American Values audiobook

I enjoyed this book. It was well written and honest. Despite some editing errors it was honest and cleared up some disinformation that has disparaged the legacy of JFK and RFK.

History, particularly political history, is often hard to absorb simply because of all the hired rhetoric used to spin the story/characters this way and that according to the needs of the writers. If you read multiple accounts of the same story, sometimes you're left wondering what actually happened and why. American Values isn't like that. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the third child of former Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy; he is also an environmental attorney and activist. Besides writing about the Kennedy family, he is also writing about the Cold War Era from the late 1940's to about 1975. Here's an example of how the Kennedy children were raised: "Uncle Jack's best friend, Lem Billings, a frequent visitor at the house, told me how Grandpa (Joseph Kennedy) often took extreme positions to incite his offspring - boys and girls - to argue and defend their points of view. Describing those dinner table dialectics, my dad (Robert F. Kennedy) wrote about Grandpa, "My father has believed we could think and decide things for ourselves.... There were disagreements, sometimes violent, on politics, economics, the future of the country, the world." Grandpa wanted his children's minds unshackled by ideology. He groomed them to question authority, and to be beholden to nothing but the enlightened open minds God gave them." Which goes a long way in explaining the Kennedy mystique and the impact they had on the political world as well as the military-industrial complex. This book takes the reader through JFK's tough 1960 general election to become the first (and only) Irish Catholic President, as well as some of his early trials and tribulations: the Peace Corps, the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the Cuban Missile Crisis, his constant sparring with the CIA (Between 1947 and 1989, the CIA, without ANY oversight, would initiate seventy-two coup d'etats - the equivalent of one-third of the world's governments.) Couple this with the military-industrial complex's desire to fight any war - even nuclear - simply because they had the weapons and believed they could "win", and you get some idea of what the Kennedys were up against. Author Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has an intimate grasp of the players and details in this story, and he tells this in chilling detail. Not to be missed!

I enjoyed reading this book. It probably helps that I'm five years younger than he is, so I remember the events of the 1960s and the spirit of that age. I can't say I totally agree with his assessment of politics and ideologies---both past and present---but I certainly appreciate his perspective. I can't help but be dismayed at what has become of our nation.

I really enjoyed this book. It was so interesting to get his Perspective I’ve on so many different people in his family, not just the Kennedys. It is also so amazing to see how ahead of their time both JFK and RFK were in terms of ideals and priorities. I would definitely recommend this book to others. It was a very interesting read and very quick moving.

An interesting perspective in the Kennedy canon. There is an obvious bias, but that gives you a perspective into the family narrative of certain events in US history.

Compelling account, from his perspective of his family’s history and influence.

really liked this book!

Ok

Life according to Robert F Kennedy, Jr.The Kennedy's are a rich part of American History. This biography dives into their illustrious lives. Handsome, intelligent, wealthiest family in America, the Kennedy's are fascinating. Democracy is built on values not wealth and power.-what JFK meant to the world - that there are more pressing issues than wealth and war (305). The irony of Bobby Kennedy's social justice platform while the 20th richest family in the US(355). Grandpa Joe, owner of White Horse Scotch and Dimpled Pinch at the end of Prohibition, became an adviser to FDR. He brought his kids into public service with political discussions at every dinner. Highlights in this book include descriptions of money in politics. How businesses pay to play in government. Contracts hammered out with gov assistance drive machine politics. Puppet dictators of the CIA run shadow governments in Laos and Vietnam. JFK limited CIA funding; did Jack get on the CIA's bad side. Sabotage and infiltration run amuck in intelligence. South American natural resources and labor are funnelled into the US economy. Privatized corporations like Dole's pineapples and Texaco's coal and oil plants at Guantanamo Bay employ thousands of the highest connected Cubanos. Post WWII US remains an example of democratic values as colonialism was banished in the world. Accepting meritocracy in the Kennedys embodied are free ideas. So has begun my dive into cold war era literature, yet again. This time I approach it from a historical perspective rather than that of science fiction. What was the greatest stimulus for doomsday alien literature also has political mystique. I am poised in the best position of my young life. I find time to read at this job that pays me $2,000/week. While I act in "deviant workplace behavior", Pacifica Hospital lauds me for being their most dedicated worker, having worked 9 12-hour days in a row and 15 of 17 12-hour days worked later that month. Am I conning them? or is the system built to be conned? Is work so easy that when unsupervised, I can read 8 hours in a shift, and still perform my ER Tech duties? Are all entry levels jobs so easy? If so, I need more of a challenge. I am too conscientious for this level of healthcare. No drugs, video games, nor television has made this possible. I have a single goal in focus, to catch up to those peers who are ahead of me. They say if you are the smartest of your friend group, you need new friends. I took this heart. As its hard to find other fun $100k/year salary earners 26 yo, I have no friends. Those that can make me better, and are my age, are too busy to associate with me, as I them.

I had an unusual childhood. Raised in many different countries, homeschooled from eighth grade onward and raised without a T.V., I was mostly isolated from popular culture and worldwide historical events. It was a peaceful and nourishing way to be raised, as my focus was very mostly on my family and a few select friends. I loved to read and read voraciously but there were many things that I didn't know, that my school attending, T.V. watching peers in the U.S. knew. For instance, I went to college in the eighties having no clue who Michael Jackson was. I had never heard of him. I knew about John F. Kennedy. I had taken history courses and wasn't that clueless. I knew that he had been assassinated, but I didn't know much more than that. This week I finished reading, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s book, "American Values: Lessons I Learned from my Family" and I am so grateful to have this in depth view into his family, including a deeper appreciation for his uncle John F. Kennedy. I learned so much history, but more importantly, I gained even greater respect for him and the work he is doing to help protect our environment and health.

Well-written book by the son of RFK covering the Kennedy family from the patriarch Joseph P. Kennedy and his wife Rose, through JFK's political rise and presidency/assassination , to RFK's political career, cut short by his assassination. Considering JFK and RFK's values and beliefs, it makes you wonder 'what if' JFK's presidency wasn't cut short and/or RFK lived to receive the Democratic nomination in '68 and (probably) win the presidency; would the world be in a better place? I believe so. RFK Jr., details his upbringing through all his family triumphs and tragedies and how they all affected him and the entire family. His descent into drug and alcohol addiction seemed to inevitable after all that tragedy but he was able to get through it and become a better person for it.