Publishers Weekly
04/29/2024
The high hopes of 1960s liberalism founder on the shoals of the Vietnam War in this nostalgic memoir. Pulitzer winner Goodwin (No Ordinary Time) revisits her late husband Richard Goodwin’s experiences as a speechwriter to presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson and working on the 1968 presidential campaigns of senators Robert F. Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy. Drawing on Richard’s journals and letters, Goodwin explores his starry-eyed enthusiasm for the landmark civil rights and Great Society measures he helped bring about, and his disillusionment after he left the White House in 1965 and turned against Johnson’s escalation of the Vietnam War. Goodwin credits him with nudging RFK into an antiwar position and, by orchestrating McCarthy’s New Hampshire primary victory, dissuading Johnson from running for reelection. She paints colorful vignettes of the speechwriter’s craft—“ ‘ask if he can’t put some sex in it.... some beautiful Churchillian phrases,’ ” Johnson demanded for a speech on poverty—and of Richard’s mercurial intellect, harnessed in groggy all-nighters spent penning celebrated orations like Johnson’s “We Shall Overcome” speech. The narrative is dominated by larger-than-life personalities, especially the tenacious LBJ, who was determined to uplift the downtrodden by riding roughshod over anyone who objected. It’s a vivid portrait of peak liberalism. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
At its most poignant, An Unfinished Love Story is, as the title indicates, an account of personal loss. It also turns out to be a reflection on the process of constructing history, suggesting how time, perspective and stories left unwritten can shape our view of the past. Goodwin, the author of award-winning biographies of Lyndon B. Johnson, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and others, has a nice touch as a storyteller....An Unfinished Love Story offers a bird’s-eye view of familiar events, and of a decade marked by both idealism and political violence.”—LA Times
"An illuminating and inspiring blend of biography, history, memoir and marital banter."—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"A touching invitation to eavesdrop on a long marriage between two people who had an unusual level of access to presidential policy and personality."—San Francisco Chronicle
"Just as An Unfinished Love Story is a testament to the Kearns Goodwin marriage, so is it a love story of the United States and its democratic government. The many speeches written by Goodwin, the writings of Kearns Goodwin and both their reflections demonstrate that words do indeed matter."—The Columbus Dispatch
"An intimate political history....about the love of historical research, in this case demonstrated by a joint examination of 300 boxes of documents, drafts, and the personal flotsam accumulated over the course of a marriage played out in the arena of American politics. And about the love of America, its past and future, its struggles and promise"—The Boston Globe
PRAISE FOR DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
"America's historian-in-chief."—New York magazine
"A giant on the history and biography shelves."—The Washington Post
"With her skillful grasp of revealing detail, Ms. Goodwin brings political figures back to life."—The New York Times
"She's a national treasure."—Anderson Cooper
Kirkus Reviews
2024-02-01
The renowned presidential historian delves into the Kennedy and Johnson eras, drawing from the archives and personal insights of her husband, a former speechwriter for both leaders.
In the years before Richard “Dick” Goodwin's death in 2018, he and his wife, Kearns Goodwin, embarked on an ambitious project that unfolded into a poignant journey through time. Together, they delved into Dick's extensive trove of personal memorabilia, comprising diaries, letters, and countless documents housed in hundreds of boxes—a testament to his devoted service in both administrations. Upon reflection, moments of conflicting insights and assessments of the two presidents occasionally surfaced, notably in the case of Johnson, with whom the author collaborated after his term in office. Their conversations laid the groundwork for her debut book, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream. In earlier years, Dick had skillfully crafted many of Johnson's most significant speeches, commemorating historic bills such as the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which contained the iconic words, "We Shall Overcome.” As the author writes, “we experienced the man at different times—Dick at the height of the Sixties, me toward the end of the decade and the end of Lyndon Johnson’s life. And during that decade of the Sixties, he so changed both our lives that here we were, in our seventies and eighties, still arguing, bantering, and trying to come to terms with his enormous impact on us and on the country.” Resigning from Johnson's administration in 1965, Dick transitioned to teaching roles at various institutions and authoring numerous books and articles. However, it’s this earlier career phase that ignited the fecund author's imagination, serving as the foundation for how their perspectives on the trajectory of politics and the nation had shifted.
A heartfelt tribute to the author’s late husband and a captivating reflection on this pivotal era in American politics.
