Neither hagiography nor demolition job, the book examines this key presidency with the scholarly detachment distance now allows. Brogan concentrates on the major themes: Kennedy's successful candidacy for office; his foreign policy; his part in the civil rights revolution; his handling of economic affairs; his agenda as a reformer; and, of course, the significance of his murder. Hugh Brogan succeeds admirably in his object of presenting Kennedy as a credible statesman and human being, not as a figure of legend - nor, in the modern way, as a figure of legend to be debunked. Kennedy emerges as a man of solid achievement, who grew and deepened as a statesman. His record as President was, broadly, impressive and would have been more so had he lived. This is a crisp, elegant, witty book, written with both sympathy and detachment. Anyone interested in the Kenedy years - and admirers of Hugh Brogan's celebrated bestseller, the Longman/Penguin History of the United States - will not be disappointed. (NR KAT. 14)