NONFICTION:  Traditionally, Robert F. Kennedy has been viewed as either the “Good Bobby,” who saw wrong and tried to right it, or the “Bad Bobby” of countless conspiracy theories. Evan Thomas’s achievement is to realize RFK as a human being, to bring to life an extraordinarily complex man who was at once kind and cruel, devious and honest, fearful and brave.


The portrait that emerges is unvarnished but sympathetic, packed with new details about Kennedy's early life and his behind-the-scenes machinations. In a clear and fast-paced narrative, Thomas cuts through the mythology to reveal a character who, though he died young just as he was reaching for ultimate power, remains one of the century’s most fascinating men.