The most compelling biography I have read in years . . . There has been a host of JFK biographies but this one excels for its narrative drive fine judgments and meticulous research . . . makes the story seem a cliffhanger even though we know what is coming Max Hastings Sunday TimesIn his utterly absorbingJFK Fred Logevall reconstructs not only a great man but also his entire age Brendan Simms author of Hitler A Global BiographyThe Pulitzer Prizewinning historian takes us as close as we have ever been to the real John F. Kennedy in this revelatory biography of the iconic yet still elusive thirtyfifth president.By the time of his assassination in 1963 John F. Kennedy stood at the helm of the greatest power the world had ever seen. Born in 1917 to a striving Irish American family that had become among Bostons wealthiest Kennedy knew political ambition from an early age and his meteoric rise to become the youngest elected president cemented his status as one of the most mythologized figures in modern history.Beckoned by this gap in our historical knowledge Harvard professor Fredrik Logevall has spent much of the last decade combing through material unseen or unused by previous biographers searching for and piecing together the real John F. Kennedy resulting in a masterpiece that reviews have agreed will be the definitive work. This first volume of this sweeping twopart biography spans the first thirtynine years of his life revealing his early relationships his formative and heroic experiences during World War II and his deeply fascinating romance with Jackie Kennedy. In examining these preWhite House years Logevall chronicles Kennedys extraordinary life and times with authority and novelistic sensibility putting the reader in every room where it happened. This landmark work offers the clearest portrait we have of a remarkable figure who still inspires individuals around the world.A riveting study of young JFK. Logevall has written a superb book. David Runciman Guardian