the best books on the Kennedy assassinations. Narrator did a great job.