The Last Lion: The Rise and Fall of Ted Kennedy

We always hear about the Kennedys - the glitz, the glam, the curse, the politics. This book, written by reporters/editors from The Boston Globe, was a very interesting look into the Kennedy world and I feel like they did a good job of giving a balanced portrayal.

The book follows Ted's whole life - from the heavy expectations his parents put on him as the youngest child of nine, to Chappaquiddick, to all the legislation he engineered in the Senate. I've heard many times of how forceful Joe Kennedy Sr was on his boys to go into politics but I had never heard how similarly tenacious Rose Kennedy was for her children to forward their philanthropic lives. The kids were always expected to come to the table having read the newspapers and to "have something to contribute" to the conversation - a far cry from most kids now playing PSPs while their parents play on their blackberries at dinner.

I don't think I've ever seen Ted Kennedy speak so I had virtually no perception of him going into this book other than my dad always saying he never wanted Hilary Clinton to be President because "it would be worse than even the Kennedys." When reading the book, I began to realize what dad was talking about. Ted pushed for a lot of very liberal legislation - WIC, immigration reform, healthcare reform, voting rights, rights for women and minorities, etc. On a lot of his legislation I agree with dad - I'm not a huge fan of all his policies but I respect his vision and the general thought of making the world a better place. I think many of my liberal tendencies went away when I graduated from college unfortunately...that bleeding heart has bled out I think.

Having no preconception about Kennedy I was still surprised to read that he was quite the jokester - apparently he had to be as the youngest of nine - and the lengths he went to to make everyone feel good. After 9/11 he called each individual person in Massachusetts who had been directly affected by the tragedy to offer his condolences and his assistance on anything they needed. He remained in contact with these people up until he died and actually followed up on his offer for help. He put together a seminar with about 10 different reps from different agencies to help give the widows and families information on how to fill out the specific paperwork, what questions to ask, etc.

This was a great book and I definitely recommend this book to anyone who has a negative impression on Kennedy and for anyone who knows virtually nothing about him.