I'm not sure why Kennedys are on my mind today. I recently read an excerpt from Thurston Clarke's new book on Robert Kennedy in Vanity Fair. I'm not sure which is worse, Clarke's prose, or the fact that the cynicism, fecklessness, and opportunism that characterized this particular Kennedy's political life shines through despite Clarke's best efforts. Perhaps the most revealing part of this article is in the contributor's notes (in the print magazine), where Clarke explains:

"Almost everyone I interviewed, including press and aides, choked up — even people who had only met him for a few hours."

I'm no historian, but it seems to me that if everyone you interview is that enthralled with your subject, then perhaps you don't have a wide enough sample. But perhaps Clarke is more "historian" than historian, in the Sorensen and Schlesinger sense. It seems that most everyone who writes about the Kennedys is either in thrall to a remembered (and reconstructed) sense of what they represented, or in the grip of irrational hatred toward them. Can anyone recommend some evenhanded books on the Kennedy clan?