Ask Not - Maureen Callahan

Ask Not

By Maureen Callahan

  • Release Date: 2024-07-02
  • Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Score: 4
4
From 237 Ratings

Description

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  |  #1 SUNDAY TIMES (UK) BESTSELLER
 
"The must-read book of the summer" (Megyn Kelly) from New York Times bestseller Maureen Callahan: a "harrowing, incendiary" exposé of the real Kennedy Curse—the family’s generations-long legacy of misogyny, murder, and mayhem (Karen Abbott).

The Kennedy name has long been synonymous with wealth, power, glamor, and—above all else—integrity. But this carefully constructed veneer hides a dark truth: the pattern of Kennedy men physically and psychologically abusing women and girls, leaving a trail of ruin and death in each generation’s wake. Through decades of scandal after scandal—from sexual assaults to reputational slander, suicides to manslaughter—the family and their defenders have kept the Kennedy brand intact. Now, in Ask Not, bestselling author and journalist Maureen Callahan reveals the Kennedys’ hidden history of violence and exploitation, laying bare their unrepentant sexism and rampant depravity while also restoring these women and girls to their rightful place at the center of the dynasty’s story: from Jacqueline Onassis and Marilyn Monroe to Carolyn Bessette, Martha Moxley, Mary Jo Kopechne, Rosemary Kennedy, and many others whose names aren’t nearly as well known but should be.

Drawing on years of explosive reportage and written in electric prose, Ask Not is a long-overdue reckoning with this fabled family and a consequential part of American history that is still very much with us. At long last, Callahan redirects the spotlight to the women in the Kennedys’ orbit, paying homage to those who freed themselves and giving voice to those who, through no fault of their own, could not.

One of Town & Country’s Must-Read Books of Summer 2024

Reviews

  • Totally Recommend!

    4
    By kathryn#blessed
    Excellent reading!! Truthfully told!
  • Good book

    5
    By Star Stahl
    Throughly enjoyed this book.
  • Deep. Jarring. Troublesome. A brave story to tell on behalf of so many women.

    5
    By plants and sci fi
    One of the best books I read this year! There are many individual stories and experiences that are covered in this book but I found that the author does an incredible job of providing the right details for the reader that essentially isolates each story, as a way to honor the legacy of each of these women. At the same time, I also found these painful stories to be connected through repeated themes of misogyny and injustice.
  • Gross

    3
    By stfukarens
    The Kennedy's deserve all the misery they put on themselves.
  • Captivating

    5
    By Apperlover
    I loved this book. Read it in 4 days. So many tragic stories but very eye opening.
  • Margaret Callahan is a Hater

    1
    By Carol AJH
    While much of her book is highly researched and the research documented, the only purpose in writing a book like this would be to add more disparity and anxiety to political unrest already in the world.
  • Good Book

    4
    By Bill 2003
    The Kennedy men are all misogynists. I feel sorry for the women who married them.
  • Ask not:…….

    5
    By Carmel Pars
    Ask Not: I now ask myself why it took so long to tell the whole truth about the brutality of the Kennedy men. An astonishing window into the lives of women then and now, who live with despicable men and I hope find their way to some peace and dignity. Carmel Parsons

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