Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

If I could, I would have given this incredible book 10 stars. Incredibly detailed and researched, disturbing, and scary, RFK Jr peels away the curtain shrouding the disastrous reign of Anthony Fauci, the insidious influence of Big Pharma on government, the corrupting influence of the Bill Gates Foundation on WHO, and the lack of adequate trials to establish the safety of the Covid vaccines, and how concerns about these vaccines were quashed by Big Tech. No, I’m not anti vaccines, and in show more fact am triple vaxxed, but sure as hell wish I had the information presented in this book to help guide decision making. Kudos to the author.

A side note. I started out reading the hardback version, but the typesetting was difficult to read, so switched to the Nook version. Much easier to read, with hyperlinks to the many referenced sources, and QR code’s that help provide updated information. I also had to take periodic breaks from reading, as there was so much info to absorb, and also to get over my anger about what I had just read. show less

This memoir from RFK Jr. certainly left a lot to be desired. The book basically covers Joe and Rose Kennedy, the Skakels, RFK, JFK, Lem Billings, and Ethel. Every single person, with the exception of one, comes off smelling like a rose. Literally, there are no faults mentioned. Ethel is the exception to this. RFK Jr. certainly had a tumultuous relationship with her. Her faults are out there for all to see. He mentions his part in the deterioration in the relationship, but the majority of the show more blame is laid at Ethel's door.

There were also factual errors by the author. This is unbelievable because these are very searchable on the internet. I'll give two examples. In the first example, RFK Jr. mentions that his grandfather died in 1972 when RFK Jr. was eighteen. This is wrong. Joe Kennedy died in 1969, when RFK Jr. was fifteen. In the second example, RFK Jr. says that Cardinal Cushing was very close to his family and was a major figure within the Kennedy family, especially during JFK's presidential campaign. This is true. However, RFK Jr. goes on to say that Cushing swore his uncle in as president of the United States. Wrong on so many levels.

If you believe the author, the children of Joe and Rose Kennedy lived an idyllic childhood with the most loving parents on the planet. This contradicts so many sources, not least of which is JFK, who was continually exasperated at the actions of his parents, which he felt were unfeeling.

Look elsewhere if you want a well-rounded and honest account of the Kennedys. show less

The book is well written and seemingly well researched. In the first chapter he makes a strong case that Dr. Fauci made many mistakes directing the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Reliance on masks and lockdowns were in many instances overstressed at the expense of other therapeutic measures, such as looking more daringly at possible off-label uses of existing drugs. Waiting for a vaccine that might have taken way too long to develop, and deployment of which was bound to mean cutting show more corners on testing and trials, was risky. But making mistakes is no proof of being satanically evil, especially if health and political leaders around the world are making the same mistakes. That is, unless the author's aim is to prove that most or all the world's leaders were conspiring to kill people by the millions.

In the second chapter, RFK Jr. alleges that Dr. Fauci owned numerous drug patents from which he was hoping to profit. This is easily disproved, however, since the U.S. patent database is on-line and publicly available. Searching on Anthony S. Fauci does bring up half a dozen drug patents where Fauci is listed as an inventor. The patent owner, however, is listed as the United States government. Which is hardly surprising, since Fauci was a director of the NIH at the time of the patent filings, and for him to own the patents personally would not only be dishonest but a clear conflict of interest.

Why RFK Jr. would promote such an easily debunked falsehood is a mystery, unless he was intending his readership to be limited to the credulous. But no one can doubt the success of the book, which has made RFK Jr. a star in the conspiracy world and can only have remunerated him greatly. show less

I liked https://www.librarything.com/work/6611494/reviews/43518689 because it offers numerous corrections to the narrative in this book. I'm new to the story of Robert Smalls, and I was a little dubious about the details in this book.

On the whole, though, the book is excellent. There is a good map of the east coast of the United States, showing various significant locations. I would have liked, also, a detailed map of the South Carolina coast, where most of the action takes place. The show more illustrations are very well executed by Patrick Faricy. The 1860s were an era of steam and of sail at once and the Planter, the boat that was stolen, was a steamboat. Unfortunately, since the most significant naval actions occurred at night, the illustrations of these are realistically dark and confused, and it is hard to pick out the vital details of this paddle-wheeled warship.

Smalls was a younger man than Frederick Douglass. Douglass learned to read as a boy, Smalls was illiterate until his later adult hood. Smalls stayed where he had been born until his death, Douglass settled in the northeast. Both seem to have been eloquent and passionate speakers. Smalls was the daring man of action; Douglass the man of words. They both rose through merit, even as slaves. Douglass was brought up in Maryland and when he escaped north, was a dockworker in the Baltimore shipyards, with his own apartment and the obligation of paying a good chunk of his wages to his owner. I had assumed that kind of arrangement was unusual and occurred because Maryland was one of the most northerly slave states. But Smalls was earning a significant wage as a pilot, and was left in charge of the ship he stole by the officers, during wartime with Union ships not all that far away, and the war already begun. All this really needs some explaining.

The book is good as history, because Smalls lived through the War of the Southern Secession and into the later era of segregation and racially discriminatory laws in the southern states. The author does not elide the Democrat Party's role in the post-war repression of the former slaves and their descendants in those states. Smalls was a representative in the US Congress for ten years and later, after the Democrat Party had taken power, still held an important position in the US Customs office, until removed from that position by a Democrat President.

In the final color illustration Smalls is elegant in a well cut frock coat. In the illustration showing the young ship's pilot, plotting, his ragged pants barely cover his knees. show less