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Summary
Summary
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER | #1 SUNDAY TIMES (UK) BESTSELLER
" The must-read book of the summer" (Megyn Kelly) from New York Times bestseller Maureen Callahan: a "harrowing, incendiary" exposé of the real Kennedy Curse--the family's generations-long legacy of misogyny, murder, and mayhem (Karen Abbott).
The Kennedy name has long been synonymous with wealth, power, glamor, and--above all else-- integrity . But this carefully constructed veneer hides a dark truth: the pattern of Kennedy men physically and psychologically abusing women and girls, leaving a trail of ruin and death in each generation's wake. Through decades of scandal after scandal--from sexual assaults to reputational slander, suicides to manslaughter--the family and their defenders have kept the Kennedy brand intact. Now, in Ask Not , bestselling author and journalist Maureen Callahan reveals the Kennedys' hidden history of violence and exploitation, laying bare their unrepentant sexism and rampant depravity while also restoring these women and girls to their rightful place at the center of the dynasty's story: from Jacqueline Onassis and Marilyn Monroe to Carolyn Bessette, Martha Moxley, Mary Jo Kopechne, Rosemary Kennedy, and many others whose names aren't nearly as well known but should be.
Drawing on years of explosive reportage and written in electric prose, Ask Not is a long-overdue reckoning with this fabled family and a consequential part of American history that is still very much with us. At long last, Callahan redirects the spotlight to the women in the Kennedys' orbit, paying homage to those who freed themselves and giving voice to those who, through no fault of their own, could not.
One of Town & Country 's Must-Read Books of Summer 2024
Reviews (2)
Kirkus Review
A sharp-edged exposé of Kennedy men. Investigative journalist Callahan, author of American Predator, reports on the physical and psychological abuse--neglect, public humiliation, rape, murder--meted out by generations of Kennedy men. Drawing on interviews and archival sources, the author provides ample evidence of the "perverse double standard--in the press, in the justice system, and in the court of public opinion" that allowed the men's insidious behavior to persist. The infamous family tree begins with Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., "financially and sexually rapacious," and includes his sons Jack, Bobby, and Ted; Bobby's son Robert F. Kennedy Jr.; and Jack's son John Jr., who was killed, along with his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and her sister when the plane he was piloting--irresponsibly and in bad weather--crashed. Like his father and uncles, John Jr. was risk-taking, arrogant, spoiled, demanding. But women, some who married them and remained married despite betrayals, others who had affairs with them, were drawn to their glamour and charisma. Ted, a "legendary drunk and womanizer," denigrated his wife; Jack didn't try to hide his affairs with students, interns, coworkers, and Marilyn Monroe. The family's power protected them: When Ted, driving drunk with an expired license, plunged his car into the waters off Cape Cod, leaving his companion to die, the media presented the event as a tragedy for him; his young victim, Mary Jo Kopechne, was hardly mentioned. Callahan reports on the murder of Martha Moxley, for which Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was convicted--a conviction that later was vacated through the family's machinations. "The most famous of these women," she writes, "have too often been recast as architects of their own demise, or as women who were asking for it, or as imminent threats to the Kennedy dynasty." An informative and gossip-filled history of a notorious clan. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
For generations, Kennedy men have held some of the nation's highest positions of power--ambassador, attorney general, senator, and especially, president. They have also exhibited the lowest forms of behavior--bullying, emotional blackmail, psychological cruelty, and physical violence, including rape and murder. At the time of their occurrences, these scandals captured less national attention than their details warranted. Protected by praise and privilege, the perpetrators were never held accountable in any meaningful way. Over time, however, the steady drip of rumored dalliances, alleged assignations, and, ultimately, headline-grabbing crimes pooled into an undeniable pattern of callous abuse. Lives were lost, reputations destroyed. Callahan profiles 13 women, some famous, some infamous, some conveniently unknown, who had the misfortune of falling into the Kennedy orbit. Her focus goes beyond Jack, Bobby, and Ted to include their offspring, including current presidential candidate RFK Jr. The Kennedys, Callahan asserts, are the epitome of men behaving badly. Taken as a whole, their decades-long misogynistic and malevolent exploits must be recognized as being as legacy-defining as their political successes.
