JOHN F. KENNEDY is an effort to create an absorbing balanced and distinguished biography of one of America's most legendary Presidents. While current fashion in Kennedy scholarship is to deride the man's achievements, this book describes Kennedy's strengths, explains his short-comings, and offers many new revelations. There are many specialized books on JFK's career, but no first-class modern biography that takes advantage of the huge volume of new material released from government archives and the JFK library. Nine years in the making, this is a balanced and judicious profile that goes beyond the clash of interpretations and offers a fresh, nuanced perspective.