Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have very mixed feelings about “Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit.” On one hand, it does provide some interesting insights into Robert Kennedy as a person, and how he grew and changed over the course of his life. On the other hand, it is a somewhat muddled book; it could easily be a biography of John Kennedy and parts of it could be classified as being autobiographical.

The book traces Kennedy’s life from being one of the younger children in a large family, to his death in 1968. It is well-written but in places it relies heavily on anecdotes. I also had the feeling that in some sections of the book things were left out or over simplified just to keep the page count down. There are also several errors, either in editing or fact checking, which should have been caught.

Overall I like the book. I appreciated the focus on Kennedy as a person, but this is not a substitute for a more thorough biography.