I was inspired to read this book after my recent, and first, visit to the JFK Presidential Library in Boston, MA. This year was also the 60th anniversary of his tragic death. As the name not so subtly indicates, this is about the roughly three months leading up to his death; however, it is also deceptive as it also covers some of the major events and policies of his term in office and major events from his personal life.
Thurston Clarke meticulously researched this book - given the depth of what is covered and its detail, it must have taken quite some time - and yet, it wasn't terribly dry or boring. Clarke also doesn't shy away from the seamier and more...awkward...parts of JFK's personal life, such as his womanizing and his relationship with Jackie, including his cruelty to her after the death of a daughter in 1956 (when he was on a cruise that he nearly refused to cut short to return home to her - it still took him three days after their child's death to return). In the last three months of his life, Clarke recounts how his relationship with Jackie was transformed, in relation to the death of their son, Patrick (who is younger then John John and Caroline). Also, Clarke details his transformation in domestic and foreign policies, particularly with regards to Cuba/USSR and civil rights. Based upon this book, I often wonder if we would have been entangled in Vietnam for as long as we were, if at all, if JFK had not died and had won a second term.
The book was a good mix of anecdotes, which were the most interesting for me, and political discourse. It wasn't too heavy handed and didn't get bogged down in too much political maneuvering or chatter. I liked getting a peak into the personality of a man that is somewhat legend for that period of history. This was a compelling and digestible book about the man, that I would encourage all to add to their collection.
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I read this book because it was suggested by one of my favorite Podcasts: Women and Crime. I'm a Patreon member, and they do a book club, and this was the recent pick for it. It is right up my alley - I read and enjoyed Killers of the Flower Moon so this was right up my alley. In this book, a young white oil worker named Kristopher Clarke ("KC") goes missing from a reservation that is experiencing an oil boom. Lissa Yellow Bird, a Native woman with no connection to KC decides she's going to find out what happened to him. This book chronicles her search.
Murdoch, I don't think, had intended to write this book. She is a journalist who was traveling to the oil fields in North Dakota to chronicle the oil boom on the reservations there and just happened to stumble upon this. During the course of her impeccable, on site, research, she became friends with Lissa, her family and children and Lissa's friends. Lissa was a natural person to investigate - she is a member of the tribes that live on the reservation and she has a dogged mentality that led to her getting obsessed with this case and trying to follow it through to the end. Lissa herself is as complicated as the case was - she's an addict and that addiction impacted her parenting. Having said that, she was a very protective mother and she tried to do the best that she could under the circumstances. She often felt alone and alienated on the reservation, which contributed to the choices she made.
What I loved about this book was how it combined the search for answers related to a crime with the impact of the boom on the people that lived with it. Murdoch weaves these two stories together in a masterful way. Her research is very deep. We learned about the skyrocketing violence and crime that resulted from the boom due to Murdoch's research and about the pain that the people living with the oil experience. I also loved learning about some of the ancestry of the tribe that Lissa is a apart of. She often talks about the land, her connection to it and how that connection has been severed.
Definitely a must read.
Happy holidays! This week is a big one and I hope that everyone enjoys! I've been slogging through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn...
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