The Kennedy Women:: The Saga of an American Family

I loved this book, well researched and an excellent story of an inspiration family. Each member of the family was throughly researched and injected into the family their own strengths and weaknesses. Laurence Leamer, begins with the Grandparents Bridget Murphy and Patrick Kennedy and their rich beginnings in Ireland. The family's desires strengthen into creating a better life for their children as goals are met and exceeded. It is truly unfortunate the women were treated with haste and distain while the men lied and were unfaithful, realistically not such a different attitude of the times.

"For the most part Rose grandchildren observed and respected and obeyed her, tiptoeing around her life as if she were an exquisite piece of porcelain. She had led such a decorous life, blocking out the untoward, the ugly, and the unacceptable, that her eyes no longer saw the darker colours of the spectrum. "Pat drank a bottle of wine in the morning," Rose was told. "That's impossible" Rose replied, Pat doesn't drink"I was glad that I read this book because it has helped me to understand so much more about this so much talked about family. In Mr. Leaner's book we get to know about the Kennedy women's personal thoughts and the correct stories of the daughters and daughters-in-law. Mr.Leamer has given us indept portraits of these women and my favourite is Rose Kennedy the Matriarch of the family. For Rose was a woman so strong and who suffered great disloyalty by her husband which she took all gracefully all for the sake of her family and what she supposed the public expected of them. She was a stern Catholic and gain her strength through her prayer and trust in God.Also portrayed are Joan Kennedy; Ted wife who had a problem with alcohol. Jackie Kennedy Onnassis; the President's wife who remarried after the President's death to a Greek tycoon. Pat Lawford; married to a Hollywood star and spent most of her time in Los Angeles. Eunice Shriver, who was always working for the handicapped and underprivileged and was one of the Kennedys with great patience and common sense. Ethel Kennedy, Robert Kennedy's widow and Jean Smith.The Kennedys pushed their tragedies to the inner recesses of their minds.They refused to let others see the negative side of their lives, and carried their problems and burdens inwardly taking pains not to show their broken hearts. To some this might seem pretentious, but they honestly had their reasons. After all they were special in the eyes of America.Whenever tragedy struck it was not unusual for them to suddenly get physical by taking walks, riding, swimming and any form of exercise. Rosemary the eldest daughter who was mentally retarded was isolated from the public eye and sent to Wisconsin where she was looked after by those of the Sacred Order. This book has helped me to understand so much more about the choices they made and the reason they made them, though tragedy seem to follow them everywhere.Mr. Leamer has pulled out all the stops in the brilliantly written book, and I would not hesitate to read anything by him in the future. Bravo! Bravo! Heather Marshall 04/04/04

I read this book a few years ago, and I've never seen anything so sad in my life. I don't know whether to be inspired or repulsed. The Kennedys aren't cursed, they're just dysfunctional, period!A woman who stays with her husband in spite of his being more absent than not (and who has numerous affairs with other women), because the money, power and privilege are supposedly too good to walk away from; A woman who allows a religion to tell her that she shouldn't enjoy sex with her husband but use it for procreation only (thus setting up the men in the family to cheat because their wives are only doing their 'duty'); a woman who is more concerned about keeping up appearances than about the emotional well-being of her children. YIKES! I have more sympathy for Ethel, Jackie, Joan and poor Rosemary than I do for Rose. At least, with the exception of Ethel (who, like her mother-in-law, wouldn't believe that her husband was cheating on her), Jackie and Joan didn't pretend that it was okay; they just tried to distance themselves from the whole mess.Yes, times were different then; yes, divorces were frowned upon (with good reason). But Rose was the worst kind of enabler I've ever read about in my life. She could have taken the risk and left her husband, sparing her children the grief and leaving them with some sense of honor and respect for the feelings of others (which her husband failed to do when be cheated on her). Instead she, along with her husband, passed on to her children a tragic legacy of maintaining a good front, not showing emotions in public, turning a blind eye to the adultery that was right under her nose, etc. As a result, the Kennedy children have soent all of their lives trying to live up to what their parents expected of them, adversely affecting their families in the process. I'm glad that with some exceptions, the latter generation of Kennedys have more normal lives than their parents. I hope they are each getting help for their problems so that history does not continue to repeat itself. Jackie would have been proud of Caroline and her late son John; she did a good job with them. The other younger Kennedy women (Maria Shriver, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend etc.) turned out fine too. Perhaps they have learned not to tolerate the foolishness their mothers put up with.The important lesson to be learned is that family dysfunctions, when left unchecked and unresolved, can devastate that family (including the wealthy Kennedys) for generations to come.

Enjoyed the taped version of THE KENNEDY WOMEN: THE SAGAOF AN AMERICAN FAMILY by Laurence Leamer . . . this is anotherKennedy family saga, but one I was not overly familiar with in that it focused on the women . . . I was especially inspired by the first tale of immigrant Bridget Murphy . . . she met Patrick Kennedy on the boat from Ireland in 1849 . . . nine years after their marriage, she was a widow with four children who worked as a domestic servant, then bought and ran a variety store . . . other Kennedy names were more familiar, including Rose (the center of the story), Kathleen, Rosemary, Eunice, and of course Jackie . . . you'll be moved by the stories, unfortunately, many of them had tragic endings.

For five years bestselling author, journalist & social historian Laurence Leamer researched the book, receiving unprecedented cooperation from Kennedy family members, interviewing scores of relatives & close associates, & gaining access to hundreds of personal documents. The book combines his exhaustive & superb scholarship with a gripping narrative that will forever alter our perception of America's royal family.The Kennedy Women is a virtual feast for Kennedy lovers. The book could serve as a university course on the life of the family, chronicling five matrilineal generations in our nation's foremost political dynasty. It provides a poetic panorama of the history of American womanhood, as we are taken from the life of Bridget Murphy Kennedy, who arrived steerage class on an immigrant vessel to work as a servant in the slums of Boston, to the presentation of Joseph Kennedy's daughters to the Queen of England, to John F. Kennedy's White House, through discussions of the future Kennedy matriarchs Caroline Kennedy Scholossberg, Maria Shriver Schwartzenegger, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, & Rory Kennedy.Wonderful, in-depth portraits with much new material are given of all the Kennedy women, particularly the ubiquitous Jackie, Ethel, & Eunice, & the mentally challenged Rosemary, whose story in all its horror & duplicity is revealed in detail.It isn't often that one mourns coming to the end of a book. Although The Kennedy Women covers 933 pages, I was saddened to find myself on the last page.

When the Kennedy's entered the White House, everybody assumed that they were the perfect family. Following assasinations and tabloid headlines, the men were subsequently were criticized for fast living and political decisions.The women, once ideal images of feminity became scorned for being the "ideal helpmate". For years, the press did not want to cover the women in anything other than fashion and family. Although Jackie despised the "little wife" role, she nonetheless went with it for the sake of election. This book does a good job reconcilling the two methods of examination. For the first time, we get a well rounded picture of America's most famous family as seen through the eyes of women. Thanks to the separate spheres approach that prevailed until the late 20th century. If JFK's sisters were political, it was under the non-threating guise of community service and volunteer work. Although Rose Kennedy was considered a tradditional matriarch, no other book had touched her subconcious desire to enter into politics or her intial revulsion of Joe Sr's womanizing. Thus, the dislike of Jackie (many people did not realize how much policy making influence she had) becomes all of the more ironic. Younger generations of Kennedy women such as Kathleen Kennedy Townsend have also continued this tradition, but have sought (and won) elected office in their own right. RFK's youngest daughter, Rory, is an avowed feminist activist. This book would be of interest to anybody studying political dynastys and or the Kennedy family in particular. Because it balances the positives and negatives of it's focus, the book is well balanced and easy to read. Be warry of imitators because this is the definitive work.