A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR • A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic, yet still elusive, thirty-fifth president. "An utterly incandescent study of one of the most consequential figures of the twentieth century."--Jill Lepore, author of These Truths: A History of the United States WINNER OF THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE • NAMED BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR BY The Times (London) • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Sunday Times (London) • New Statesman • The Daily Telegraph • Kirkus Reviews By the time of his assassination in 1963, John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen, a booming American nation that he had steered through some of the most perilous diplomatic standoffs of the Cold War. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Boston's wealthiest, Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age, and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in American history. And while hagiographic portrayals of his dazzling charisma, reports of his extramarital affairs, and disagreements over his political legacy have come and gone in the decades since his untimely death, these accounts all fail to capture the full person. Beckoned by this gap in our historical knowledge, Fredrik Logevall has spent much of the last decade searching for the "real" JFK. The result of this prodigious effort is a sweeping two-volume biography that properly contextualizes Kennedy amidst the roiling American Century. This volume spans the first thirty-nine years of JFK's life--from birth through his decision to run for president--to reveal his early relationships, his formative experiences during World War II, his ideas, his writings, his political aspirations. In examining these pre-White House years, Logevall shows us a more serious, independently minded Kennedy than we've previously known, whose distinct international sensibility would prepare him to enter national politics at a critical moment in modern U.S. history. Along the way, Logevall tells the parallel story of America's midcentury rise. As Kennedy comes of age, we see the charged debate between isolationists and interventionists in the years before Pearl Harbor; the tumult of the Second World War, through which the United States emerged as a global colossus; the outbreak and spread of the Cold War; the domestic politics of anti-Communism and the attendant scourge of McCarthyism; the growth of television's influence on politics; and more. JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 is a sweeping history of the United States in the middle decades of the twentieth century, as well as the clearest portrait we have of this enigmatic American icon. Editorial Reviews 08/10/2020 The young John F. Kennedy was no callow playboy but a serious and self-directed man, according to this sweeping first installment in a planned two-volume biography by Harvard history professor Logevall (Embers of War). Covering Kennedy's life up to his Thanksgiving 1956 decision to run for president, Logevall writes that though Kennedy may have resented his parents' favoritism for his older brother, Joseph Kennedy Jr., he also "treasured the space and relative anonymity his status as the second son provided." Logevall's JFK is still a charming, detached ironist and womanizer, as in other accounts, but he was also possessed of a determined character and a sophisticated intellect, capable in his early 20s of making penetrating analyses of fascism and the strength of the German-Italian alliance while traveling through Europe before WWII. The author also emphasizes Kennedy's independent-mindedness as he outgrew his father's isolationist politics and frequently rejected his advice (though not his money) during later political campaigns. Logevall writes vividly of the hothouse Kennedy family culture, but also widens his lens to take in the forces of war, politics, and television that shaped JFK's worldview and career. This richly detailed portrait sometimes feels romanticized in its evocations of Kennedy's charisma, but Logevall helpfully reminds readers of the considerable substance beneath the glamour. Political history buffs will be enthralled. Agent: Warren Frazier, John Hawkins and Assoc. (Sept.) - Publishers Weekly 10/01/2020 The first of an anticipated two-volume biography from Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard professor Logevall (Embers of War), this comprehensive history pulls from the latest archival material to provide an honest, full-person view of the iconic 35th president of the United States. This volume introduces readers to the first 39 years of the life of John F. Kennedy (1917-63), beginning with his family's lineage and the dynamics of an Irish family. A great deal of time is also given to his service in the navy during World War II, followed by his years in Congress, to the point when he decided to run for president in 1956. While there is new information to complement the familiar, such as the inner workings of his presidency, Logevall doesn't shy away from the charismatic view of Kennedy, but he does dive deep into the details of ideas from the president's early adulthood that helped shape his worldview for a life destined for public service, and the growth of his political thought, to form the man he would become. VERDICT While a lengthy first volume, this study is accessible and entertaining. A wide array of history buffs, and readers previously reluctant to consume a Kennedy biography, will enjoy this highly recommended account.--David Miller, Farmville P.L., NC - Library Journal *2020-07-22 A comprehensive life of John F. Kennedy (1917-1963), the first of two volumes. Even though Kennedy enjoys "larger-than-life status," writes Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard historian Logevall, not many "serious" books have been written about him, especially drawing on the vast corpus of archival material now available. Taking his subject from birth into his years in Congress, the author concentrates closely on World War II, a crucible in many ways. For one thing, his actions as commander of the ill-fated PT-109 exhibited a bravery that went far beyond noblesse oblige; even Garry Wills, no fan, remarked, "His physical courage can never be questioned." Kennedy earned the Navy's highest honor, propelling him to national attention. When Kennedy returned home, he was committed to a life of public service that would manifest itself in electoral politics. Logevall dismantles the standard narrative that the firstborn Kennedy son, Joe Jr., who died in combat, was "the Kennedy child marked for political stardom." Though Joe Jr. had many of the necessary attributes--good looks, courage, sociability--he had also been an isolationist and even an admirer of Hitler and Franco in the 1930s, expressed in his Harvard thesis, all copies of which "seem to have vanished in the years following his graduation, suggesting the family perceived the problem." As early as 1944, Logevall reveals, JFK was meeting with political operatives to identify opportunities; upon entering Congress, he first identified as a rather conservative Democrat, even supporting the infamous anti-communist crusader Joseph McCarthy. He moved toward the center after McCarthy's downfall, learning the art of the political compromise--which, writes the author, he insisted "can be, should be, at the level of policy, not principle." More critical than the reminiscences of early aide Theodore Sorenson but appreciative of Kennedy's complex, thoughtful view of politics, this study casts the "playboy president" in a largely positive light. Highly revealing, particularly for post-Camelot readers who wonder at the esteem in which JFK is held. - Kirkus Reviews Masterful . . . based on years toiling in the archives but written with a delightfully light touch . . . At times it reads more like a novel than a biography, so vivid is the prose and so extraordinary the material."--The Economist "Logevall artfully melds the biographical and historical approaches. Though crafted as a kind of bildungsroman, JFK delivers something more than the traditional story of the callow wastrel's maturation into the admirable adult."--The New York Times Book Review "A superb book . . . [The] remarkable rivalries within the Kennedy family--propelled by valour, vanity and greed--form the backbone of volume one of Fredrik Logevall's riveting life of JFK."--The Guardian "This is the first of two volumes by a Pulitzer-winning Harvard professor of the highest gifts, and the most compelling biography I have read in years."--The Sunday Times "As Fredrik Logevall shows in his superb JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956, Kennedy was a far deeper, worthier, more interesting character than the familiar revisionist cliche. . . . Logevall has a gifted historian's grasp of the times as well as the life of JFK."--The Washington Post "This volume . . . plows much of the Kennedy ground with such dexterity and such wisdom. Misty-eyed Kennedy acolytes of a certain age will read it and weep. Modern, less romantic readers will read it and reap the benefit of Logevall's acuity."--The Boston Globe "As Fredrik Logevall points out in his utterly absorbing biography, the first of a projected two volumes, Kennedy deserves our attention not simply because he was a celebrity, but because his celebrity is a key to unlocking modern American history itself. . . . JFK is biography at its very best."--The Spectator "It is the singular achievement of this magnificent new biography of John Fitzgerald Kennedy that it has taken one of the most scrutinized lives of