Chris Matthews

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At a time when some of our most powerful elected officials seem indifferent to the needs of America's most vulnerable citizens, Chris Matthews's BOBBY KENNEDY: A Raging Spirit (now in paperback) serves as a timely reminder of what political leadership looks like.

Matthews's biography of Robert F. Kennedy portrays a politician with a moral conscience, the ability to bring people together, and a capacity to learn and grow as he championed causes that are as vital today as they were in the 1960s. "He stood for the desire to right wrongs that mattered then and which continue to matter every bit as much in the twenty-first century," Matthews writes. "He was, for so many, the one American leader of our lives who refused to turn his eyes from the people swept aside in our country's rush for economic prosperity and global prominence."

BOBBY KENNEDY marks the culmination of Matthews's personal fascination with the Kennedy family, and serves as the perfect companion volume to his acclaimed bestselling biography of JFK, Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero. "The younger brother's role was indispensable to history," Matthews writes, "getting his brother elected to the Senate and then the presidency; handling the Cuban Missile Crisis; and pushing the Civil Rights Act to the national forefront of the Kennedy agenda."

But Bobby was not one to remain in JFK's shadow. "He was there at his brother's side, yet was always his own person, contributing and supporting but also taking charge and leading. No one who knew him was indifferent to him. No one who encountered him ever forgot him. In that, he was like his brother. His own path, however, led him elsewhere, into new places and new concerns that, most strikingly, became his heartfelt priority."

"Recognizing the stubborn, burning passion that lay within him, I find myself now wanting to look into his life and understand both the origins and the evolution of that deepening commitment to a greater justice," Matthews says. "My goal here is to come to grips with his story, who and what he was and what lay beneath the man we saw."

Drawing on extensive research and intimate interviews, Matthews shines a light on all the important moments in Bobby's life: his upbringing, his start in politics, his crucial role fighting for civil rights as attorney general, and his tragic run for president. A fellow Irish Catholic, Matthews illustrates how Bobby's faith and loyalty to family influenced him from his days as an altar boy to his years fighting for the rights of African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. RFK proved himself to be the rarest of politicians-both a pragmatist who knew how to get the job done and an unwavering idealist who could inspire millions.

BOBBY KENNEDY is a resonant and uplifting portrait of a man's journey to a life of great and enduring purpose-one who continues to be a model for political bravery and moral leadership. "To honor his life in politics, to mark the half century of his loss and the hope that our country can find its way back to the patriotic unity he championed," Matthews writes, "for all Americans, this is my story of Robert F. Kennedy.

"Matthews regards RFK's legacy through personal recollections and cogently illustrates leadership qualities Kennedy possessed that are sorely lacking in today's divisive culture." - Booklist

"A brisk, admiring portrait that burnishes the Kennedy image."- Kirkus Reviews

"If you love reading about politics, if you ever loved the Kennedys or were fascinated by them, if you love biographical history or if you just like a good yarn about a brooding soul who turns into an uplifting, magnetic force-Chris Matthews's Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit should be your next read. It's well-researched, dramatically told. It brings those times-Camelot and after-back to life."- Lesley Stahl, Correspondent for 60 Minutes