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About This Book:

Title: True Compass: A Memoir

Other Available Formats:
Hardcover, 2009
Compact Disc, 2009
Compact Disc, 2009
Hardcover, 2009

Synopsis
Senator Edward M. Kennedy's death in August, 2009 was a time for a major reassessment of his life and career, as well as of his place in American history. Kennedy's great achievements and his acknowledged (and perhaps equally great) flaws were the subject of much media review, adding to the accounts in the many books already in print on both the senator himself and on the entire Kennedy clan.

TRUE COMPASS stands out as Ted Kennedy's own assessment of his public and private life. It is based on many decades of personal journals, as well as a five-years-long oral history project at the University of Virginia. In his own words, he shares his perspective on the strong bonds within his family--especially among himself and his brothers, John and Robert--the many tragedies that befell them, his relations with colleagues, and his long service in the U. S. Senate. Kennedy also directly addresses his views on the Warren Commission report, the events in Chappaquiddick in 1969, and the good fortune of finding true love late in life. Kennedy seems inextricably linked to more than a half-century of American history, and, in TRUE COMPASS, he shows that a life that seems at times to be directionless, can be set back on course. Selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the 100 Best Books of 2009.

Details
Language:        English

Size
Length:        532 Pages
Weight:        2.1 Pounds
Height:         9.5 Inches
Width:          6.5 Inches
Thickness:    1.8 Inches



Publisher Notes
The youngest of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, he came of age among siblings from whom much was expected. As a young man, he played a key role in the presidential campaign of his brother John F. Kennedy, recounted here in loving detail. In 1962 he was elected to the U.S. Senate, where he began a fascinating political education and became a legislator. In this historic memoir,Ted Kennedy takes us inside his family, re-creating life with his parents and brothers and explaining their profound impact on him. or the first time, he describes his heartbreak and years of struggle in the wake of their deaths. Through it all, he describes his work in the Senate on the major issues of our time--civil rights, Vietnam, Watergate, the quest for peace in Northern Ireland--and the cause of his life: improved health care for all Americans, a fight influenced by his own experiences in hospitals. His life has been marked by tragedy and perseverance, a love of family, and an abiding faith. There have been controversies, too, and Kennedy addresses them with unprecedented candor. At midlife, embattled and uncertain if he would ever fall in love again, he met the woman who changed his life, Victoria Reggie Kennedy. Facing a tough reelection campaign against an aggressive challenger named Mitt Romney, Kennedy found a new voice and began one of the great third acts in American politics, sponsoring major legislation, standing up for liberal principles, and making the pivotal endorsement of Barack Obama for president. Hundreds of books have been written about the Kennedys. TRUE COMPASS will endure as the definitive account from a member of America's most heralded family, an inspiring legacy to readers and to history, and a deeply moving story of a life like no other.



Industry Reviews
"Mr. Kennedy is not a particularly introspective writer...But he writes in these pages with searching candor about the losses, joys and lapses of his life; the love and closeness of his family; the solace he found in sailing and the sea; his complex relationships with political allies and rivals. Mr. Kennedy's conversational gifts as a storyteller and his sense of humor...shine through here, as does his old-school sense of public service and his hard-won knowledge, in his son Teddy Jr.'s words, that 'even our most profound losses are survivable.'"
(09/04/2009)
"[Kennedy] writes movingly about being the youngest of nine, and offers as loving a portrait of Joseph P. Kennedy as one is likely to read."
(10/05/2009)


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Book Details Summary: The title of this book is True Compass: A Memoir and it was written by Edward M. Kennedy. This edition of True Compass: A Memoir is in a Hardcover format. This books publish date is September 2009 and it has a suggested retail price of $35. There are 532 pages in the book and it was published by Twelve. The 10 digit ISBN is 0446539252 and the 13 digit ISBN is 9780446539258. For the most current lowest price, Click Here.