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Rose Kennedy

The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch

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Rose Kennedy

By: Barbara A. Perry
Narrated by: Gayle Hendrix
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About this listen

An unprecedented look at the life of Rose Kennedy reveals the private woman who became a political legend. In her compelling and intimate portrait, presidential historian Barbara A. Perry captures Rose Kennedy’s essential contributions to the incomparable Kennedy dynasty. This biography - the first to draw on an invaluable cache of Rose’s newly released diaries and letters - unearths the complexities behind the impeccable persona she showed the world. The woman who emerges in these pages is a fascinating character: savvy about her family’s reputation and resilient enough to persevere through the unfathomable tragedies that befell her.

As a young woman, she defied her father, Boston mayor John Fitzgerald, by marrying ambitious businessman Joseph Kennedy. During Joe’s diplomatic career, she began carefully calibrating her family’s image, stage-managing photo shoots and interviews of her nine children and herself. After husband Joe’s isolationist views on the eve of World War II made him a political liability, Rose took to the campaign trail for son Jack. Her perfectionism, initially a response to the strictures imposed upon Catholic women, ultimately created a family portrait that resonated in modern politics and media.

Perry’s account looks past the fanfare, poignantly revealing the matriarch’s vulnerability. Rose sought solace from crushing personal tragedies and a philandering husband in prayer, habitual shopping, travel, and medication. Initially ashamed and afraid of daughter Rosemary’s mental disability, Rose ultimately shined a light on the affliction, raising millions of dollars for disabled children. An indefatigable campaigner for Jack, Bobby, and Teddy, she had an unshakable Catholic faith that informed their compassionate social policies and her daughters’ philanthropies.

This definitive biography, Rose Kennedy provides unequaled access to the life of a remarkable woman who witnessed a century of history and masked her family’s more inconvenient truths while capturing the American imagination.

©2013 Barbara A. Perry (P)2013 Audible Inc.
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Good Biography, awful narration.

This is a good solid biography, well researched and referenced and gives a good insight into the Kennedy matriarch. Unfortunately the awful narration drags this otherwise good book down, the poor woman almost seems to have some kind of speech impediment given her seeming inability to pronounce even quite simple words correctly. The mangling of the English language was so bad it had me literally cringing as I listened. During the parts where the family is in England with the Ambassador her continual mispronunciation of names and places was painful. So I'd recommend that if you want to enjoy this biography, buy it in some other format and read it yourself rather than have it wasted by listening to it.

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