Balanced, dense, and critical, if admiring bio of John F. Kennedy

Review of JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917–1956 by Fredrik Logevall

After idolizing John F. Kennedy throughout my childhood, as an adult I have long felt dismissive about him. This wonderful biography got me to fundamentally reassess these perceptions, largely by concentrating on the times in which JFK grew up and how he developed in response. To be sure, he had plenty of faults and Logevall covers them as well, but thi…