The Irish Brotherhood

A behind-the-scenes look at JFK’s team: “Lively . . . fast-paced anecdotes [and] insights into pre-social media mid-20th-century politics” (Library Journal).
 
The Irish Brotherhood is the history of Jack Kennedy’s original political inner circle. Led by Bobby Kennedy, Kenny O’Donnell, Larry O’Brien, and Dave Powers, it was a team dominated by tough minded Irish-Catholic guys and young war veterans who were joined by a common ambition to see Jack through to the White House.
 
Written by the daughter of one of the core members of this team, this book provides one of the missing pieces of the story of John F. Kennedy’s improbable rise to power—covering such topics as Bobby’s determination to make his own mark apart from his famous family; the struggle to prove that Kenny and Larry’s outsider approach would work; the role of Joe Kennedy, Sr.; and the way that JFK embraced and enjoyed the rough-and-tumble of politics. It’s a unique inside view of the electoral process as well as an indelible portrait of John F. Kennedy as a son, a brother, and a friend as well as a public servant.