Becoming JFK John F. Kennedy's early path to leadership

In Badler's work, a young John F. Kennedy grows into a man ready to carry the weight of a nation's hopes and fears. The book, which includes some scenes with fictionalized interactions and dialogue, begins with Kennedy's teenage days racing boats with his older brother, Joseph Jr., to his successful first run for Congress in 1946. Along the way, the author adeptly considers the confluence of private and public influences on Kennedy's life. One of the main threads that runs through the story is Kennedy's occasionally contentious relationships with his success-oriented father, emotionally absent mother, and hyper-competitive older brother, Joseph Jr. As he begins to escape his family's influence--first, briefly, at Princeton University and then at Harvard--he begins a series of affairs with women that come to dominate his life to the extent that he explains to an aide: "if I don't have sex once a day, I get a headache." Kennedy also battles with chronic ill health but serves effectively as a man-on-the-ground for his ambassador father in the lead-up to World War II and as the U.S. Navy commander ofPT-109. A crucial moment of growth comes when Kennedy decides to engage only one engine while in enemy waters, which leads to disaster. Despite harsh criticism for his actions, he's recommended for a Silver Star; Jack chooses to stay overseas until a diagnosis of malaria and colitis necessitates his return home to New England in 1943. It's after the tragic loss of his older brother that Jack's political career begins in earnest. This well-researched account of the future president's youth is built on the premise that in order to "understand the man, one must first understand the boy." Over the course of this book, Badler succeeds at presenting an account that's well-informed and engaging. Reflections attributed to Kennedy, such as "sex and politics had become indistinguishable. Likewise, blackmail and foreign intrigue," underscore the author's efforts to connect his subject's frequent sexual excursions and early misdeeds to his growing political relevance. The book's imaginative reconstructions allow readers a close look at Kennedy's psyche, although some lines, such as "Jack didn't feel any different now that he was a millionaire" and "it had to be an awful burden, thought Jack, to carry the weight of a nation's hopes and fears" sometimes require a certain suspension of disbelief. Although the author includes source notes that document some of what the book relates, a lack of in-text citations or footnotes makes it difficult to easily assess what is fact and what is extrapolation, as in passages such as "The German beauty was resplendent in white billowy trousers," and descriptions in the book's initial "List of Characters," such as journalist Inga Arvad: "perfect complexion accentuated by high cheekbones; only minor flaw was a gap between her two front teeth, which Jack liked." More narrative distance might have allowed for a more rigorous examination of the tension between Jack's immense privilege and his personal struggles. An often engaging but unevenly executed imagining of JFK's formative years. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.