The Kennedy Heirs: John, Caroline and the New Generation—a Legacy of Triumph and Tragedy

The offspring of the Camelot generation wallow in melodrama without much compensating achievement according to this dishy group portrait. Kennedy biographer Taraborrelli (After Camelot) styles the children of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy, and their cousins, as sensitive souls shadowed by their elders’ assassinations and other misfortunes that “caus[e] our hearts to ache unbearably for them.” The narrative, however, depicts a clan of overentitled mediocrities with unimportant careers whose only interesting characteristic is bad judgment: RFK Jr. moves from drug addiction to relentless womanizing to antivaccine lobbying; his brother Michael sleeps with his kids’ 16-year-old babysitter and dies in a skiing accident; JFK Jr. leads a feckless life, then dies along with his wife and his sister-in-law when the Cessna he was piloting crashes. Presiding over Taraborelli’s account, and the lavishly described Hyannisport rigmarole of clambakes and touch football, is RFK’s widow, Ethel, an imperious matriarch and the book’s liveliest figure, forever slapping people and lecturing everyone on the Kennedy mystique. Padding out the chapters is much tabloid-grade gossip about small-bore marital squabbles, infidelities, and catfights sourced to servants and anonymous friends. Some readers may find this material unengaging, but Kennedy worshippers—and haters—will feast on the juicy details in Taraborrelli’s soap opera. (June)