5/25/2023 0 Comments Christina haag come to the edge![]() ![]() In the 38 years of his life and in the twenty years since his death, there’ve been many, many books about John Kennedy Jr., ranging from dishy volumes like Christopher Andersen’s The Day John Died to passion-memoirs like Christina Haag’s Come to the Edge. Openly admitting that his heart still aches for his dead friend seems to invite them. ![]() Steven Gillon would have faced those questions in any case. ![]() Is the author retaining objectivity? Is the book in question, however eloquent or intellectual, essentially a work of highbrow hagiography? Is it more a work of friendship than a work of disinterested scholarship? These are the same old questions that were raised by the shelf of books written by the “court historians” of President John Kennedy no matter how painfully scrupulous those books were, their truth, accuracy, and integrity were questioned fifty years ago, and those same questions have been asked upon the appearance of every book on JFK, RFK, Jacqueline Kennedy, Edward Kennedy, and, inevitably, JFK’s son John, who died twenty years ago at the age of 38. ![]() This opens up a snake-nest of potential problems, and when it comes to the spotlight Kennedy family members, these are very old problems. with a simple declaration that many readers would say belongs right at the front of the book and that many biographers would say should have been omitted: “I am honored to have called him my friend. University of Oklahoma history professor Steven Gillon ends America’s Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. ![]()
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