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If Kennedy Lived: The First And Second Terms Of President John F. Kennedy: An Alternate History (2013)

by Jeff Greenfield(Favorite Author)

3.34 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0399166963 (ISBN13: 9780399166969)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Putnam Adult

review 1: The main thing to understand about this book is that it is neither a Sci Fi type (ie: Stephen King's 11/22/63) nor a conspiracy filled "who tried to kill JFK" tome. Greenfield's book is a political look at what he feels would be a likely direction for the United States had Kennedy indeed survived the attack. It starts out very interesting and hits a rather long lull about a third of the way in, where a tremendous amount of quasi-history is recounted where some of the facts are fiction and some are not, making it read like a slightly slanted history text book. The lull lasts a good 50% of the way from the second third of the book until a few chapters to go where things pick up again. All in all a very interesting look at "what if" and obviously incredibly crafted with a lot... more of knowledge of JFK, history and how he would have gone through a second term as President. An action thriller this is not. An intelligent read it is.
review 2: There are some lynchpin moments in history in which we wonder if something else had happened how it might have changed history. The assassination of JFK is one of those lynchpin moments in history. Would he have escalated American troops in Vietnam? Or would he have foreseen the quagmire it was to become and found a way to avoid it? Would the late 60’s have seen the same turmoil had John Kennedy lived? What of his personal life? Would reporters have continued to protect Kennedy and his liaisons? Would Kennedy have continued those dangerous liaisons? These are some of the questions Jeff Greenfield tries to answer in “If Kennedy Lived.”More of a political extrapolation than a novel, Greenfield posits a possible Kennedy administration after an assassination attempt by Lee Harvey Oswald. Greenfield doesn’t go off any flights of fancy, his surmises are grounded in established Kennedy policies that are supported by speeches he gave or opinions those close to Kennedy reported him saying to them. We also get a glimpse behind the curtain of political theatre and see how the rhetoric politicians run out for their constituencies isn’t always the main objective and that back door relationships more often shape policy than rhetoric. In the challenges Greenfield thinks Kennedy would have faced we get the distinct impression that the more things change the more they stay the same. Some of the same obstacles Kennedy faced and would have faced are some of the same obstacles we face in politics, politicians and outside interest groups today. We can also see the early incarnations of politicians that would become major forces in the politics of today.While Greenfield lacks the deft touch of a novelist “If Kennedy Lived” is a light read that offers up the political machinations in an easily digestible style for those of us who are only voyeurs into the political sphere. Greenfield backs up his extrapolations with an afterword that documents his sources, maybe he should have rendered a little more detail in that part in the way William Safire did in his after book of his “Freedom.” “If Kennedy Lived.” may be a little to Pollyannaish in his assessment of Kennedy’s post-assassination political life, a lot of victories of his policy and not a lot of the setbacks and bumps in the road we see in political careers, but it does make for an interesting and fact based ‘what if?’ that while answering questions leaves room for discussion and other possibilities that may have been possible. less

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