About book The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy And 82 Days That Inspired America (2008)
Robert F. Kennedy was my first real life hero. As I read this book and moved toward that horrible June 4 evening in Los Angeles, I desperately wanted to somehow reach out and stop RFK from walking toward that kitchen where Sirhan Sirhan was waiting.Robert Kennedy was so different as a candidate - as a hope for America in a time of domestic turmoil that those who were not living then can not truly understand. Yet RFK could reach across the gap -- touching blacks and George Wallace blue collar supporters with the same message. He did not coddle voters but challenged them to be better.He spoke not in political platitudes, but spoke of the soul and of finding meaning in our lives. He talked of the need for humans to care for each other.This book captures those fateful 82 days of American politics - American history. The author details Kennedy's words, his moods, his dealings with Black Panthers and Nebraska farmers, and we are left to marvel that such a man lived -- and to wonder what would have happened had he not died.The book is perhaps a bit strong on praise and a offers a bit too many excuses for RFK's shortcomings -- He was human, after all. And there are a few places where the writing is repetitive. But this book is a powerful revisiting of a time now relegated to history. A time in America that truly was the worst of times -- and the best of times. This book is clearly the authority on Kennedy's campaign. It clearly details the issues, the events, the speeches, everything that could come into play during a campaign for the presidency. I think what struck me most is, beyond the message that Kennedy tried so hard to bring to the American people, the way in which Kennedy's campaign was really the last campaign of its kind and not just the last campaign Kennedy ever undertook. The changes between his campaign and those we see today are striking to say the least. I also have to applaud this book for the way it handles the final days of Kennedy's life and reviews what could have been. Thurston Clarke's work is a must have for anyoneinterested in the topic of RFK.
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Microhistory, centered on the frantic last days of RFK's campaign in Oregon and California.
—HomieT
absolutely loved it. Clarke chronicles the events and the going-ons brilliantly.
—Chloe
