Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House
Written by Robert Dallek
Narrated by James Lurie
4/5
()
About this audiobook
Fifty years after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls “Kennedy’s leading biographer,” delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors—their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot’s Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy’s administration—including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam—were indelible.
Kennedy purposefully put together a dynamic team of advisors noted for their brilliance and acumen, including Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, and trusted aides Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger. Yet the very traits these men shared also created sharp divisions. Far from being unified, this was an uneasy band of rivals whose ambitions and clashing beliefs ignited fiery internal debates.
Robert Dallek illuminates a president deeply determined to surround himself with the best and the brightest, who often found himself disappointed with their recommendations. The result, Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House, is a striking portrait of a leader whose wise resistance to pressure and adherence to principle offers a cautionary tale for our own time.
Robert Dallek
Robert Dallek is the author of An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 and Nixon and Kissinger, among other books. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, and Vanity Fair. He lives in Washington, D.C.
More audiobooks from Robert Dallek
Nixon and Kissinger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Peace: Leadership in a Time of Horror and Hope: 1945-1953 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Did We Get Here?: From Theodore Roosevelt to Donald Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The American Presidency: From Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harry S. Truman: The American Presidents Series: The 33rd President, 1945-1953 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Camelot's Court
Related audiobooks
Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/51960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon--The Epic Campaign That Forged Three Presidencies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Counselor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Making of the President 1960 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5End of Days: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bobby and Jackie: A Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5JFK: A Vision for America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTip and the Gipper: When Politics Worked Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: The White House Years Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inside the Clinton White House: An Oral History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Center Held: Gerald Ford and the Rescue of the American Presidency Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Passage of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bush Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Profiles in Courage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5William Howard Taft: The American Presidents Series: The 27th President, 1909-1913 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kennedys in the World: How Jack, Bobby, and Ted Remade America's Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsComing to Terms with John F. Kennedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKennedy: A Captivating Guide to the Life of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
United States History For You
Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Astor: The Rise and Fall of an American Fortune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of September 11, 2001 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51776 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Camelot's Court
27 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Way too obsessed with Vietnam and minutia - tedious and boring
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting take on the Kennedy administration, focusing on the advisers and officials of the administration.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I have read so may books about the Kennedy's, the Kennedy presidency and politics, maybe I have gotten a bit jaded. Perhaps I have over-read the subject. I freely admit that is entirely possible. Maybe in some little corner of my heart, I hope for a different ending to it all? Of course, that can't happen. History is what it is, and no amount of reading or searching is going to bring a different outcome.Despite his personal failings and foibles, despite his poor health and overbearing but intelligent family, I think that if JFK had been given more time, this country might have gone in a different direction. The years when the Kennedy brothers died, and Martin Luther King was killed seemed to draw a dark cloud over the country that took a long time to disperse. Senseless losses to families and to the country. Good men, gone too soon.. we know all the cliches, but sadly, they are true.I feel that this book gives a good overview of the time spent in the White House, his cabinet and advisors, and of course, the issues that JFK faced. I also feel that it has all been done before. So, here I have given one star more than I originally planed. I gave the star to encourage those who have read less, researched less and experienced less of those dark years. The facts are here, and they are clearly written. It is also a dry read, not as compelling as some other books on this subject. If it is facts you want, read this, the facts are here. The story is here. It is rather textbook like in its presentation, in my opinion. But this is a period worth learning about and a book worth reading.