Rose Kennedy The Life and Times of a Political Matriarch [Hardcover]

In her compelling and intimate portrait, presidential historian Barbara A. Perry captures Rose Kennedys essential contributions to the incomparable Kennedy dynasty. This biographythe first to draw on an invaluable cache of Roses newly released diaries and lettersunearths the complexities behind the impeccable persona she showed the world. The woman who emerges in these pages is a fascinating character: savvy about her familys reputation and resilient enough to persevere through the unfathomable tragedies that befell her. As a young woman, she defied her father, Boston mayor John Fitzgerald, by marrying ambitious businessman Joseph Kennedy. During Joes diplomatic career, she began carefully calibrating her familys image, stage-managing photo shoots and interviews of her nine children and herself. After husband Joes isolationist views on the eve of World War II made him a political liability, Rose took to the campaign trail for son Jack. Her perfectionism, initially a response to the strictures imposed on Catholic women, ultimately created a family portrait that resonated in modern politics and media.Laudable&Perry employs a newly released trove of diaries and letters to add nuance and detail to an essentially familiar story.Barbara Perry's story of Rose Kennedy will likely become the definitive biography of one of the most important women of the 20th century. Perry utilizes newly released materials to tell a more complete story of the matriarch of the Kennedy family.A fuller picture than ever before&Perry writes with compassion and brings keen insight into what Rose Kennedys own words tell us about this complex woman.An insightful portrait of this paradoxical woman&[Kennedy] gave the public every reason to love her.Barbara Perry has done it again!At the core of most families, frequently out of the public spotlight, is the matriarch. She personifies and by example extends the values and mores that make that family unique. Mrs. Rose Kennedy was such lS/