Book Description
An Unfinished Life is the first major, single-volume life of John F. Kennedy to be written by a historian in nearly four decades.Drawing upon previously unavailable material and never-before-opened archives to tell Kennedy's story.We learn for the first time just how sick Kennedy was, what medications he took and concealed from all but a few, and how severely his medical condition affected his actions as President. We learn for the first time the real story of how Bobby was selected as Attorney General. Dallek reveals exactly what Jack's father did to help his election to the presidency, and he follows previously unknown evidence to show what path JFK would have taken in the Vietnam entanglement had he survived.Dallek lists JFK out of the gossips and back onto the world stage, showing that while he was the son of privilege, he faced great obstacles and fought on with remarkable courage. Never shying away from Kennedy's weaknesses, Dallek also brilliantly explores his strengths.The result is a portrait of a bold, brave, human Kennedy, once again a hero.
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An Unfinished Life is the first major, single-volume life of John F. Kennedy to be written by a historian in nearly four decades. Drawing upon previously unavailable material and never-before-opened archives to tell Kennedy's story, An Unfinished Life is packed with revelations large and small. We learn for the first time just how sick Kennedy was, what medications he took and concealed from all but a few, and how severely his medical condition affected his actions as President. We learn for the first time the real story of how Bobby was selected as Attorney General. Dallek reveals exactly what Jack's father did to help his election to the presidency, and he follows previously unknown evidence to show what path JFK would have taken in the Vietnam entanglement had he survived. Dallek lifts JFK out of the gossips and back onto the world stage, showing that while he was the son of privilege, he faced great obstacles and fought on with remarkable courage. Never shying away from Kennedy's weaknesses, Dallek also brilliantly explores his strengths. The result is a portrait of a bold, brave, human Kennedy, once again a hero. The figures who surrounded Kennedy and shaped his life -Joe, Jackie, McNamara, Marilyn, Bobby, LBJ, MLK, Schlesinger, Sorenson and others-are presented here with a richness and accuracy never before seen. From elementary school, to Harvard, to PT-109, to Washington, to the White House, to Dallas, here is the full epic story, finally, and fairly. An Unfinished Life will stand as the essential Kennedy book, a landmark work.
Customer Reviews:
Essential Reading But..........2007-06-25
Robert Dallek is a gifted historian. He is also a complete historian, because he writes extremely well. I wonder if he has ever won the Parkman Prize, because his apparent meticulous research is consumed by the reader with such ease. Of course, because it is Dr. Dallek, I have but one complaint. In the young, Kennedy years, prior to the presidency, the biography feels intimate -- as if we were talking to someone who was right in the house growing up with him -- almost if we were like Lem Billings. But when we get to the presidency there is a bit of opinionating that oftimes goes from historian to editorializing. For example, when speaking of the Berlin Crisis, Dr. Dallek opines that it is best that JFK was running the show because RFK, being a hothead, might have gotten us involved in a nuclear exchange. Other than that minor, minor complaint, (because he is probably right on his opinionating), I think Dallek is great. So is his new title about Nixon, (and Kissinger,too.)
Joe Nichols
Adequate First Kennedy Biography.......2007-05-11
Thought that the book was an adequate one volume account of the life of JFK. The author talked alot about JFK's medical problems, more than I would have liked. He could have written a chapter about the medical problems JFK had with his stomach and back and about how the Kennedy's covered up those ailments during the run for the presidency and during the presidency.
But overall I thought that it was a very good book and would recommend to anyone who is reading their first Biography of Kennedy.
Very Impressive.......2007-04-28
I very much enjoyed this biography of JFK. It is very well written and exactly what you want in a biography. It has a very detailed account of his entire life, from birth, through school and his travels, and on to his time as President.
My only criticism is that for those of you who were not alive at the time of JFK (like me), you can get lost in many of the pages surrounding his Presidency. The author's accounts are so detailed, that I often found myself turning back in the book to refresh my memory about the many names and places that are referenced.
Other than that, I highly recommend this book. The accounts of his young life (the privilege, the travels, the women) are fantastically interesting. The accounts of his many illnesses were also well done, and news to me.
If you are like me and a big fan of biographies that start from the beginning and tell the whole story chronologically without leaving out a single detail, then this book is for you.
Well Done!.......2007-01-07
Well packed and arrived in a timely fashion. Everything as expected. A pleasure to do business with.
It's a very good book indeed!.......2006-12-22
I've been President John F. Kennedy's fan during all of my life and I think I've been waiting for this book. It's an amazing and fantastic plot of Kennedy's life since he was born untill his coward and outrageous assassination in Dallas. I bought this book here at Amazon.com.
In reading it I discovered Kennedy's awesome heroic attitude during Second World War, and about his serious health problems what for me increased even more my admiration for him. He was a great Man, a great Human Being, if he had had the opportunity of a second term, "I don't have any doubt he would be considered nowadays one of the four greatest presidents OF USA, just between George Washington, Lincoln, and the greatest one FDR. One of the reasons that moved the hand of the assassin was that he started on the last breaths of the first term to construct his own history in a very solid way.
People may ask why so many positive statements about this book and only four stars of rating. Because the most important event of Mr.President John F. Kennedy's assassination is very poorly covered inside this book and I think it's such an important event in the world history to be treated with such a disregarded and disrespectful way. Well, the most important thing is that We must remember that Presidents are Human Beings and not God, so they have strong and weak moments like we all "but Kennedy had a lot more positive moments than weak ones", and are mortals, I think they have tried to do the best they can and Mr. President John F. Kennedy was not an exception, he learned a lot about being a leader during his Presidency, he was a very smart man and could learn fast as he demonstrated with the Cuba missiles crisis. Mr. President J. F. Kennedy wasn't a saint but we don't need a saint on Presidency, we need a great Human Being and he was the one, indeed. Just buy this book if you are like me a fan of President John F. Kennedy or just someone wanting to know about him and you will be happy with your choice, it's a very good book indeed!
Average customer rating:
- "Pay any price, bear any burden..."
- Useful but Not Spectacular.
- Excellent overview of JFK
- The Old Worn-Out Paradigm Dragged Out Yet Again
- Excellent Addition to JFK Scholarship
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An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917 - 1963 (Dynasty)
Robert Dallek
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ASIN: 0316907928 |
Book Description
Everywhere acclaimed and talked about, An Unfinished Life is the first major, single-volume biography of John F. Kennedy to be written by a historian in nearly four decades. Drawing upon previously unavailable material and never-before-opened archives, the book is packed with revelations both large and small-about JFK's health, his love affairs, RFK's appointment as Attorney General, what Joseph Kennedy did to help his son's election to the presidency, and the path JFK would have taken in the Vietnam entanglement had he survived. AN UNFINISHED LIFE strikes a critical balance-brilliantly exploring JFK's strengths, never shying away from his weaknesses-as it offers up a virtuoso portrait of a bold, brave, complex, heroic, human Kennedy.
Customer Reviews:
"Pay any price, bear any burden...".......2007-10-04
What you will like about this book:
1) The apt title: it's a nice little turn of phrase which both recalls and overturns the biographical genre. Also, it reminds us that JFK's life was unfinished in two respects: he died young, and he died without completing his term in office.
2) The sober treatment of the subject. Dalleck neither sensationalises JFK nor does he excoriate him. There is an admirable even-handedness in his assessment of JFK's achievements and fiascos.
3) The slow, patient accumulation of facts upon facts, which might make for a long book, but which help to build up a thorough picture of what exactly happened. Especially useful if this is you first Kennedy biography or if your knowledge of this era is a little hazy.
4) The sheer drama of the events that unfold. Kennedy's tenure was brief but the crises he had to deal with were of monumental proportions. Especially engrossing are his confrontations with Kruschev during the Berlin Crisis and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
What you may not like about this book:
1) I never thought I'd be tempted to put away a book about Kennedy, but I almost did. The first 200 pages were especially hard going. Most exasperating were the overlong, involved discussions about Kennedy's medical problems. Of course these are relevant to his life-story, but they are interesting only up to a point. Then they become tiresome and spoil the pacing of the narrative. One can safely skip these parts and move on to the "story".
2) Dalleck's writing style: Now don't get me wrong...Mr Dalleck is a fine writer and his expositions are very clear and sometimes brilliant. I thought the epilogue was especially well-written. But his style is too deadpan to generate any excitement in the reader. I think a life as colourful and portentous as Kennedy's deserves a narrative with more panache and perhaps a little flamboyance.
3) Whatever happened to Kennedy's private life ? There is adequate treatment of his growing up years and of his relationship with elder brother Joe. But his relations with women, with his wife and children, what he did when he was not being "political", all this gets only cursory treatment. The omission is especially glaring after Kennedy assumes the presidency. From then on the book is almost entirely political. This means that it falls short of being a complete biography.
4) As an old hand at reading biographies -I've recently read books on Mao, Hitler, Gandhi, Lincoln, Napolean, Indira Gandhi, Darwin, Einstein--I know that one of the most effective things a biographer can do is to provide a sort of leitmotif, a common thread running through the book and at various lifestages, that helps to explain and understand the character. Without such a device, the reader doesn't get a satisfying grasp of the protagonist. The only recurring theme is Kennedy's medical problems and how these might explain his actions. There are others, but they are not explicitly stated. Dalleck tries to do this by rounding things up in the epilogue, but it's a case of too little, too late.
Useful but Not Spectacular. .......2007-09-11
This is the first full-fledged biography that I've read about JFK, and it certainly was informative and educational. Robert Dallek's access to the official medical records provided for an extremely enlightening tome. Certainly we gain appreciation for the intense physical torment which Mr. Kennedy must have felt while he was in office, and also the way that his back must have plagued him on the campaign trail. My one fault with the narrative is that I think Dallek gave short-shrift to Kennedy's affairs and sexual conquests. I do not bring this up due to a need on my part for more "juicy" details but due to the realization that his assignations were a political liability--such as when they were possibly used against him in the selection of his Vice President. It's hard to know what ever happened beyond closed doors but his relations with so many women undoubtedly jeopardized his ability to lead (due to blackmail concerns). I also felt that Mr. Dallek was rather naïve in regards to the 35th President's motivations. Did he have an overwhelming need to serve the public? Perhaps, but this, assuredly, was secondary to his need for power and status. We see here, in retrospect, how absurdly ambitious this young man was and how much his drive offended some of his contemporaries. One Senator said, "Why not show a little less profile and a little more courage?" Indeed. If he wanted to only to serve the public then he could have done so by less flamboyant means. At any rate, I still admired JFK after reading this biography, but the factual accounting of any person always tarnishes their veneer. That is inevitable as we are all human.
Excellent overview of JFK.......2007-07-18
This was required reading for a graduate course in American history.
Robert Dallek chose to write this book for many of the same reasons that I and, undoubtedly, many other readers, chose to read it. In many ways, the legacy of John F. (Jack) Kennedy looms larger than life. is "Camelot" persona, youth, and televised image, combined with his fashion plate wife and ubiquitous family form the images seared in my mind. His dramatic assassination and its undiminished controversy, combined with the Baby Boomer generation's recollections of "where they were when he died," add to the mystery and legend of this man. I was eager to understand the substance behind the man's style, and the accomplishments and failures of his brief administration. In the preface, Dallek mirrors my interests by declaring that his goal of writing the book was to "penetrate the veneer of glamour and charm to reconstruct the real man or as close to it as possible" (ix). His purpose in writing the lengthy biography (838 pages inclusive of footnotes and sources) is to analyze the influences on Jack's character and, ultimately, his policies and administration.
Dallek divides the book into four parts: Jack's 'Growing Up' years from childhood to his Navy service; his 'Public Service' as Congressman and Senator from Massachusetts; the question of 'Can a Catholic Become President?' that shadowed his nomination and; and 'The President and
his struggles with domestic frustrations and foreign policy crises. In Growing Up, Dallek details the merging of two of Boston's prominent families in the marriage of Jack's parents, the growth of Joe and Rose's own, wealth and family and the strains that ensued; Jack's privileged life of summers at Hyannis Port, preparatory school at Choate and college at Harvard, Jack's budding interest in foreign policy, and Jack's heroic rescue of his crew after a Japanese destroyer sank his PT boat. In Public Service, Dallek details Jack's decision to enter politics and the influence of his father and his brother's death on that decision, his reconnection with his younger siblings during his campaigning, and his rise as Congressman and Senator. Dallek also cites Jack's criticism of
President Eisenhower's defense budget reduction, his response to the French-Indochina crises, and his decision to not vote to condemn Senator Joseph McCarthy, which plagued Jack throughout his political career. In Cana Catholic Become President?, Dallek describes the 1960 nomination and the challenge of balancing the diverse demands of liberals,* Southern senators, and civil rights advocates. He discusses Jack's growing public speaking ability, his physical endurance of the demanding campaign schedule and his artful mastery of televised debates. In The President, Dallek notes high points such as Jack's compelling Inaugural address and high public opinion polls, his formation of the Peace Corps and the Green Berets, his restrained response during the Berlin crisis, his performance during the Cuban Missile crisis, his opposition to nuclear proliferation, and his New Frontier-inspired intent to land a man on the moon. Dallek also notes the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the tense negotiations with Khrushchev, the troubles in British Guiana, the deepened rift with civil rights advocates from the Freedom Riders incident, and his failure to pass major domestic legislation in his administration.
Many interrelated themes emerge in the first part of the book and are revisited throughout the well-sourced text. One theme is Jack's personal health and his family's tragedies, and the role they had in shaping both his somewhat hedonistic outlook on life and his desire to make his mark
on the world. Jack suffered the deaths of his older brother, Joe Jr.in World War II, of his beloved older sister Kathleen in a plane accident, and of his premature son, Patrick. His persistent health problems, from failed back surgery (196), to spastic colitis and urinary track infections, to Addison's disease, plagued him constantly. He spent much time in and out of hospitals and on mediation, survived a coma (196) and was twice almost administered last rites (153). His ordeals instilled in him a belief that he was "... slated for an early demise, making him almost manic about packing as much pleasure into his life as he could in the possibly short time remaining to him" (78). Furthermore, his personal realization of how close the world was to nuclear war increased his hedonistic attitude (475). This attitude manifested itself, more negatively, in his womanizing behavior (153) and, more positively, in his drive to become a politician and make an impact on the lives of people (158).
Jack's struggle with identity is a subtle theme that emerges throughout the text. He strived to form his identity in opposition to the identity afforded to him by his famous family. His desire to 'be his own person' emerged from his earliest childhood competitions with his Joe Jr., who was his father's favorite (36), and his failure to achieve his brother's successes in prep-school football and political life (44). Jack chose to go to Princeton rather than follow Joe Jr. to Harvard (41), although he later matriculated at Harvard. Dallek attributes some of Jack's womanizing to his desire to "be successful at something"(46). Jack also spent most of his pre-presidency political life trying to separate himself from his father's conservative, isolationist outlook. For example, Congressman Kennedy supported the Truman Doctrine's aid to Turkey and Greece as a deterrent to Soviet aggression but also as an opposition to his father's public declaration of isolationist policy toward the Soviets (149). Additionally, his perpetual challenge during the Presidential election was to convince liberals that he was not a substitute for his father, who they denounced as "a robber baron and prewar appeaser of Nazi Germany" (232). Jack's slightly irreverent and rebellious personality, manifested in childhood rebellions against his mother (70), disregard of subjects that he was not interested in (37), and the organizing the Muckers club at Choate (39), served him well into his presidency. In assembling his cabinet and advisors, Jack was determined to surround himself with the right men (307) and maintain control of the administration so that he would not be unduly influenced by single interests. He also harbored a skepticism of the military leaders and experts, which was largely confirmed by their role in failed Bay of Pigs invasion (368). A third theme in the book is Jack's contradictory emotional behavior. Jack's controlled and reserved demeanor contrasted with Bobby's rash, outspoken comport, but there was an affinity that came from being "out of the same womb" (Ribicoff in Dallek, 316). Jack's family primarily masked emotion by teasing (166), yet he was very close to his sister Kathleen (153). Despite an obvious affinity for the company of women, he was a distant lover (151). Despite his reserved demeanor, .he could deeply empathize with strangers. He considered himself to be a fiscal conservative but also could 'put himself in the shoes' of blue-collar workers dependent on government assistance (142). He met with ordinary citizens during a seven-week trip through The Middle East and Asia in 1951 and developed a newfound calling to uphold "the obligations of the advantaged to the disadvantaged" (167). He advocated for federally financed housing as a Congressman (144). He was moved by the suffering he saw in West Virginia during his presidential campaign and promised to assist; later, his federal Area Redevelopment Act helped ease unemployment in that state (378). Though assessment of his Civil Rights support is mixed and Dallek believes that his privileged upbringing rendered Jack unable to grasp the reality of racism in America, Jack delivered a "heartfelt appeal in behalf of amoral cause" by asking Congress to support the largest civil rights bill in history (603).
In the preface, Dallek states that his analysis results in "not a sharply negative portrait but a description of someone with virtues and defects that make him seem both exceptional and ordinary" (x). Dallek illuminates Jack's character flaws, such as his resentment of Jackie's success in Paris (400), and his bitterness toward Adlai Stevenson for not supporting his nomination, and he blames Jack's competitive nature for some of the failure of the Vienna meetings with Khrushchev (409). However, Dallek's portrayal errs overwhelmingly to the positive - he seeks to justify Jack's character flaws and to minimize his policy failures. For example, he dismisses Jack's proven womanizing by attributing it to his desire to live life to its fullest because of his health problems (152) and by couching it in the assertion that many other people were engaging in the same behavior (477). Also, Dallek minimizes Jack's culpability in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion by emphasizing the misleading information and false assumptions made by the Central Intelligence Agency and the military chiefs.
Dallek artfully combines old and new sources and, in the process, uncovers new information about the effect that Jack's health had on his administration, his opinion about the military's leadership, and his older brother's death during combat. His contribution to the scholarship on John F. Kennedy is the painstaking comparison of his health records to oral history accounts of his day-to-day presidential schedule. He concludes that Jack made all his political decisions with careful, rational thought and that he was not distracted by his health problems or the medicine he took to cope with the pain (705). Dallek's emphasis on health adds a new dimension to Jack's Naval service and actions during the sinking of his PT Boat by asserting that his heroism was all the more impressive due to his debilitating back and health problems (99).
Ultimately, Dallek praises John F. Kennedy's foreign policy success of preventing nuclear war, his soul-stirring speeches and his visions of a better America.
Recommended reading for anyone interested in American history, foreign policy, Cold War history.
The Old Worn-Out Paradigm Dragged Out Yet Again.......2007-04-26
Academics do not write books in order to advance knowledge or put forth new ideas. They write books in order to pass on received opinion that has been stamped, codified and approved by their peers. Indeed, the main reason they write books is not to inform and educate but to please the memory of their older professors and bring warm smiles to the faces of their colleagues. In order to make a living in academe, there is one grave sin that you cannot be guilty of: you must not challenge the prevailing consensus of your department. If you do so, you will suffer the fate of a Velikovsky and be banned and excoriated and sent to Gulag with stones hurling after you. But in fact, this is what one must do if one wants to move discourse onward from old paradigms to new horizons.
Thus, sad to say, Dallek believes that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK just the way the old pipe-smokers of the Warren Commission would have us all believe: with three shots fired from the School Book Depository Building by a lone gunman who acted alone and who was also a Castrophile Marxist. Never mind that such a belief flies in the face of all reason and rationality regarding the laws of physics (it is physically impossible, for instance, to fire off three shots from a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle in under seven seconds; while the Zapruder film, meanwhile, shows Kennedy's head being jerked back and to the left, clearly indicating an impact from the front and not the rear as the Warren Commission and Dallek would have us believe). But never mind the laws of physics.
For any rational, intelligent human being in this day and age to be so gullible as to actually believe the Warren Commission report is to exhibit a psychological problem that has more to do with an emotional committment to a worldview of America and its politics than it does with reason. For the will to self-deception, as Nietzsche was fond of pointing out, runs very deep indeed, and the psychological motive for believing in the Warren Commision paradigm is a sort of defense mechanism, a way one has of protecting one's irrational belief in the notion of America as a utopian colony which is immune to history. History, this emotionally charged paradigm says, happened in the Old World, but it does not happen here in America. America is different; it is a utopian world based upon an escape from Old World politics and history. And it is the committment to this belief that defends one from having to deal with real, concrete things such as the laws of physics and the deep, dark motives of the human psyche that causes people to kill rulers and take their places.
All of that said, Dallek's book is actually a rather good one. It is an informed and informing biography of the life of Kennedy that reads like a novel and it is skillfully constructed. Dallek has an eye for what constitutes a readable narrative and I highly recommend this book as an excellent biography of Kennedy.
However, it is such an incredible disappointment to read through all of this narrative to find Dallek's upholding of the Warren Commission fraud as so sadly banal and predictably cowardly. (Dallek wants to keep those paychecks coming in, after all). But Dallek is an old man, a Cold War fossil walking around with a lot of old, worn out ideas that are so ingrained into the synaptic clefts of his brain, that it would be tantamount to death in order for him to change his views in light of the mounting evidence that keeps pouring in, year after year, that a conspiracy, not a celebrity stalker, killed Kennedy. Consistent with his threadbare view, Dallek gives short shrift to Lyndon Johnson's despicable conduct vis a vis the Billy Sol Estes affair, in which he may very well have ordered and then covered up the murders of five or six people. Dallek doesn't feel these details worth mentioning because they do not turn up on his radar as possibly significant of Johnson's intentions with regard to Kennedy, whom he may very well have had killed off.
Who really killed Kennedy? We will probably never know. But when historians continue to stake their careers on writing books in which the floppy cardboard backdrop of the Warren paradigm is dragged out and propped up for a climax, we can be certain that only lies and the will to self-deception, not knowledge, will prevail.
We will know that progress in this field has actually been made on that far distant day when somebody writes an official academic biography of Kennedy that deals with the evidence supporting a conspiracy which, after all, was good enough for the House Select Committee to rule a "probable conspiracy" in the matter. If it's good enough for the House, then why not for professors?
What is needed here is a professor with real courage to challenge the prevailing views of the establishment, just as Einstein did (or any great thinker, for that matter) with respect to the academic establishment of physics. Someone, that is, who doesn't care about being ostracized or called names or having his tenure revoked, or getting a bad review in the New York Review of Books.
But is there such a human being?
--John David Ebert, author
Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons: Film as the Mythology of Electronic Society
Excellent Addition to JFK Scholarship .......2007-03-12
Why another JFK Biography? There have been hundreds but Robert Dallek, with access to records in the Kennedy Library, delves deeper into one of the most written about presidents in our history. Citing numerous personal correspondence, medical records and personal comments, Dallek gives us a more complete picture of Kennedy, the president and the man. "An Unfinished Life" documents the events and influences in JFK's early life that give us insights into motavations behind the policies of the New Frontier and the challenges faced by his administration. As history has repeatedly shown us, those challenges mirror the the vital issues facing America Today. I highly recommend this excellant biography.
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An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963
Robert Dallek
Manufacturer: Recorded Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
Presidents & Heads of State
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Kennedy, John F.
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Kennedy, Robert
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ASIN: 1402556101 |
Product Description
Nationally best-selling author Robert Dallek is one of the most respected historians in America. He has won the American Book Award and the Bancroft Prize for his excellent biographies of U.S. presidents. In An Unfinished Life, Dallek offers the first authoritative, single-volume story of the life of John F. Kennedy. Drawing from an archive of previously unavailable information, Dallek paints a brilliant portrait of a legendary president who was bold, brave, and ultimately human. Dalleks research draws from firsthand sources, newly discovered documents, never-before-opened archives, and personal medical records. Dallek explores Kennedys many strengths, while not shying away from his weaknesses. Beginning with the birth of the Kennedy dynasty in Ireland, Dallek traces their rise to prosperity in the bustling world of late 19th-century Boston. As the story weaves through Jacks privileged childhood, we glimpse the inner workings of an affluent family driven to even greater success and power. From his daring exploits in World War II, which made him a national hero, to his awkward first forays into the political arena, and then to the White House, the great John F. Kennedy emerges as a man of irresistible charm, character, and determination in An Unfinished Life.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on November 1, 2003. The length of the article is 497 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963.(Book Review)
Publication:
First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: November 1, 2003
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Issue: 137
Page: 66(1)
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Thunderbolt: The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt in the European Theater - Aircraft Specials series (6076)
Ernest R. McDowell
Manufacturer: Squadron/Signal Publications
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Exploded views, cutaway and phantom drawings from tech manuals, cockpit photos, disassembled aircraft, rare variants and experimental models. Included are technical looks at razor back models, high speed versions, ground attack armaments, troubles with aerodynamic compressibility and more. WarbirdTech Volume 23.
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Warbird Tech No. 23 Review.......2000-07-15
This has got to be the most informative tech book available next to the original AAF Maintenance and Erection Tech Manual. I was very pleased at the in depth structural and technical knowledge imparted by Mr Johnsen. Johnsen did a magnificent job putting this book together, WELL DONE.
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Republic P-47 Thunderbolt: The Operational Record
Jerry Scutts
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ASIN: 0760305781 |
Book Description
The distinctive, rugged lines of this heavyweight single-seater earned it the nickname the jug. But what the Thunderbolt lacked in elegance, it more than made up for in firepower. Of the 15,683 Thunderbolts built, only 54 airframes are known to exist today. This book provides a generously illustrated and thoroughly researched tribute to the aircraft.
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