Saturday, February 28, 2004

Finished Robert Dallek's biography of J.F. Kennedy on the plane yesterday. Incredible how much the cult of Kennedy continues. A group of historians have in recent years declared Kennedy the most overrated president in US history. The book is a very good read, but very uncritical of the man. When you know that the family was very cooperative with the author you understand why. And he did not mention Kennedy's brief interest in the Palestinian question and his correspondence with Nasser once. Not once in 744 pages. For that, either read Seymour Hersh's The Sampson Option or the more recent Warren Bass' Support any Friend. And what is with the title of Dallek's book (Unfinished Life)? How silly is that? Every person's life on earth is an "unfinished life" unless you are immortal.