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    Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America
    Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America
    Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America
    Audiobook (abridged)5 hours

    Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America

    Written by Thurston Clarke

    Narrated by Edward Herrmann

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    A close-up on one of American history's most splendid events, JFK's inaugural week, and the creation of the speech that inspired a generation and brought hope to a nation
    "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." On the January morning when John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency and stood to speak those words, America was divided. Citizens around the world were torn by fears of war. Kennedy's speech—called the finest since Lincoln at Gettysburg, the most memorable of any 20th-century American politician—did more than reassure: It changed lives, marking the start of a brief, optimistic era of struggle against "tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself."

    Ask Not is a beautifully detailed account of the week leading up to the inaugural which stands as one of the most moving spectacles in the history of American politics. At the heart of the narrative is Kennedy's quest to create a speech that would distill American dreams and empower a new generation. Clarke's portrait of JFK during what intimates called his happiest days is balanced, revealing the president at his most dazzlingly charismatic (and cunningly pragmatic). As the snow gradually covers Washington in a blanket of white, as statesmen and celebrities arrive for candle-lit festivities, Kennedy—an obsessed perfectionist—pushes himself, his family, and advisors to the limit—to create greatness, to find the words which captured what he most truly believed and, as it happened, which far outlasted his own life. For all who seek to understand the fascination with all things Kennedy, the answer is here. Ask Not explains the phenomenon to the heart and mind.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateOct 1, 2004
    ISBN9781593975524
    Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America
    Author

    Thurston Clarke

    Thurston Clarke has written a dozen widely acclaimed works of fiction and nonfiction, including several New York Times Notable Books. His Pearl Harbor Ghosts was the basis of a CBS documentary, and his bestselling Lost Hero, a biography of Raoul Wallenberg, was made into an award-winning NBC miniseries. His articles have appeared in Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Washington Post and many other publications. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and other awards and lives with his wife and three daughters in upstate New York.

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    • 4/5
      An interesting book about the creation of John F. Kennedy's most famous speech: his Inaugural Address. The book opens with the speech itself, and then proceeds to give us an account of the ten days leading up to the Inauguration and the creation of the speech. It's a very fitting tribute to one of history's greatest speeches.