Description:
"What an incredible life of triumph and tragedy, faith, and love." -- Anderson Cooper, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Vanderbilt
"A daughter's tender homage to a consequential woman." -- Kirkus Reviews
A vivid, intimate biography of American icon Ethel Kennedy by her daughter Kerry Kennedy, told through her firsthand memories and exclusive access to Ethel's personal papers
When her husband Robert F. Kennedy was killed in 1968, Ethel Skakel Kennedy--then pregnant with their eleventh child--drew national attention for her grace, dignity, and resolute commitment to furthering his work in human rights, even in her grief. But as her daughter Kerry witnessed, Ethel was so much more than a dutiful wife and keeper of Robert's legacy of service. She was courageous, curious, compassionate, boisterous, and witty, always guided by faith and an instinct for speaking truth to power.
Kerry delves into her own memories, her family's recollections, and her mother's private papers, describing:
- Ethel's family's journey from a working-class Chicago background to life in tony Greenwich, Connecticut
- Ethel's fairytale romance with Kerry's father RFK--a courtship that inspired a Taylor Swift song half a century later
- How the bold, athletic Ethel quickly became "more Kennedy than the Kennedys"
- The years on the famed family properties in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, and the Hickory Hill estate in Virginia, where Kerry and her ten siblings grew up amidst presidents and politicians, Olympians and Hollywood stars, and a rambunctious menagerie of pet animals
- Moments of pain and loss--RFK's death just five years after that of his brother; and the tragic deaths of two of Kerry's siblings
- Ethel's unflagging commitment to global human rights causes that carried on through the decades
Ethel Kennedy inspires us to reject cynicism and to live bigger and bolder.
The book includes 24 pages of color photographs.
Brief description:
Kerry Kennedy is a human rights lawyer, activist, New York Times-bestselling author, and daughter of Ethel Skakel Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy. Kerry is the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the organization Ethel founded in 1968 to continue Robert's unfinished work, and served as chair for the Amnesty International USA Leadership Council for over a decade. During her forty years working in human rights, she has led hundreds of delegations and negotiated with leaders around the globe. She is the author of three previous books: Robert F. Kennedy: Ripples of Hope; Speak Truth to Power; and Being Catholic Now.
Review Quotes:
"A daughter's tender homage to a consequential woman." - Kirkus Reviews
"A major event... [Kerry] reminds us that Ethel was more than just her tragedies, she was a singular force who changed not only the family into which she married, but the world in which she lived." - Town and Country
"Juicy tidbits enliven this worshipful memoir laden with amusing and inspiring anecdotes culled from nearly a century of life that often placed Ethel Kennedy at the heart of twentieth-century America's most triumphant and tragic moments... An intimate account of this accomplished and admirable woman." - Booklist
"RFK's widow, Ethel Kennedy...was a force of nature as a wife, mother, humanitarian and free spirit... [a]n irrepressible and magnetic personality... Kennedy fans will enjoy this winsome portrait." - Publishers Weekly
"Ethel Kennedy was more than the anchoring matriarch of a history-making family. She was a force who helped to shape the turbulent times she lived in with a set of values that can serve as a beacon in our own. In this beautifully written book, Kerry Kennedy amplifies the strength of her mother's example and gives us hope that we, too, can rise above." - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard University
"Kerry Kennedy has written a beautiful and moving account of her remarkable mother. What an incredible life of triumph and tragedy, faith, and love." - Anderson Cooper, CNN anchor and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Vanderbilt and Astor
"Hers was one of the most tumultuous of American lives, led in public in years of tragedy, yet Ethel Kennedy never lost hope. Sustained by her faith and by her family, Mrs. Kennedy refused to surrender to the darkness; instead, she forever sought the light. Kerry Kennedy's moving biography of her mother tells us this story with warmth and insight, reminding us anew of our common duty to make gentle the life of this world." - Jon Meacham, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Soul of America and And There Was Light
"The Kennedy clan has had more than its share of tragedy... but this is a joyful remembrance, an intimate portrayal of Ethel, who until her death remained the north star of the family, and a force for social justice and human rights." - Nina Totenberg, NPR correspondent and New York Times bestselling author of Dinners with Ruth