"Let Us Begin Anew": An Oral History of the Kennedy Presidency.

New York, NY HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. Hardcover First Ed; First Printing indicated. First Ed; First Printing indicated. Near Fine in Near Fine DJ: Both book and DJ show only minute indications of use. Book shows a couple of small spots of faint soiling at the bottom edge and a bit of dusting to the top edge; else flawless; binding square and secure; text clean. DJ shows a crease at the upper corner of the inside front flap; else only the mildest rubbing; price unclipped; mylar-protected. Overall, very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 540pp. Hardback with DJ. Based on more than 120 interviews conducted from 1989 to 1992, this "oral history" is a sometimes enlightening, more often frustrating attempt to recount, not analyze, Kennedy's presidency. Gerald S. Storber ( American Jews: Community in Crisis ) and his wife, Deborah H. Strober, editor of Newsbreak , organize their material in rough chronological order, beginning with the 1960 campaign, proceeding to Kennedy's political philosophy and Cabinet appointments, and considering crises like Vietnam and the Bay of Pigs. Their interviewees are mainly former Washington insiders, like Abraham Ribicoff, Pierre Salinger and Adlai Stevenson III. Such activists as the Rev. William Sloane Coffin Jr. and John Lewis, chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, are also heard from, as are Soviet foes like Khruschev's son-in-law Alexei Adzhubei, the former editor of Izvestia. There are potent reminiscences: then national security adviser Walt Rostow remembers how Kennedy felt death was near and always sought excellence; Commentary editor Norman Podhoretz criticizes Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the president's special adviser, as Kennedy's "apologist"; John Seigenthaler, then administrative assistant to the attorney general, remembers how Robert F. Kennedy, unlike his older brother, the president, was "willing to be vulnerable."